Moist and hearty, with a wonderful deep rich flavor!
Yield: 1 large loaf (about 40 oz)
This dough can be kneaded by hand or by using an appliance with dough hook. Either way, the ingredient measurements are the same, however kneading by hand will take longer. For this sandwich bread to be soft it will need to be baked with steam. This will be created by misting the loaf with water and baking it in a covered roaster. (instructions are below)
Ingredients
- 6 oz (180 g) sourdough starter
- 2 tsp (11 g) kosher salt
- 13 oz water, divided
- 20 – 22 oz spelt flour
Instructions for Mixing by Hand
- Measure ingredients. (Early morning or the night before).
- Add starter to bowl. Feed it with about 7 oz of the water and 5 oz of flour. Whisk to combine, cover and leave for a minimum of 4 hours or as long as overnight. The batter should be thick, but easy to mix. If needed, add more water.
- Add the salt to the remainder of the water and set it aside.
- After the resting period, add the water with the dissolved salt to the batter. Mix to combine.
- Mixing well in between each addition, add most of the flour. When mixture become to thick to stir, change to using your hands. Continue adding more flour until the mass of dough can be kneaded, then transfer dough to lightly floured counter and continue the kneading process. As the dough becomes sticky add a sprinkle more flour. Only add enough flour to keep dough from sticking. Knead for 15-20 minutes or until gluten is well developed.
- Transfer dough to an oiled container. Cover and let double in bulk. Depending on room temperature, allow about 5 to 8 hours.
- Shape into a loaf and put in greased pan. Set aside for it to almost double in size, or until poke test indicates it ready to be baked. (About 1 ½ to 2 hours). To keep dough from drying out, place pan into a covered container while it’s rising.
Instructions for Mixing with Dough Hook
- Measure ingredients. (Early morning or the night before).
- Add starter to bowl. Feed it with about 7 oz of the water and 5 oz of flour. Whisk to combine, cover and leave for a minimum of 4 hours or as long as overnight. The batter should be thick, but easy to mix. If needed, add more water.
- Add the salt to the remainder of the water and set it aside.
- After the resting period, add the water with the dissolved salt to the batter. Start machine to incorporate. With machine still running, while holding back about 4 oz of the flour, gradually and steadily add flour. Let the machine do the work. Continue adding flour while being careful to only add enough flour to achieve tacky stage. You should have very little over.
- Let the machine knead the dough until dough has developed gluten. This can happen in as little as 3-4 minutes but can take longer. (do window pane test)
- Transfer dough to greased container. Cover and let double in bulk. Depending on room temperature, this can take as little as 5 hours, up to 8 hours or even longer.
- Shape into loaf and put in greased pan. To keep dough from drying out, place pan into a covered container while it’s rising. Allow about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Confirm when bread is ready to bake by doing poke test.
Baking/Equipment
- 450°F oven
- roaster/dutch oven with lid
- roaster/flat steamer rack
- water bottle for misting loaf
- about 1 ½ cups boiling water
- Place rack in bottom of roaster. Put roaster, along with lid in cold oven then preheat oven to 450°F.
- When bread is ready to be baked, you will want to work quickly and carefully. Remove roaster from oven. Mist loaf with water then place pan on rack. Pour in boiling water. Place lid on roaster and return roaster to oven.
- Bread will be baked for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes and the oven temperature will need to be turned down part way through. Bake at 450°F for 40 minutes, then turn oven temperature down to 350° and continue baking for another 40 minutes.
- Remove bread from oven and let cool on baking rack.
- Allow bread to cool for a minimum of 3 hours before slicing.