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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Whipped Spelt Bread {Bread Baking Babes}

Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com
I've had a really rough couple of weeks.  Heck, it may even have been a month of rough by now.  And although today has been in my sights for quite some time (as reveal day for Bread Baking Babes), I am running extremely late.  I kept putting the bread baking on the back-burner.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow.

This dough requires overnight refrigeration, so I would tell myself that I would make it "tonight", so that I could have bread tomorrow.  I forgot every day straight for a solid week.  Until it was morning and I saw my note-to-self sitting on the table as I shuffled in to the kitchen to get my coffee.  Sigh.

I almost made it two nights ago, but fortunately it once again slipped my mind, because the we lost electricity that night.  I guess big parts of the city and its surrounding did.  I didn't go to bed until just after midnight that night (the power was still on at that point), and then my hubby was whispering to me at about 4 am telling me that the power was out.  It didn't come back on until 10 that morning.  So, the refrigerating of the dough would have been iffy anyway.
Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com
I finally whipped up the dough last night.  It took all of 5 minutes.  Literally.  I just dumped everything into the bowl and turned on the the beaters.  If you'll remember, I mentioned the rough-state of "me" lately...this meant that heading to the basement and lugging my big mixer upstairs was far too cumbersome for me to do.  So I went the route of the hand-mixer, though deep down I knew I was probably asking for a blown motor.

I didn't blow my motor, but those beaters didn't want to turn, either.  So my dough didn't necessarily pull away from the edges.  I mixed it 'til it was combined and then I slapped some plastic wrap over the bowl and put it in the fridge on a wing and a prayer.

Fortunately, it worked - and I had a beautiful, tasty loaf of bread today.  That made today just a little bit better.  I know, I know...I'm not usually all doom and gloom.  I'm sorry.  When I started writing this post, I fully intended to tell you why I'm such a downer lately.  But I'm not ready.  One day soon...

Whipped Spelt Bread
Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com
by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez
Prep Time: overnight
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Keywords: bake bread spelt

Ingredients (1 loaf)
  • 420 grams Spelt Flour (whole grain, stone ground)
  • 80 grams bread flour + more as needed
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 10 g kosher salt
  • 800 gram lukewarm water (yes, I measured the water by weight)
Instructions
Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and whip, using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, at high speed until the dough pulls away from the sides and bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (8-12 hours).

Remove the bowl from the fridge and allow to sit on the counter, at room temperature, for 3-4 hours, or until the dough has warmed up and little bubbles are appearing here and there on the surface.
Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com
Generously flour a work surface, and scoop the dough out onto it gently. Dust the top of the dough with some more flour, and then cut into 2 (basically) equal portions. 
Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com
 Gingerly roll the portions into fat ropes, taking care not to work too much and release the built up gases. Twist the pieces together, and place on a piece of parchment paper. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and set a piece of plastic wrap or a clean tea towel over the dough. Let rise at room temperature until it's about doubled in size, 30-40 minutes.
Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com
Preheat the oven to 480° F (just a scooch above the 475 mark), with a baking stone on the center rack. If you don't have a stone, just set the dough with parchment on a baking sheet.

When the oven is preheated, generously mist the inside with water. Slide the dough, parchment and all on to the stone and spray some more water into the oven. Open the oven again after 1 minute, and spray again.

After 5 minutes longer, lower the oven temperature to 410° F (a scooch above 400), and bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

Slide loaf (on parchment still, or not) onto a wire rack to cool completely.

inspired by and adapted from Home Baked: Nordic Recipes and Techniques for Organic Bread and Pastry by Hanne Risgaard
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Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com

Whipped Spelt Bread | www.girlichef.com
The Bread Baking Babes are:   Bake My Day - Karen | blog from OUR kitchen - Elizabeth | Feeding my Enthusiasms - Pat/Elle | girlichef  - Heather | Life's a Feast - Jamie | Living in the Kitchen with Puppies - Natashya | Lucullian Delights - Ilva | My Kitchen In Half Cups - Tanna | Notitie Van Lien - Lien | Paulchen's Foodblog - Astrid | Provecho Peru - Gretchen | Thyme for Cooking - Katie 

The Bread Baking Buddies are: YOU!  

If you'd like to bake along as a buddy this month, head on over to the hosting Babe's kitchen for this month (Ilva at Lucullian Delights) for the base recipe (you're welcome to adapt) and any special instructions.  Then send her your post by the 26th to receive your buddy badge and be included in the Bread Baking Buddy roundup.  I hope you join us!

I am also sharing this post with Yeastspotting