On our Sharpham Park journey, I have spent a huge amount of time working with many of the best artisan bakers in Britain, trying to perfect a range of spelt breads. Having never baked in my life before, this was like trying to do a maths degree…very frightening! Fortunately my wife, Monty, gave me a surprise Christmas present – a baking course with the French chef and baker, Richard Bertinet. Richard had no idea that we were growing and milling our own spelt, and when we presented him with a bag of our wholegrain spelt flour, initially he was a little sniffy, ‘What izz this?’ But then he squeezed it between his fingers and exclaimed, ‘Uhmmm, not bad, not bad.’ We were then taught the art of French bread-making, none of that British kneading of the dough, and I learnt what ‘slap and tickle’ really meant!
French bread-making was soon followed by all sorts of other global experiments, many of which you’ll find here. Try Mary Thomas’ Pine Nut & Cranberry Soda Bread (see page 32) or our Sourdough Stollen (see page 37), our Scandinavian Cardamom & Almond Twists (see page 42) or Baltic Orange and Cinnamon Kringle Bread (see page 38). And for those who love Italian breads, you will find great Ciabatta (see page 28) and Focaccia (see page 30).
One thing you do need to be aware of with spelt, whichever method you use, do not get lulled into thinking you need to put more and more flour into the mix to stop the dough getting too sticky. It seems the logical thing to do, but you will end up with a dense, heavy loaf. Just keep dusting your hands with a tiny bit of flour and that should stop everything sticking together.