Nikki Duffy
LATIN NAME
Triticum spelta
MORE RECIPES
Roasted beetroot orzotto with lavender; Minted spelt and tomato salad; Saffron speltotto with black pudding and parsley; Walnut, barley, rocket and blue cheese salad; Roast grouse with barley, apples and squash; Upside-down chocolate plum pudding; Spotted dick with apple-brandy raisins; Spelt and honey pikelets; Poppy seed spelt rolls
SOURCING
bacheldremill.co.uk; dovesfarm.co.uk; sharphampark.com
Spelt, a form of wheat, is an old, old food and this is precisely why it has become a brand new trend. Modern wheat has been hybridised and cross-bred to be high yielding, easy to harvest and amenable to fast, modern bread-making processes. However, it seems this process may also have made wheat less digestible than older forms. Enter spelt, a grain used by our Bronze Age ancestors, which has changed very little over the millennia, and retains a different type of gluten.
Although grown for centuries in many parts of the world, spelt fell out of favour around the time of the Industrial Revolution, because its tough husk and its stature (it grows to 1.5 metres) meant harvesting and milling it was labour-intensive. However, it is now enjoying a renaissance, with excellent organic spelt being grown in Britain.
A lot of claims are made for spelt: that it is inherently more nutritious than modern wheat, for instance, and that it’s a fail-safe alternative for people who avoid that grain. But studies on spelt are not quite so conclusive. Generally, spelt does have a higher protein and lipid content than modern wheat. And some studies have shown wholemeal spelt to be higher in nutrients, including iron and zinc, and to contain less phytic acid, which can reduce the absorption of minerals from food.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about spelt is that, while it does contain gluten – and people with coeliac disease or wheat allergy should not eat it – it’s definitely not the same as the gluten in modern wheat. The ratio of the proteins that form the gluten are different, resulting in a gluten matrix that is variously described as softer, more soluble, more fragile and less elastic. This, it is suggested, may be why many people find spelt easier to digest than wheat.
The different nature of spelt gluten is something you can observe yourself if you make bread with it. The dough is softer, more pliable, less elastic. Spelt doughs rise quickly so they can save you time. In fact, they can be used for quick breads, such as soda bread, just as readily as for a yeasted loaf – something you can’t say about standard wheat bread flours. In all cases, spelt can make delicious breads. The gluten in spelt produces a ‘shorter’ texture so the loaves are often a little closer textured than standard wheat bread – not the same kind of light, airy, big-bubbled loaf you’ll get with strong Canadian wheat flour – but flavoursome, full-bodied and satisfying.
Spelt flour can be used to make good fruit cakes, scones, crackers and biscuits, and it works well as a sauce thickener. In fact, it will add depth of colour, an earthy taste and bags of character to pretty much anything you use it in. You can even produce decent pastry with it – not ethereal perhaps, but certainly tasty. Spelt has a really good, nutty, very slightly sweet flavour, without the strident character you can detect with, say, rye or buckwheat.
Much of the spelt on the market now is organic. And this points to one of the other great attractions of the grain – it’s a more environmentally friendly crop than wheat. Hardy and resilient, spelt is able to grow in difficult conditions. It does not respond well to the use of nitrogen fertilisers – they tend to make the tall stems bend under their own weight – so growers use less of them. Spelt’s tough husk protects the growing kernel naturally, so it doesn’t need chemical spraying. And the husk also keeps the inner grain fresher for longer and means it retains its nutrients more easily than modern wheat.
Spelt flour is usually wholemeal, and often stoneground – leading to a tastier, less heat-affected, lower GI result. But you can also buy white spelt flour (though, like all white flours, it has less flavour).
Besides flour, you can buy spelt pasta (the wholemeal version is a particular favourite of mine for quick, very filling meals), spelt cookies, crackers and breakfast cereals. Pearled spelt (pictured next), meanwhile – the whole grain of the plant, polished to remove the bran layer – is a favourite River Cottage ingredient. It can be used just like pearl barley but is quicker to cook, a little sweeter and, I think, a little tastier. Substitute it in any pearl barley recipe, or cook it, toss with a rich dressing and use as the base of a hearty salad. Use cooked, oiled and seasoned pearled spelt in place of plain pasta or rice too. It makes a great ‘speltotto’ (see Saffron Speltotto with Black Pudding and Parsley).
CREAMY SPELT AND ALMOND PUDDING
This simple variation on a classic rice pud makes great use of whole grains of pearled spelt. A combination of almond milk and dairy cream gives a beautifully nutty, creamy flavour but, for a dairy-free pud, you can replace the cream with extra almond milk. Serves 4–6
200g pearled spelt
800ml unsweetened almond milk
200ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
70g caster sugar
Place the spelt in a bowl, pour on cold water to cover and leave to stand for 3–4 hours to soften the grain. Drain and set aside.
Combine the almond milk and cream in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a small, sharp knife. Add the seeds and the pod to the milk, along with the lemon zest, sugar and drained spelt.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 30–40 minutes, stirring regularly, especially towards the end of cooking as the pudding starts to thicken. Test the grains to make sure they are cooked as you like them. If they are a little too al dente, add a splash more almond milk and continue to cook until you’re happy with the texture of the spelt and the consistency of the pudding. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the pudding to sit for a few minutes before serving.
Serve with a trickle of honey or maple syrup, or a spoonful of jam and some toasted almonds. Buttery fried apples (perhaps with a splash of cider brandy), roasted apples or caramelised bananas also make delicious accompaniments.
