Spelt

Recently, I've been cutting down on my wheat consumption in an attempt to become more energised and less sluggish. I have been replacing the favoured British grain in my own baking of bread, biscuits and pastry in favour of wholegrain and white spelt flour.

How different spelt is to wheat I'm not too sure. There seems to be some debate over it's species classification. Some say it's related to wheat but has different properties which makes it easier to digest. In baking terms, the two have similar charactaristics however, spelt contains more proteins, vitamins and minerals but less gluten hence it's revival in our wheat intolerant society.

The ancient spelt grain or farro as it's also known in some countries, was once an extremely popular crop but lost it's appeal with farmers due to it's slow growth. The husk of spelt is tough and requires the grain to be de-hulled and broken away from it's husk making it expensive to mill - hence wheat's stalwart presence in the shops and bakers today.

Although spelt is slow to grow, making a loaf with just spelt flour is quick and needs (pardon the pun) little kneading. The resulting loaf is delicious dense, moist and nutty - often difficult to buy but simple to make.