There's a reason that spelt works almost as well as regular
flour. You see, as Dr. Wood points out in several of his books,
Spelt is wheat. A primitive wheat, but wheat. Its gluten is
somewhat more fragile than the gluten in modern wheat. It helps to
knead gently, and to make the dough slightly wetter than bread made
with modern wheat flour.
If you check the celiac.org web site, in the "Label reading" section,
there is a discussion of the proposed FDA definition of "gluten free":
"FDA is proposing to define the food labeling term "gluten-free" to
mean that a food bearing this claim does not contain any of the
following: an ingredient that is a 'prohibited grain,' which refers
to any species of wheat (e.g., durum wheat, spelt wheat, or kamut),
rye, barley or their crossbred hybrids;..."
You'll note they refer to "spelt" as "spelt wheat."
I'm making this point, not to berate Stephen, but to correct a common
misconception. Celiacs know spelt is dangerous, but a well-meaning
baker might make bread for a celiac and assure him, "it's OK!" when
it's not. Spelt is better tolerated by some people who have wheat
sensitivities than modern wheat. And it is said to help "purify the
body" (whatever that means) by some naturopaths. A local naturopath
wanted me to bake all spelt bread. However, to make a decent amount
of profit on it, I would have had to sell it for about $12 a loaf - I
couldn't find a reasonably priced source of spelt at that time.
Mike
*Bake With Mike <http://www.mikesbread.com>*
Mike Avery
18 Bluebird Lane
Sanger, TX 76266
(940) 312-2774
Email to: mavery at mail dot otherwhen dot com
<mailto:mavery@mail.otherwhen.com?subject=About%20Bake%20With%20Mike>
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A Randomly Selected Bread Saying Of The Day:
"Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and
good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of all feasts."
- James Beard