Seedy Spelt No Knead Bread

- Sophie
Seedy Spelt Bread | Accidental Artisan

Where has this bread been all my life?! It wasn’t until very recently when I made my Sunflower Flax Seed Spelt Bread that I had any clue how amazingly tasty seeds are in homemade bread! So much flavour and texture, my tastebuds barely know what to do.

The morning I made this bread I waited ever so patiently for it to cool (an important part of the bread baking process, but one that is hard for me to bear!) and enjoyed a late breakfast of fresh, still slightly warm bread and some lemon infused honey that I dared to drizzle all over my slices…. all shared with the bestest Mom is the world. 🙂

Seedy Spelt Bread | Accidental Artisan

Jam packed with sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, and poppy seeds this loaf also makes a very picture worthy bread. Also inspired by the Tartine #3 book, a must for any bread lover (even if you just look at the amazing photos).

Update February 2018: Finally getting around to sharing this quick video to show you how simple it is to fold my kind of slack and sticky bread dough to prepare it for baking.

Happy baking!

If you liked this recipe you are going to love these ones!

Cinnamon Raisin No Knead Spelt Bread
Sunflower Flax Seed No Knead Spelt Bread
Spelt Flour No Knead Bread

 

Seedy Spelt Bread | Accidental Artisan
4.5 from 8 votes
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Seedy Spelt No Knead Bread

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 8 hours 20 minutes
Author Sophie

Ingredients

  • 100 g organic whole spelt flour fine grind if available
  • 300 g organic all purpose, unbleached spelt flour also known as white spelt flour
  • extra organic all purpose, unbleached spelt flour for dusting
  • 20 g poppy seeds
  • 20 g sunflower seeds toasted
  • 20 g pumpkin seeds
  • 40 g sesame seeds toasted
  • 40 g flax seeds
  • 72 ml hot water for the flax seeds
  • 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp instant yeast
  • 300 ml room temperature water
  • 1 tbsp local honey
  • flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds for coating optional

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, mix the flax seeds with the hot water. Stir to combine. Set aside to cool. Spread sunflower and sesame seeds on a large baking sheet and toast in the oven at 350 degrees F for 5-10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Once cool, add them and the rest of the seeds to the flax seed mixture and stir to combine.

  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt and yeast. In another bowl or measuring cup, mix together the room temperature water and honey until combined. Add the seed mixture to the water/honey liquid and stir with a whisk to distribute the seeds throughout the liquid. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and, using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is 1 1/2 to 2 times in size (7-8 hours depending on your room temperature).

  3. When the first rise is complete, place your heavy cast iron pot with lid into the oven and pre-heat the oven and the pot to 475 degrees F. Position the rack in the lower third of the oven. The pot needs to pre-heat for at least 30 minutes.

  4. Generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands gently pat the dough out into a rectangle. With your dough spatula (or a large flipper) fold one short side of the dough into the middle and then fold the other short side on top. Then fold the dough in half the other direction. Dust lightly with flour, cover with plastic and let rest for 10 minutes. While you are waiting, line a medium sized bowl with parchment paper, using your fist to push the paper down into the bowl and your other hand to crease the paper around the inside and top edge of the bowl.

  5. Repeat the folding process for the dough outlined above a second time. With lightly floured hands, lift the dough and place into the parchment lined bowl seam side down. Cover with plastic and place on the counter next to the stove to rise for 20 minutes. To test if the dough is ready, press, do not poke, the tip of one floured finger quickly and lightly, about half an inch, slightly off center, into the crown of the dough (area of maximum expansion). If the indentation remains but springs back slightly, the dough is ready for the oven. If the dent fills in, give the dough another 5-10 minutes to rise and re-test.

  6. Remove the plastic covering from your dough. Using heat resistant pot holders, carefully remove the pot from the oven and remove the lid. Using both hands, lift the dough out of the bowl by holding all corners of the parchment paper and lower it into the pot. The edges of the parchment paper will brown, but will be just fine in the hot oven.

  7. Working quickly, spray the top of the dough with water and sprinkle seeds on top (optional). Then lightly dust the top of the bread with flour using a small sieve (optional). Use a sharp pair of scissors to make 3-4 shallow cuts at a 45 degree angle along the center line of the dough to assist in "oven spring". Cover the pot with the lid and put it back into the oven. Reduce the heat to 450 degrees F and bake for 30 minutes.

  8. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and place a large baking sheet or tin foil on the rack underneath the pot and continue baking for another 10 minutes until the bread is a lovely chestnut color but not burnt. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the hot pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly. If you have an instant read thermometer, the bread is done when the internal temperature is 190-200 degrees F.

Recipe Notes

1. Use a kitchen scale to measure the flour, seeds and water instead of cup measurements, it is far more accurate!
2. Unless you will consume all the bread within 2-3 days, cut it in half after it has cooled. Keep one half at room temperature and put the other half in the freezer. When you are ready for another half loaf, run it quickly under water to moisten the outside crust and place in pre-heated 350 degree F oven. Bake for 8 minutes or until the crust is hard to the touch, remove and let it finish thawing in the center. It will taste like freshly baked bread!
3. If you don't have a kitchen scale to measure gram weights, below are the amounts in cup and tablespoon amounts. Because this type of measurement is not as accurate as weight, please make sure to fluff your flour before scooping and level off with a knife or something else that is straight.
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp organic whole spelt flour (fine grind if available)
2 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose, unbleached organic spelt flour (also called white spelt flour)
extra all purpose, unbleached spelt flour for dusting
1/8 cup poppy seeds
1/8 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
1/8 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1/8 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp flax seeds
72ml hot water (for the flax seeds)
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast
300ml room temperature water
1 tbsp honey
Flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds for coating (optional)

115 thoughts on “Seedy Spelt No Knead Bread”

    1. Hi Jan, I am more than happy to give you the recipe in terms of cup measurements, etc. Let me know if that would help.

        1. Hi Angela, it’s possible as I never use metric measurements when I make bread, but a little less or a little more flax seeds shouldn’t really affect the bread too much. Happy baking!

    2. Hi Jan, Suzanne had the same question so I have added the cup and tablespoon measurements to the Notes at the end of the recipe. Happy baking!

    1. Hi Suzanne, I will happily figure that out for you later today! Unfortunately cup and tablespoon measures are not as accurate as weight measurements… and accurate measurements are most important in baking bread over baking anything else. So please be sure to fluff your flour, level off tablespoon measurements with a knife, etc. 🙂

    1. Hi Natalie, you could try baking it on a pizza stone or baking sheet, but will need something to put over the bread dough while it bakes to create the “oven within a oven” effect. Possibly an oven proof pot or a deep baking dish turned upside down over the dough could work. Let me know how it goes!

  4. Hi there, I am wondering in the imperial measurements where there is an extra spoon measurement after the cup measure is this supposed to be added at the same time or is that the extra bit you use for flouring your hands and baking the loaf at the end? Also there are two water measurements but it doesn’t state which one you use for the flax seeds and which one you use for the honey or does it matter since they are all added together in the end? Some hot water and some room temperature so it would be nice to know which one is which. Will it matter if I leave the dough to rise longer than the 8 hours?

    Thanks for the recipe, I am making it now, wish me luck!
    Lynda

    1. Hi Lynda, thanks for your comment. Sometimes I don’t see what could be missing from a recipe so it’s very handy when people ask questions! In the imperial measurements that extra spoon measurements need to be added with the cup measurements. I did it this way to try and get it as accurate as possible to gram weight measurements. The hot water gets added to the flax seeds as mentioned in the first sentence of direction #1. I adjusted the recipe so it says “room temperature water and honey”, I hope that helps any confusion! Yes it will definitely matter if you let it rise longer than 8 hours as the longer you let it rise, the weaker the yeast gets. 7-8 hours at room temperature is what I found was optimal for the first rise. If you want to extend that time put the mixed dough into the fridge overnight, then remove it and let the dough come back to room temperature and then rise (this will take longer than 7-8 hours). Let me know if you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer them! 🙂

  5. 5 stars
    I love, love, love how this bread turned out. It reminds me of a bread that I used to buy years ago from the grocery store that I didn’t know how to make but now I do. Thank you for sharing the recipe!

    1. Thanks so much for your comment Anita! It tickles me pink to know that other people are trying my recipes and loving them too! Happy Easter!

  6. 3 stars
    I’ve made this twice and the first time I had a poor rise (pretty sure it was a yeast problem) but the second time I got good rise but it’s still pretty dense. Is it supposed to be a dense bread? It tastes good it’s just dense. Wondering if I’m still doing something wrong or if that’s how it’s supposed to be.

    1. Hi Melissa, it is naturally going to be on the denser side since it is made entirely with spelt flour. You probably aren’t doing anything wrong, it’s just the nature of spelt flour. Is your bread turning out similar to my photo of the inside? If it’s denser you might need to back off the rise times (they can happen a lot faster this time of year if it’s warm where you are). Let me know if you have any other questions!

  7. Hello Sophie,
    I am wondering if I can use organic Red Fife flour with this recipe instead of the Spelt? I get my flour from the Mennonite community close to where I live. Non GMO wheat that they mill themselves 🙂
    Its not as dense as the spelt…I think my son will like it more, since this is what we are used to. I have been looking for a good ‘seed’ bread, and came across yours. Looks delicious!!
    Nicole

    1. Hi Nicole, you can definitely use Red Fife in this recipe, but it likely will not turn out the same without some tinkering. The original recipe uses both whole and all purpose spelt flour and the amount of water is adjusted according to that. If you are using Red Fife wheat you will need about 20% more water, however, that will depend on if you are using all whole Red Fife, all purpose Red Fife or a combination. Let me know how it goes!

  8. 5 stars
    The bread turned out amazing!!! I tried to upload a picture, looks just like yours lol!
    I used all organic Red Fife flour, and added a tiny bit more water. ????????
    Thanks for the great recipe, I will definitely be making this on a regular basis.
    Nicole

    1. That’s wonderful Nicole, I’m so happy to hear that and thank you for sharing the results with me! If you want to tinker you can probably let the second rise (before it goes in the oven) go longer than with spelt flour. Might be able to get a more open crumb than I can with all spelt. Enjoy!

    1. Hi Kim, you sure can! Sprouted spelt flour is similar to whole spelt flour in that it still contains the bran but the kernels have been sprouted before being milled into flour. You will need to add a little more water to the dough and the texture of the finished loaf will be denser than the original recipe that includes all purpose/white spelt flour. Let me know how it goes!

  10. 5 stars
    Hi there, thanks for your quick reply! I have made your bread (twice already) with just whole grain sprouted spelt. I added about 30ml extra of water, baked in a bread cloche. Loaf came out crispy, was a little dense with fantastic flavor. I will try all of your other recipes now. Thanks!

    1. Hi Kim, how wonderful, thank you so much for letting me know! Bread made with 100% spelt flour will naturally be denser than with wheat flour and of course even denser with all whole grain spelt flour… but some of us enjoy that! 🙂 Let me know if you have any other questions, happy baking!

  11. Can u recommend a kitchen scale? Maybe from amazon? Also is organic whole spelt flour the same as stone ground spelt flour?

    1. Hi Diana, my apologies for taking so long to respond, my Mom passed away last week after a long battle with cancer so I have not been very attentive to my blog. I have a simple Salter electronic scale, I can’t find the exact same model on Amazon but there seems to be quite a selection of electronic scales available. Yes those two flours are the same, stone ground usually has larger flecks of bran in it.

  12. 5 stars
    This is a great loaf. I’ve always wanted to make a loaf of bread without white flour and this recipe was the one that brought me to the other side. Everyone who tried it loved it. Thanks so much for the awesome recipe. I’ve made it twice in just 2 days.

    1. Hey Beverley, this bread definitely takes longer than a lot of other quick bread recipes out there, but the flavor is totally worth it! You can always add a lot more instant yeast which will make everything happen far quicker. When I worked full time away from home I had a specific schedule for making this or any of my other no-knead breads that I thought I’d share with you in case in helps you or someone else. I would mix the dry and wet ingredients separately the evening before and put the wet ingredients in the fridge overnight. In the morning I would mix them together, cover and let rise while I was away at work. The cold water extends the rise time as I didn’t get back home for about 10 hours. After work I would fold and bake it. Anyways, I hope you find a bread recipe that works for you!

  14. 5 stars
    Truely outstanding recipe. For digestive reasons I subbed out the yeast with about 1/3 cup of my sour dough starter and it was perfect. Thanks for a wonderful hearty and healthy recipe.

    1. Wonderful thank you so much Brigitte! Happy to hear it worked out with your sourdough starter too. I haven’t tinkered around yet to turn these recipes intro sourdough ones, but now I have a place to start!

  15. I had to add another cup of water to make this even mixable. I thought I followed the directions exactly. I did use straight organic spelt flour. Would that have made the difference?

    1. Hi Judy, that’s definitely strange that another cup of water was needed. What do you mean when you say “straight organic spelt flour”? I ask because the recipe is a mix of all purpose spelt flour (it should be same colour as all purpose wheat flour) which has no brown pieces of bran in it and whole spelt flour which does. If you instead used all whole spelt flour in this recipe that would likely be why you needed more water.

      1. The flour I used was Arrowhead Mills Organic Spelt Flour–it was quite fine. I will check at Whole Foods to see if they have unbleached all purpose spelt flour and whole spelt flour.

      2. I looked at Whole Foods, and they have the exact same Arrowhead spelt flour I bought and nothing else. Where do I get the flour you are referencing?

        1. Hi Judy, I looked at the Arrowhead Mills Organic Spelt Flour online and it is definitely whole spelt flour, just ground fine. I get all my flours from Anita’s Organic Mill in Chilliwack Canada. Depending on where you are located you might need to order it online from Bob’s Red Mill or Everland. It can be a tricky one to find sometimes.

          1. I did find unbleached spelt flour at Bob’s Red Mill. There’s also a stone ground spelt flour. Can I use organic bread flour mixed with some whole wheat and still get the same results?

          2. Wonderful! The stone ground spelt flour would be a “whole spelt flour” just ground courser than the Arrowhead Mills Organic Spelt Flour. You sure can use wheat flours but you will need to tinker around with the amount of water. In general, anything made with spelt flour needs 20% less moisture (water in this case) so you will likely need about 20% more water if you are using wheat flour. Let me know how it goes!

  16. Breaking america’s addiction to white bread/flour is tough. Why mix white flour with an ancient grain?

    1. This bread is just as yummy made with all whole spelt flour! 🙂 A little more water is needed and the bread will be denser, but the flavor is delicious.

  17. Hi Sophie, I love that you have taken the time to answer all the comments. My comment/question is that your baking style (measuring ingredients, using a hot cast for baking) is very sourdough-ish. However, your recipe calls for yeast. Any suggestions as to how much starter to substitute for the yeast, and if it is even possible?

    1. Hi Alison! I recently tried this out with 100 grams of sourdough starter (one that is 50% water/50% whole flour) and it worked quite nicely. I cut back the whole flour and water in the recipe by 50 grams each to account for the starter, but I feel like it would work just adding 100 grams of starter instead of the yeast without making any other adjustments. I’m going to tinker around with it and hope to have a new blog post up about it soon. If you try it I’d love to know how it goes.

  18. What size dutch oven do you use? I am thinking I need a smaller one. Mine is a 6 quart. Couldn’t find the answer in previous comments, so if you have addressed this- sorry for the inconvience.

    1. Hi Lulynn, I believe mine is around the same size but am not entirely sure anymore since I’ve had them for so long. I measured it and it is 9 inches in diameter. Does that help? Happy baking!

  20. Sophie, yes it does help.
    I was’t able to find the 2nd spelt used. I can I just double the first one? Or use a whole wheat flour?

    1. You can do either! 🙂 If you use all whole spelt flour or all whole wheat flour you will need additional water and the texture of the baked bread will be denser than what you see in my photos, but still very tasty. Alternatively you can substitute all purpose wheat flour for the all purpose spelt flour. Either way you will need to adjust the amount of water as spelt flour needs more moisture than wheat flour and whole flours (spelt, wheat, etc) need more moisture than white flours.

    1. Hi Aneta, you absolutely can used white unbleached flour instead of white spelt flour, however you will need to increase the amount of water by about 25% to achieve similar results. Happy baking!

  23. I came across your post a few months ago while struggling with my sour dough starter. I am now making my 5th loaf and loving the fail proof and versatility of your recipe, which allowed for endless substitution of various flour, seeds, dried fruits and nuts!
    I didn’t have instant yeast so replaced with a couple pinches of dry active yeast and activated using 50ml of the water in your recipe. I also didn’t have all the seeds and used a combination of varying seeds (flax, pumpkin, chia, teff, sesame, steel cut oats, walnuts, millet, etc.). Added a tsp malt for taste and a 1/4 cup milk powder for protein.
    I also prefer a chewier crumb and kneaded it for 5 minutes.
    The dough risen beautifully for 9 hours during the day. The bread always came out gorgeous and we polished the entire loaf for dinner each time! Thanks so much for sharing such a lovely and easy to follow recipe!

  24. What are the measurements for the hot water and lukewarm water in the revised recipe using cup and teaspoons? Can’t wait to try recipe! Thanks

    1. Hi Kathy, apologies for taking so long to respond to your comment! 72mL of hot water is equivalent to 1/3 cup + 1/2 tsp. 300mL of room temperature water is equivalent to 1 cup + 1/8 cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp. You can probably see why I use a kitchen scale. 😉 Happy baking!

  25. Hi Sophie! I’m teying this recipe for the first time and I’m wondering what (if anything) I could tweak to make the dough rise a bit faster next time? I love the recipe but don’t always have an entire day to wait for it. Thanks!

    1. Hi Anne, simply add more yeast and it will rise faster. 🙂 I would start with an additional 1/4 tsp of yeast and go up from there. Happy baking!

    1. Hi Laila, I have never making bread with oat flour, however, spelt flour does have gluten in it and oat flour does not. So if you replaced most or all of the spelt flour with oat flour my assumption is you would end up with a baked brick that likely would not be edible unfortunately.

  27. Wonderful bread! I love the crust! I used all whole spelt flour- bread comes out a little dark compared to regular bread but it is really beautiful… THanks!

    1. Hi Angela, thanks so much for your comment! Puts a smile on my face knowing that someone else is enjoying spelt bread. 🙂 Happy baking!

    1. Hi Antonina, you can, but will likely need to alter the amount of water in the recipe. I make a bread similar to this at work with regular all purpose and whole wheat flour so I would suggest using those. Happy baking!

  32. Hi Sophie! I stumbled across this recipe and let me tell ya, I’m by no means an artisnal anything! This bread came out perfectly. I forgot the flax seeds so subbed it with pine nuts. I also used whole grain spelt only and added around 100ml more water. I didn’t even respect the full 7-8 hour rise time and still, perfect! Thank you so much. I will be using this recipe over and over again.

    1. Hi Leslie, so happy to hear this recipe has been so flexible for you! Pine nuts sound like a delicious substitution, I will have to give that a try sometime. The rise time will always depend on how warm or cool a spot you put the dough in too. Happy baking! 🙂

  33. Hi,

    This recipe looks lovely. Has anyone calculated nutritional information. My husband is Type 2 diabetic but can have limited whole grains. Perhaps there is a app calculator that would work this out for me. I will investigate in the meantime.

    Thank you in advance,
    Roni-Sue

    1. Hi Roni-Sue, I haven’t checked out the nutritional info on this recipe, but just a heads up that it does have all-purpose spelt flour as well as whole grain spelt flour in it so it is not made entirely of whole grains. Hope you find a recipe that works for your hubby!

  34. So nice you are responding all these years to people trying your recipe. I love spelt bread but I have tried it a few different ways and not yours yet and my continuing problem is its doesn’t rise enough. I use 600 grams organic white spelt, 420 grams water, 2 tsps dry yeast, 2.2 tips salt, no honey. My wife is from Portugal and there is never sweet put in the artisan breads. There are regional differences in flours and ingredients but salt flour yeast are universal in the daily bread the price of which, store-bought–is subsidized by the government so everyone can afford it,
    My question is how to get it to rise. I have gotten it almost double but the second rise doesn’t move much.
    Maybe the secret is the 7-8 hrs of the first rise.
    I look forward to your response. Thank you 🙂
    jim

    1. Hi Jim, thanks so much for your response! I have made spelt bread at home many times without using honey since I first created this recipe so the addition of it is not crucial. The first rise is so long because of the very small amount of yeast. I find that spelt does not behave the same as wheat and when I have waited for the dough to rise too far, the bread ends up collapsing or being over proofed. Over time I have found that if I pull back on the amount of time I let it rise (both the first and the second rise) I get better results. However, know that it will never rise like bread made with wheat flours as the gluten in spelt is just not as strong. You can always try mixing spelt with wheat until you achieve the rise you are looking for. Happy baking!

  35. This recipe is delicious and I have made it several times. I have doubled the recipe too without any issues. If you do not have a cast iron pot, a Corning ware/ Pyrex casserole with lide works just as well. Even a stsinless steel
    cooking pot works. Just follow the directions the same as you would for the cast iron.

    1. Hi Jennifer, thanks so much for your comment and it’s great to know that other types of pots have worked for you! Happy baking!

    1. Hi Laila, happy to hear it turned out perfect for your son! 🙂 Unfortunately, gluten free bread is a whole different ballgame and the bread would not turn out at all if you used this recipe and subbed in gluten free flour. I would suggest looking up some gluten free bread recipes online to see if you can find one that will work for you.

      Happy baking!

  37. Hi Sophie, I have to laugh at all the people asking you to do the work of the metric conversions for them, it’s all available on the web. 🙂

    1. Hi Anna, thanks for pointing that out! 😀 It is the only recipe I have given conversions for since it seems to be quite popular but won’t be doing so on other recipes. I think more and more people are coming to realize that when it comes to bread baking getting an inexpensive scale and weighing all the ingredients is far more accurate. 🙂

  38. Hi Sophie. What size cast iron pan do you use? With coronavirus around, I will need to order one with my groceries. The only size is 5 qt. Will that work?

    1. Hi Jill, yes the 5 qt size should be just right. I use my 5 qt one, sometimes I use a larger oval one I have or the clay roaster I’ve got. You can also bake directly on a baking pan if you have something oven proof and tall enough to place over top to hold in the steam. Hoping you family is safe and healthy.

      Happy baking!

  39. Hi and thank you for sharing your recipe, Sophie. It looks wonderful, like really it could be “The One.” My blocker is that I’m drowning in flour and of course I don’t have spelt. How do you feel about using some combination or King Arthur Special Patent Bread Flour, King Arthur all purpose, Trader Joes all purpose, dark rye flour, and whole wheat? Any pointers on which, how, or in what proportion to sub? Thanks in advance!

    1. Hi Serena, my apologies for the late reply, my blog has taken a back seat lately as we welcomed a little girl into our family on May 1. The easiest sub would be bread flour or all purpose flour for the white spelt flour and whole wheat for the whole spelt flour. You may need a little less water for the dough, but that’s it. 🙂 Let me know how it goes. Happy baking!

  40. Thank you for the flour notes and congrats on your baby! The bread made to spec with bread flour and white whole wheat subbed in was delicious. I married a tough bread critic, a German, so that’s a real compliment! 🙂

    1. Hi Serena, thank you so much! I am so happy that your tough bread critic enjoyed it, my Opa, great-Opa and great-great-Opa (who were all bread bakers) would be very proud. 🙂 Happy baking!

  43. Your recipe and the Vimeo demonstration for folding the dough are beautiful. Thank you so much for this! However I’m not sure whether to follow the Vimeo or your written instructions. The video indicates repeating the process of folding and resting 3 times (actually 4 times, but one of them just reinforces the ease with which you do it). But you only fold and rest it twice in the written recipe. Also you use dampened fingers in the video, but lightly floured hands in the written instructions. I’ve never made bread in my life, so I am nervous.

    1. Hi Chris, thank you so much! And thanks for pointing out those differences. That video was made a fairly long time after I first published this recipe so I know my techniques probably changes over that time. Folding and resting twice is the minimum, I would stick with that. Folding it more times simply helps build the dough, especially when its a wet, slack dough like the one in the recipe. You can use dampened or floured hands, it’s really whatever you prefer. I find that I still go back and forth depending on the dough. The point is simply to be able to manipulate with dough without it sticking all over your fingers and without adding a bunch of water or flour to it while you do. I would suggest trying dampened fingers first, just make sure to give your hands a shake so there is just a little water on them and re-dampen if needed. Happy baking!

  44. I made it today first time, it is amazing, so delicious, one of the best bread recipes I tried. Very precise instructions.
    Thank you!

    1. Hi Yocheved, thank you so much for you comment, I love hearing about how the recipe turned out for other people. Happy baking!

  45. I forgot to follow-up after my first bread-baking experience 2 weeks ago. FANTASTIC! I was nervous for nothing- a gorgeous piece of art emerged from my oven, rivaled only by its texture and flavor. Thank you so much for this. Today I made your Sunflower Flax Spelt recipe. How will I ever eat store bought again?

    1. Hi Chris, I’m so happy it turned out so well for you! Store bought bread is a hard one to go back to once you get the hang of making your own bread, that’s for sure. Happy baking!

  47. Dear Sophie!
    Thank you for the excellent recipe! I made a 1.5 amount and it made a nice big loaf. It’s waiting to pair a new year‘s eve stew, but I couldn’t help myself to taste a slice beforehand. It is absolutely delicious!!! The video instructions are also really helpful!

  48. Hi Sophie,
    I am pretty experienced with whole grain breads, but NOT the no knead kind. I am using all 100% whole grain spelt flour for this recipe, but don’t know what the just mixed dough should look like texture and hydration wise. It seemed quite dense to me, so I added a little splash of extra water. Either a description of the mixed dough (video!!) or an amount of extra water to add if using all whole grain would be most helpful. Too late for this time though, as it’s already made and sitting on the counter proofing, so the information would be for the next time! Hopefully this one will work out well!
    Thank you!
    Sherry

    1. Hi Sherry, funny timing as I have been testing a no knead 100% whole grain spelt bread over the past few weeks. It should be up on my blog in a couple weeks. The biggest difference is I added more water so the total hydration is higher than this seedy spelt bread recipe. I’d be curious to know how your loaf turned out! Happy baking!

  49. Thanks for the response! The loaf turned out very tasty, but a little too dense and moist for my taste. I baked it using the Dutch oven method. It was definitely better toasted than plain. I will await your 100% tested version!
    Thanks,
    Sherry

    1. Glad to hear it! There is no real way to get around the density of a 100% whole grain loaf, that’s just the nature of whole grain flour. Looking forward to hearing what you think about my whole grain version.

  50. I have to disagree with you about the density of 100%. My go-to recipe is 100% whole wheat. I usually sub in some other whole grains such as oats, barley, and quinoa for a small portion of the wheat, then I also add sunflower seeds, millet and flax. I use an ankarsrum mixer which I LOVE (I think I could mix cement in that machine), and my same day 100%’s come out as soft and fluffy as any white flour bread.
    I hope to see the 100% recipe soon.
    Thanks,
    Sherry

    1. I don’t doubt that your whole grain loaf is soft and fluffy, however, a whole grain spelt loaf made with the no knead method I like to use will definitely produce a more dense loaf than other methods and/or flours.

  51. Hi Sophie! I wanted to let you know I am part of your huge fan base. I was introduced to this bread by a friend and promptly fell in love … got the ingredients and tried it myself. YUM! Questions – I see that this recipe calls for additional flour for the folding part, but another bread just calls for wet hands and no additional flour. Can you explain the difference? Secondly, sea salt is in larger flakes than regular table salt. Should it be ground or are the flakes OK as they are? Thank you. Carol

    1. Hi Carol, a huge fan base you say? I am flattered! 🙂 I have had this questions a few times and that’s my fault for showing it and talking about it in different ways. Either extra flour or wet hands will work. When I started out I used wet hands because I ended up using too much extra flour when trying to fold/shape the dough. Now I use extra flour because I am much more comfortable folding/shaping with just a touch of extra flour. Also, the sea salt I use is not flaked, it is fine sea salt like table salt. If all you have is flaked sea salt I would suggest using table salt instead. Happy baking!

  52. I love this bread! I used organic all purpose flour instead of the all purpose spelt flour and swapped the grains for Bob’s Red Mill 9 grains mix and it turned out amazing, I am already making a second loaf! This recipe is a great base for trying different grains, I’m in love! Thanks!

  53. I like the taste and how simple this recipe is but, can someone share some advice. Every time I make this bread no matter how delicate I try to be with the dough, somehow the loaf seem to drop n come out a bit on the flat ish side.

    1. Hi Yanis, it sounds like you may be over proofing the dough before baking it. Have you tried the finger poke test? Along with watching the clock I usually poke the tip of my finger into the dough to see if it’s ready to bake. If it springs back slowly and the dent does not fill in, it is ready to bake.

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