Spelt Sourdough Bread for Beginners – Soft & Crusty

This beginner spelt sourdough bread has a crisp, shattering crust and tender crumb. A simple bread scald keeps it moist and delicious.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

A crusty loaf of beginner friendly white spelt sourdough bread with added bread scald, resting on a crinkled piece of parchment paper on a black cooling rack.

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know my heart belongs to bread baked with fresh-milled flour. But every now and then, a simple white loaf absolutely has its place.

This beginner-friendly white spelt sourdough is soft, tender, and easy to love, with none of the dryness spelt is famous for. I recently shared a guide on the Traditional German Stale Bread Scald, and this loaf is a perfect example of where that technique really shines: plain breads where texture matters just as much as flavor. The scald keeps the crumb moist and tender, while the crust bakes up thin, crisp, and shatteringly good.

If you’re new to spelt sourdough, this is an excellent place to start. It’s easy to handle, versatile, and well suited to everyday baking, whether you’re serving it with soup, turning it into sandwiches, or slathering it with butter and jam.

It’s the kind of loaf that disappears quickly. The one you keep slicing “just a little more” of before dinner, without thinking twice.

Why You’ll Love This Spelt Sourdough Bread Recipe

Spelt is an ancient grain with a naturally sweet, nutty flavor and a lighter gluten that many people find easier to digest. It needs to be handled a little differently than wheat, but with the right technique, it yields a flavorful, crusty loaf with a tender crumb.

A stale bread scald in the formula helps prevent the most common issue with lean spelt sourdough: a crumb that dries out too quickly. It also adds subtle depth of flavor and helps the bread stay fresher for longer. By allowing the dough to stay at a lower hydration, the scald avoids having to add more water and deal with a high-hydration dough.

The result is a versatile, beginner-friendly loaf that’s perfect for everyday eating. Delicious on its own or as a sandwich, it’s also a great side to soups and other simple meals.

Hand holding two halves of a cut spelt sourdough loaf, bottom to bottom, showing the even crumb; crinkled parchment and a black wire rack on a white surface are in the background.

Why Spelt Needs Different Handling

Spelt is an ancient grain and a direct ancestor of our modern wheat. While it has more protein overall, it forms a weaker gluten. The result is a dough that handles a little differently from modern wheat.

Its gluten is more extensible but less elastic: it can stretch, but it struggles to hold its shape. As a result, spelt loaves are usually smaller because the dough can’t trap gas as effectively.

Spelt dough also needs lower hydration (60-62% in this recipe). Adding too much water will make the dough collapse. Always add water slowly (5 grams at a time) and feel your way to a well-hydrated, manageable dough.

Visual clues are more reliable than volume. Don’t wait for the dough to fully double. Look for a lot of small gas bubbles just under the surface. Combined with a dough that’s nearly doubled, this is your best indicator that bulk fermentation is complete.

Finally, because spelt loaves tend to dry out faster, adding a scald or water-roux helps retain moisture. This keeps the dough manageable while producing a soft, tender crumb.

Tools You May Need

Danish Dough Whisk My favorite mixing tool when baking by hand.

Medium Bowl If you can, choose a bowl that is just big enough. It makes it so much easier to gauge rise.

Banneton Basket Or use a medium bowl lined with a clean tea towel.

Dutch (Bread) Oven (Optional) Cast iron pots are the most efficient way to create steam and a stable temperature for baking bread at home, especially in older ovens.

Bread Lame, Razor Blade, or another super sharp blade

Two slices of spelt sourdough bread on a black wire rack over a chipped white wooden surface, with crumbs scattered around.

	Feed your starter the night before so it’s active and bubbly in the morning. Prepare the stale bread scald and leave to cool while the starter rises.
08:00 AM	Mix all ingredients into a shaggy dough.
08:30 aM	Perform 3-4 round of stretch and folds, spaced 20-30 minutes apart.
10:00 aM	Bulk ferment until roughly doubled and bubbly beneath the surface.
05:30 PM	Shape the dough and proof in a banneton basket at room temperature for 30–60 minutes.
06:30 PM	Preheat oven and dutch oven. (Optional: rest the banneton in the fridge.)
07:00 PM	Score your bread and transfer it to the hot dutch oven. Close the lid and bake.
07:20 pm	Take off the lid and keep baking.
07:40 pm	Remove the baked bread from the dutch oven and let cool.

	Feed your starter in the afternoon so it’s active and bubbly in at night. Prepare the stale bread scald and leave to cool while the starter rises.
09:00 pm	Mix all ingredients into a shaggy dough.
09:30 pm	Perform 3-4 round of stretch and folds, spaced 20-30 minutes apart.
11:00 pm	Bulk ferment until roughly doubled and bubbly beneath the surface.
06:30 am	Shape the dough and proof in a banneton basket at room temperature for 30–60 minutes.
08:00 aM	Preheat oven and dutch oven. (Optional: rest the banneton in the fridge.)
08:30 aM	Score your bread and transfer it to the hot dutch oven. Close the lid and bake.
08:50 am	Take off the lid and keep baking.
09:10 am	Remove the baked bread from the dutch oven and let cool.

Ingredients & Substitutions

Stale Bread
Replacing a small portion of the flour with roasted, dried bread and scalding it with boiling water not only locks in moisture, it also carries a subtle roasted bread flavor over into your next loaf. If you’ve never used one before, I’ve put together a guide on Adding a Stale Bread Scald to Any Bread Dough, which shows you how to choose and prep leftover bread and calculate and prepare the scald itself.

White Spelt Flour
Choose a high-quality all-purpose or plain spelt flour, the kind you’d normally use for cakes. If you’d like to blend in whole spelt or some fresh-milled flour, increase hydration slightly.

Sourdough Starter (100% Hydration)
Use active, bubbly starter that’s been fed within the last 4-6 hours. If you keep your starter in the fridge, make sure it’s been fed within the last 7 days.

How to Make Spelt Sourdough Bread (Step-by-Step)

Step 01

Prepare the Scald

Stale bread scald blended into a smooth paste, ready to use in bread dough.

Weigh your stale bread crumbs or chunks into a small bowl or mixing container. Pour over boiling water, making sure all pieces are submerged. Cover and let cool to room temperature.
Depending on the coarseness of your bread, you can either leave the scalded crumbs as-is or blend larger pieces of bread into a thick paste with an immersion blender.

Step 02

Pre-Mix

Top-down view of a white ceramic bowl on a wooden counter containing shaggy spelt sourdough dough, with a Danish dough whisk resting inside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the water, salt, 100g of the stale bread scald, and sourdough starter. Swirl or whisk until mostly combined.

Add the spelt flour and, using either your hands or a Danish dough whisk, bring everything together into a shaggy dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

Step 03

Stretch & Folds

Hand lifting a portion of spelt sourdough dough from a white ceramic bowl during stretch and folds, on a wooden kitchen counter.

Wet your hands. Grab one side of the dough, stretch it gently, and fold it over itself. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat at least three more times, until you feel tension building in the dough.

Let the dough rest 20–30 minutes, then repeat for 3–6 total sets, resting between each round.

Step 04

Bulk Fermentation

Once the final fold is done, cover the bowl and let the dough bulk ferment until it’s almost doubled and dotted with tiny bubbles underneath (usually 6-8 hours at room temperature, but check your dough rather than the clock).

You can find step-by-step images of the shaping process in my Whole Grain Soft Wheat Sourdough Bread recipe.

Step 05

Shape & Proof

Side view of glossy, proofed spelt sourdough dough in a banneton, showing small bubbles beneath the surface.

Lightly flour a banneton basket, and lightly flour your counter and the top of the dough.

Wet your hands and gently release the dough from the sides of the bowl. Turn it out, smooth side down, and shape into a rectangle. Fold the top third down, the bottom third up, then fold the sides towards the middle. Flip seam side down, cup your hands around the dough, and gently pull it toward you to build surface tension. Place it seam side up in your prepared banneton.

Cover with a clean plastic bag or shower cap. Let it rest at room temperature for 30–90 minutes (or in the fridge for up to 12 hours).

Step 06

Score & Bake

Shaped spelt sourdough dough on crinkled parchment paper with a deep score down the center, ready for baking.

Preheat your oven to 250°C (480–500°F) with a Dutch oven inside for at least 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto parchment paper and score it down the middle with a sharp blade. Carefully place the dough into the hot Dutch oven.

Bake covered for 20 minutes at 210°C (410–420°F), then uncover and bake another 20 minutes until golden and crisp. The loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Halved spelt sourdough loaf with a golden middle and flour-dusted sides, halves slightly offset on crinkled brown parchment.

Tips & Troubleshooting

If the dough feels very tight during mixing, let it rest until your first round of stretch and folds before adding more water. This gives the flour time to fully hydrate. If it still feels tight after that, add more water (5 grams at a time during each round of stretch and folds).
During stretch and folds, the dough should feel extensible but not slack. If it really puts up a fight, or you find yourself lifting the whole dough instead of stretching one section at a time, that’s a sign it needs more water.
If you notice large bubbles just beneath the surface while shaping, gently pop them with your fingers or the sharp tip of a bench scraper.
Fermentation and proofing times will vary depending on starter strength and ambient temperature.
To make parchment paper easier to work with, scrunch it into a tight ball, then flatten it back out. Repeat once or twice. This makes the paper more flexible and helps it fit neatly around the dough in the Dutch oven as it expands.
For a crispier, shattering crust, briefly open the oven door during the last 5 minutes of baking to release steam.

Variations

Switch the Scald
If you don’t have stale bread to use up, you can replace the bread scald with a tangzhong roux. Instead of 25g stale bread, cook 25g spelt flour with 125g water until thickened (there’s no need to bring it to a boil). Let it cool to room temperature, then mix it in with the rest of the ingredients. Reduce the water in the dough formula by 50g.
Add Seeds
A plain spelt sourdough is lovely and versatile, but seeds are an easy way to change things up. Roll the shaped dough in sesame seeds or your favorite mix before baking. A poppy-seed crust, in particular, makes an excellent breakfast loaf (especially with butter and honey).
Heartier Loaf
For a sturdier, slightly more rustic loaf, you can blend in up to 20% whole spelt flour. Adjust the water as necessary.

How to Serve Spelt Sourdough Bread

Slice of spelt sourdough bread on a light blue-grey plate, cut in half, one side spread with butter, the other with Nutella and flaky sea salt, on a chipped white wooden surface with scattered crumbs.

If you’re one of those people that needs a white loaf to enjoy sweet toppings (zero judgement), this one’s for you. It has well-rounded flavor, leans both sweet and savory, and eats alarmingly easy.

With a shattering crust and tender crumb, it tastes a lot like French bread and is just as versatile.

Dunk it into soup, turn it into a gourmet grilled cheese, or top with jam, cheese, deli cuts, or whatever else your heart desires. (Though if you ask me, this loaf is secretly destined for butter, Nutella, and a sprinkling of flaky sea salt.)

How to Store & Freeze

Spelt sourdough bread keeps its crust crisp at room temperature. Once the loaf is cut, wrap it airtight (either in a plastic freezer bag or another airtight container) to prevent it from drying out. For best texture and flavor, enjoy within 3-4 days.

Once wrapped, the crust will soften. To bring the crispiness back, simply toast or brown individual slices.

To freeze, you can store the loaf whole or sliced for up to 2–3 months. Wrap tightly in a plastic freezer bag, pressing out as much air as possible. If freezing slices, separate them with parchment paper. Thaw the loaf at room temperature overnight, or toast slices straight from frozen.

Recipe FAQs

Yes, but you’ll lose some depth of flavor and the crumb will be drier. It will still taste delicious, but be sure to wrap the loaf well for storing.

Yes, this should work well. I can’t test it in my kitchen because my 30+ year old fridge doesn’t get cool enough, but this is exactly the right kind of loaf for cold proofing.
Place the shaped dough into a well-floured banneton, wrap it in a clean plastic bag, and proof in the fridge for 2-12 hours. The loaf can go straight from the fridge into a preheated Dutch oven.

It depends. Spelt is an ancient grain that’s rich in minerals and lower in overall gluten. It contains more protein than wheat, but that protein forms a weaker gluten structure. This is why spelt is often considered easier to digest, though it’s not gluten-free.
Keep in mind that commercial milling destroys many of the nutrients in flour. Between white spelt bread and a white wheat bread, the nutritional difference is small, and both benefit similarly from sourdough fermentation. If gluten sensitivity is a concern, spelt bread may be a better option.

Yes, you can substitute 20% whole spelt or fresh-milled flour without dramatically changing the texture. Add 5-10g more water during mixing, and adjust water as needed during stretch and folds.
If you plan to use 100% whole-grain flour, you’ll likely need to increase the hydration further.

If you make this Spelt Sourdough Bread…

I’d love to hear how it turned out!

Let me know in the comments below.
Leave a star rating.
Or save it for later on Pinterest!

P.S. If you want to keep baking with spelt, you might love these recipes too:

happy baking!

Prep Time:10

Cook Time:40

Bulk Rest and Proofing Time:10

Total Time:10 50

Servings:14 slices

Calories:132kcal

Equipment

large mixing bowl
danish dough whisk
dutch oven
immersion blender - (optional, for an extra smooth bread scald)

Ingredients

Scald Ingredients

30 g stale bread - plain or roasted
90 g boiling water

Dough Ingredients

100 g stale bread scald
215-225 g water
10 g salt
100 g sourdough starter - active and bubbly
475 g white spelt flour

Instructions