The easiest and the quickest German spelt bread recipe made with minimum staple ingredients and no proofing time. Make this delicious whole grain spelt sandwich bread that is ready in just 1 hour and will last for a week. 
This post was originally published on August 5, 2015 and updated on August 17, 2022 by Elena Szeliga with a few changes to the original recipe (read below).
Whole Grain Spelt Bread
If I were to choose the best food smell in the world, it would most definitely be the scent of freshly baked bread. Crispy crust, fluffy crumb, nutty and sweetish flavor of a whole grain bread… This recipe has it all.
Making bread from scratch doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, this is one of the easiest spelt bread recipes out there. See the quick steps in this spelt bread web story.
Simple ingredients like flour, water, yeast and salt combine together to make this easy and delicious spelt loaf that doesn't require long kneading and proofing time. This is achieved by placing the loaf into a cold oven, so the proofing is done directly in the oven.
What is Spelt Bread?
Spelt bread is made out of regular spelt flour, whole grain spelt flour or a blend of spelt and wheat flour. Just like brown bread, spelt bread is very popular in Germany. This recipe uses 100% whole grain spelt flour but you can use a 50-50 ratio of regular and whole grain spelt flour.
Spelt Bread Benefits
Spelt is one of the oldest cultivated crops, better digestible, and with a broader scale of nutrients. It is packed with healthy organic compounds, vitamins and minerals.
Is Spelt Bread Healthier Than Wheat?
Yes, spelt is an excellent choice if you would like to substitute wheat with a healthier equivalent (see benefits above). It's more clean and organic, because spelt needs much less fertilizers than wheat.
Does Spelt Bread Have Gluten?
Yes, spelt contains gluten, although its gluten structure is weaker than wheat.
How to Use Spelt Flour
Just as an idea, you can use spelt flour also for pizza dough or savory tart crust. It has a very distinguishable nutty flavor, which makes it good for cakes and pies as well.
Baking With Spelt Flour
There are a few things to mention about spelt flour before you start baking with it.
- The first thing is that spelt flour naturally proves and rises faster than wheat flour. That's why this recipe has no proofing time. It actually rises in the oven!
- Spelt flour bread needs less liquid than other types of flour. So in case you want to substitute wheat with spelt, you'd need to add water slowly and gradually and you will most likely need less of it.
- As with the wheat flour, it is better to measure spelt flour by weight than by volume (cups), as the density of different flour types vary, as well as humidity in your house. I recommend to use gram measurements for this spelt flour bread, keeping in mind that you might need a bit more flour if your dough is too sticky.
- Spelt flour requires shorter kneading time than wheat flour. It makes it easy to overknead, which is not a good thing. The optimal kneading time is 5 minutes by hand or using the dough attachment of your stand mixer on low speed.
- Sifting flour helps enrich it with oxygen, making the bread more fluffy and airy. If you are sifting whole grain flour, just put the sifted parts of bran back to the sifted flour.
Baking Time
Baking time for bread recipes with spelt depends on your oven and on the size of the baking pan you used, and varies anywhere between 45 and 60 minutes. Mine is usually done after 50 minutes.
When you are not sure, whether your spelt bread is baked through, just tap the bottom of the pan and if the if it sounds hollow, the bread is done. Otherwise, continue baking it for some more minutes.
Spelt Bread Ingredients
- Whole grain spelt flour (can be substituted for regular)
- Dry active yeast
- Lukewarm water
- Sea salt
- Apple cider vinegar
- Olive oil to grease the baking form
Top Tips
- Make this easy spelt bread recipe whenever you crave a nice homemade sandwich bread that is ready in 1 hour.
- This recipe requires a very short kneading time and no proof time as the bread rises right in the oven.
- Spelt is a great choice if you are looking for a healthier equivalent to wheat.
- You can use a 50-50 ratio of regular and whole grain spelt flour in this recipe.
- Make sure not to overknead the dough. Slowly knead it for 5 minutes by hand or using a hook attachment of a stand mixer.
- If you want your bread to to be extra crusty, take it out of the form when it's baked through and bake for additional 10 minutes.
- To check whether the loaf is baked through, tap the bottom of the baking pan and if it sounds hollow, the bread is done. Otherwise, bake it for some more minutes.
- Don't slice the bread directly after baking. Let it cool on a wire rack before slicing.
- Store the bread loaf in an airtight bag in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.
Recipe Variations
- You can use fresh yeast in this recipe (one ¼ oz package dry active yeast equals ¾ oz fresh yeast).
- You can use lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar.
- If you like a little prickliness, you can either add soaked seeds of your choice (pumpkin, sunflower, chia, hemp seeds or pine nuts). Alternatively, add soaked and cooked spelt grains or other grains to the bread. Soaking ensures that the bread isn't dry.
- Use any type of high heat resistant oils instead of olive oil like sunflower, canola, avocado, sesame or peanut oil.
- To make this bread oil-free, line your baking form with parchment paper, instead of greasing it with oil.
More great bread recipes
Whole Grain Spelt Bread
Ingredients
- 1 package (7 g or ¼ oz) dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 ½ cups or 400 ml lukewarm water
- 3 cups or 500 g spelt flour (or whole grain spelt flour)
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon olive oil to grease the form
Instructions
- Put yeast and sugar in lukewarm water, stir and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rest for 10 min. Sift the spelt flour (use normal or whole grain) in a large bowl.
- Add flour, salt and apple cider vinegar and knead for 5 min (by hand or using a dough attachment hook of your stand mixer).
- Take a 26 x 12 cm (10 x 4.5 inch) loaf form. Grease it with oil (or line with parchment paper). Transfer the dough into the form. Put the form into the cold oven. Heat it to 400 F or 200 C. Bake the bread for 50 min.
- Remove the bread from the oven and turn the form upside down. If the bread doesn't come out easily, bake it for additional 10-15 min. If the bread comes out easily from the form, but you want your it to be crusty, put it back in the oven without a form and bake for 10 more min. Cool the bread loaf on a wire rack before slicing. Enjoy!
Notes
Top Tips
- Make this easy spelt bread recipe whenever you crave a nice homemade sandwich bread that is ready in 1 hour.
- This recipe requires a very short kneading time and no proof time as the bread rises right in the oven.
- Spelt is a great choice if you are looking for a healthier equivalent to wheat.
- You can use a 50-50 ratio of regular and whole grain spelt flour in this recipe.
- Make sure not to overknead the dough. Slowly knead it for 5 minutes by hand or using a hook attachment of a stand mixer.
- If you want your bread to to be extra crusty, take it out of the form when it's baked through and bake for additional 10 minutes.
- To check whether the loaf is baked through, tap the bottom of the baking pan and if it sounds hollow, the bread is done. Otherwise, bake it for some more minutes.
- Don’t slice the bread directly after baking. Let it cool on a wire rack before slicing.
- Store the bread loaf in an airtight bag in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.
Recipe Variations
- You can use fresh yeast in this recipe (one ¼ oz package dry active yeast equals ¾ oz fresh yeast).
- You can use lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar.
- If you like a little prickliness, you can either add soaked seeds of your choice (pumpkin, sunflower, chia, hemp seeds or pine nuts). Alternatively, add soaked and cooked spelt grains or other grains to the bread. Soaking ensures that the bread isn’t dry.
- Use any type of high heat resistant oils instead of olive oil like sunflower, canola, avocado, sesame or peanut oil.
- To make this bread oil-free, line your baking form with parchment paper, instead of greasing it with oil.
Wayne says
Way too salty. I used your recipe but wish I had drastically cut back on the salt. Bread recipes typically call for 1.5 teaspoons of salt, not 1 tablespoon. I wonder if this was a typographical error or you love overly salty bread.
Elena Szeliga says
Hi Wayne, I like it salty but I totally understand that taste can vary, especially with bread. I’ll make a note in the recipe for others to adjust to their preference. Appreciate you trying it and taking the time to comment! 😊
Kristina Geary says
For nutritional purposes, how many servings and is the nutritional info per slice?? Working with macros.
Elena Szeliga says
If you cut the loaf in 20 slices, then it's about 144 kcal per slice. Hope that helps!
Chip says
If you are not gluten sensitive add a couple of tablespoons of vital gluten flour. The bread will rise much taller and lighter.
Elena Szeliga says
Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely try it.
John says
Didn't rise!
Elena Szeliga says
I'm sorry it didn't rise! The most common reason for this is that the yeast wasn't fresh or wasn't stored correctly. Hope it works for you next time!
Kathleen Kulman says
Update:
Adding the salt directly to the yeast keeps the yeast from growing and doing its job to make thr loaf rise.
There was no sweetener for the yeast to eat, resulting in decreased loft/dense bread.
Kathleen Kulman says
Too salty - used the Tablespoon but a teaspoon seems like it should suffice for 3 C flour.
Resulting crumb was dense but good with a short loaf & good oven spring with no proofing as advertised.
However, some proofing would’ve helped the texture & the loaf was very short with a tear on top from the lack of proofing.
Adding the salt directly to Thursday inhibits the yeast & there was no sweetener for the yeast to eat, resulting in decreased loft.
I was intrigued by this being a German loaf & would like to learn more about it’s history & what makes it German.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Elena Szeliga says
@Kathleen Kulman, Hi Kathleen, thanks for your feedback! Actually you don't need sweeteners to help bread rise, as yeast works on the carbohydrates in the flour, converting them to alcohol and CO2.
I'm sorry the bread was too salty for you. I actually like it salty but I'll make a note about this in the recipe.
When I was developing this recipe, I was going for no-proof bread that people can quickly put together without waiting for it to proof. Spelt flour is quite gluten-dense that allows it to rise quite well in the oven. Of course the lack of proofing can affect the texture. I tested this recipe with and without proofing and found out that no-proofing bread is actually closer to the texture to German spelt breads. Spelt flour is very popular in Germany, and every bakery sells loafs similar to this one. That was what I was trying to replicate with this recipe. Hope you can adjust it to your taste and bake a beautiful loaf next time!
Cheryl says
I made this following the recipe exactly as given and I'm so pleased with the result. Beautifully moist loaf and easy to slice and so tasty! It is very quick and easy to make too. I have been buying spelt bread from my local bakery but wasn't happy with their product and it's very expensive. I have tried some other recipes but this one rocks! Thankyou Elena!!!
Elena Szeliga says
I'm so happy that you enjoyed the recipe, Cheryl! 🙂 I really appreciate your kind feedback
Wiley says
When to add the oats?
Elena Szeliga says
Hi Wiley, oats are for dusting the greased pan. You don't have to add them to the dough.
Maggie says
Why is there 10 paragraphs about the smell of bread and no instructions on baking. I have never made bread before and I added all the water to the four right away! What a mess 🥺 I went to a grocery store far far away to get spelt flour to make this recipe and I was super excited to make it. I will never understand why food bloggers write these long boring drawn out articles and so few instructions on making the item. I probably wrecked this and I have one bag of spelt flour. Should I post this ball of wet nast and tag happy kitchen in it? So lame
Elena Szeliga says
Hi Maggie, I'm sorry that this recipe hasn't work out for you. I always recommend to read the recipe in full before beginning to cook, to avoid situations like this. I hope it works out for you next time!
StanFL says
Thanks for the recipe. Yours is the only one I found which show how to incorporate whole grains (not flour) into bread. If it turns out well, I will try other grains as well. Hopefully, crunchiness can be controlled by soaking and boiling time.
Elena Szeliga says
I hope you enjoy this recipe, Stan! Let me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Miguel says
Hi,
The sunflower oil was just for the form?, I did not see a step to add it to the mix anywhere
thanks!
Miguel
Elena Szeliga says
Hi Miguel, yes! Oil is for the greasing only. Let me know how the bread turned out!
Elena
Gail says
I'm assuming that you are using the dry measurement for the 150 grams of spelt grains (i.e. precooked weight)? I was just wondering because my cooked spelt grains weighed almost 300 grams and that seemed like a lot, when combined with 500 grams of flour, for one loaf? But I love the way your sliced bread looked and I want to make that!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you, Gail! You are right, the spelt is measured dry. I have to bake this bread again to check how much the cooked grains would weight. 300 grams seems a bit too much for me, too. I would gradually add them while kneading, until you feel like the dough is he right consistency. It should be just a bit wet. Hope it works for you, Gail! Please let me know how it comes out.
Tim Rhind says
is there a substitute for beet syrup?
Elena Szeliga says
Good question, Tim! You can actually use any syrup you have on hand: agave syrup, tamarind syrup or even molasses.
JMR says
HONEY!!!
Oh for goodness sake people...
VEGANs..plz...get over it...USE freaking honey...
Elena Szeliga says
I'm sorry but there is no honey in this recipe...