Saturday, January 29, 2011

Seedy Spelt Mini-Loaves

It wasn’t enough for me to just post some photos of some food I made randomly on my other blog. My food needed its own. Thus, The Peckish Pear was born.

I moved to Glasgow, Scotland in January to do a semester at the Glasgow School of Art, but much to my chagrin, we were told we’d have to buy everything for the kitchen – pots, pans, dishes, forks, knives, pot holders, everything. I thought to myself Self! I lack necessary funds to stock a kitchen whatever will I do!?

Well, I bought a wok and a saucepan. I happened upon some mini loaf pans that I could at least bring home with me. I don’t have a pasta maker – which almost kills me – but I’ll manage.

I’ve been cooking for a few weeks now and I wish I could go back and recapture those meals for you, but I can’t.

So, I will begin here with Seedy Spelt Mini-loaves.

I was determined to use those mini loaf pans so I went to buy some flour. Spelt caught my eye and I said: why the heck not?

I didn’t have any measuring cups.

Then some seeded flour caught my eye and I said: why the heck not?

I didn’t have any measuring cups.

The flour sat there for a few weeks.

I finally ordered some measuring cups and started making the dough.

Here’s what I did:

1 Cup lukewarm water

½ tbs granulated yeast

½ tbs salt

1 cup spelt flour

1 cup flour with seeds

  1. Mix the warm water with the yeast and salt.
  2. Put in the flour and mix until it’s all incorporated. This is a no-knead recipe which is great because it’s fast and easy.
  3. Let the dough rise for about two hours – until it has doubled.
  4. Pull off a piece and pull its outer edges in toward the middle a few times and shape it to fit in the pan. The pan should be about half full. This was enough dough for me to make about six mini loaves.
  5. Let them rise (again, I know) for about twenty minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit.
  6. Bake for about a half hour.
And Voila! A scrumptious little loaf that's great for breakfast, or with dinner!