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This is one of my favourites recipes, made from one of my favourites flours; freshly milled spelt flour. It’s a relatively simple method to create a beautiful light kids sourdough loaf. We’ll also use wholemeal flour which will lighten the dough, and is notably a great way to get wholegrain into kids. 

It will take between 16-32 hours but it’s well worth the time, and you will truly love your final product; real bread made from the three main ingredients of real bread; flour, salt and water. 

What You’ll Need

700g of water (filtered or tap) 

25 g of salt 

1 kilo fresh flour (800 g of spelt flour , 200g of wholemeal flour if you have both ) 

300 g starter

A large bowl

A small tin loaf tin  

A blade for scoring

Method

Stage One

1.   In your large bowl, mix together the two flours. Your bowl should be 80% spelt and 20% wholemeal. If you don’t have both flours, regular fresh flour will do just as well. Mix it around with your hand in a claw shape until its combined, then add the salt and mix again, ‘loosening’ the dry ingredients. 
2. Make a well in the centre of your mix and add all of your water. We use filtered water, but as mentioned above, tap water works perfectly too.
3. Take your starter. We use a 30% starter (see notes below for elaboration on hydration percentages), and add it to your mix. 
4. Holding the bowl with one hand, use your other hand to begin to work the dough. This movement should begin in the centre, bringing the ingredients from the centre outwards to combine them. Don’t worry if it seems wet, wetter dough means fresher bread. When you’ve brought all the ingredients in the bowl together, begin to knead the dough against the bowl, tilted upwards slightly to knead it into shape. 
5. Continue to knead and work the dough for 3-5 minutes. 
6. When your mix has come together, set it aside and leave it at room temperature for 2-4hrs depending on the temperature of the room to prove*.  

**The proving times we suggest throughout are intentionally vague; proving depends on the temperature of your kitchen, so the most important thing is that dough will have doubled in size. It will be active, fluffy and have expanded significantly.

  7. Then, leave the dough in the fridge for approximately sixteen hours. 

Stage Two (16 Hours Later)

8. Remove your dough from the fridge, it should have expanded and feel much stronger now as you take it from the bowl.

9. Separate the dough into portions. If you have a smaller tin loaf, weigh each one to be 600g, and for a large family pan loaf, weigh each one at 1 kilo.

10. Now begin to fold the dough to form the ‘pre-shape’. Tuck the edges and move into a shape as shown on the video. When this is complete, leave it to relax for 10-15 minutes. 

11. Line your tin with oil. We like to use rapeseed oil for this recipe, but any oil will do. This will stop the bread sticking to the tin, so don’t forget to do it! 

12. Shape the bread into it’s final shape, alike the tin’s shape, and put it in. Now in the tin, leave the dough at room temperature for 1-3 hrs to prove again before placing in the fridge for 8-10 hours. 

Stage Three (Approx 3-8 Hours Later)

13. Use your blade to score along the side of the dough as suited. It will have doubled in size in the tin by now.

14. Place your dough in the oven at 220 degrees for  around 25 minutes until fully baked. 

Things to Note

• Try to avoid adding more flour when kneading or any at stage; wetter dough means fresher bread. 
• Using wholemeal flour is not only a great way to get nutrients into kids, but it adds a lovely, soft nutty tasting texture.
• Wetter dough means fresher bread, so try and avoid adding extra flour when kneading. 
• Don’t overthink it, and use the video or contact us if you need help. The link to the video will be below, or visit our IGTV video on Instagram. 

And remember to enjoy the process. Making real bread is a wonderful experience, if you try this recipe, send us a picture on our instagram @bread41dublin or tag us- we’d love to see it! If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask us, we’re happy to help. 

Happy bread making. 

Come back to our blog soon for more recipes and see our IGTV and video links for demos. 

Youtube video for this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoZ1SAQM2VE

Eoin