Swapped rye for spelt in my sourdough and the crumb collapsed

I've been baking the same rye sourdough recipe from The Perfect Loaf for about 6 months now with no issues. Last Tuesday I ran out of rye flour so I subbed in spelt thinking it'd be close enough. The loaf rose fine during bulk fermentation but completely flattened in the oven. Learned that spelt has way lower gluten content than rye and can't hold the same structure without adjusting hydration. Has anyone else had luck mixing spelt into sourdough or does it always end up a pancake?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_abby5d ago

Maurizio actually tested spelt at different hydration levels over on The Baking Network and found you gotta drop water by like 15% compared to rye to get a decent crumb. I messed around with a 50/50 spelt and bread flour mix last spring and it came out okay but not great the loaf had a weird gummy texture near the bottom crust. The thing nobody talks about is spelt has way more sugar content than rye which throws off fermentation timing too. You might have better luck cold proofing overnight in the fridge to tighten up that gluten structure before it hits the oven.

caseyrivera5d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that gummy bottom crust thing is such a pain! It reminds me of how so many things in life look fine on paper but then the details trip you up. Kind of like how people think they can just swap out ingredients in a recipe without adjusting anything else, and then wonder why it flops. Spelt's one of those grains that really forces you to slow down and pay attention to the small stuff, which is probably why it's not for everyone.