Spelt Bread Recipe
Last Updated on September 1, 2026 – Originally Published on March 28, 2020
Featured Comment
I LOVE this bread, and so did my family! I eat it plain, toasted with butter, or as a sandwich bread. Very good every way.~ Felicia
I was in Grocery Outlet and noticed that they had some Bob’s Red Mill products. It was a lucky day for me as I love Bob’s products and I love a bargain!
One of the types of flour for sale was spelt flour. I’d heard of spelt flour, but had never tried it.
I decided it was a sign and that’s how I came to make homemade spelt bread.
The bread was a lovely brown and had a great shape.
This was the first spelt bread recipe that I’ve ever made. It was a success too!
The crust of the bread was crisp and hard. However, the bread itself was soft. Spelt bread is delightfully hearty.
Using Specialty Flour in Times of Scarcity
People who aren’t familiar with making bread will pass on items like spelt flour or rye flour when they see them in the grocery store. They’re just not sure how to use them.
However, the savvy bread maker will scoop up these specialty items and incorporate them into their bread. They know that these recipes are great and that using specialty flours can help stretch their supply of regular bread flour.
For more recipes using specialty flour, check out this list of recipes using rye flour.
What is Spelt?
Talk about ancient grains, spelt was an important part of people’s diets in the Bronze Age! It’s mentioned in the bible. It also has a place in Greek mythology, as spelt was a gift to the Greeks from the goddess Demeter.
Other names for spelt are dinkel wheat or hulled wheat.
Spelt is a cereal grain in the wheat family. Some people may find spelt flour easier to digest than regular wheat flour.
Vital Wheat Gluten
Note that this recipe calls for vital wheat gluten.
Gluten is a type of protein found in flour. It adds strength to the flour and allows the bread to rise.
While vital wheat gluten looks like flour, it’s not. Instead, it’s basically powdered gluten. It helps the bread rise.
In the past, I found vital wheat gluten in the Bob’s Red Mill area of my grocery store. Now it’s more difficult to find. Recently I’ve ordered vital wheat gluten online from Amazon.
Spelt Bread Ingredients
- 1 1⁄4 cups water
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 3 1⁄2 cups spelt flour
- 1 Tablespoon vital wheat gluten
- 1 3⁄4 teaspoons bread machine yeast
Spelt Bread Instructions
I make the below recipe in my two-pound machine. Note that you’ll be using the whole wheat setting with the medium crust setting.
Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With my machine (a Zojirushi Virtuoso Breadmaker
), I add the liquid first.
Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Pop the top of the bread machine and look at the dough. It should be a smooth, round ball.
If the dough is too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until it looks right. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks good.
Spelt Bread Recipe
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 Cups (295.7 ml) water
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons (1.5 Teaspoons) salt
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 3 1/2 Cups (420 g) spelt flour
- 1 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten
- 1 3/4 Teaspoons (1.7 Teaspoons) bread machine yeast
Instructions
- This is a recipe for a two-pound machine. Note that you’ll be using the whole wheat setting with the medium crust setting.
- Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first.
- Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. It should be a smooth, round ball.
- If the dough is too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until it looks right. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks good.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
All information presented within this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on breadmachinediva.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. I try to provide accurate information to the best of my ability; however these figures should still be considered estimates.
I LOVE this bread, and so did my family! I eat it plain, toasted with butter, or as a sandwich bread. Very good every way.
The darkness level for crust wasn’t specified in the recipe. My whole wheat setting automatically chose dark, but I will change that to the medium level next time. There were a couple spots on top that got the color of very dark chocolate, and it was REALLY crunchy crust.
I really like to taste salt in bread, so followed the advice of another reviewer and added one teaspoon for a total of 2 & 1/2. The type of salt isn’t specified in the recipe, but I used pink salt.
For those trying to sub for the vital wheat gluten, I used 1 & 1/2 tsp. of xanthan gum. I got a very tall loaf and no gumminess to the crumb.
Many thanks to the Diva for sharing her perfected recipe FOR FREE. It came out beautiful and tasty on my first try!!!
Thank you so much for the detailed comment! I’m delighted that you and your family enjoyed the bread.
And thank you for pointing out the crust setting. I’ve added that to the recipe.
I’m especially interested in your xanthan gum experiment! Vital wheat gluten and xanthan gum work differently, so I wouldn’t have thought to substitute one for the other. It’s great to hear that you got a tall loaf with a good crumb using 1½ teaspoons. That’s one I may have to experiment with myself!
Thanks again for sharing your results. Comments like yours are so helpful to me and to other bread-machine bakers. 😊
Is this using white spelt flour?
Thanks for the question! I learned something today. I honestly didn’t know white spelt flour existed. 😊
The loaf in the photos was made with regular spelt flour, which is why it has the darker color.
Hello, have you ever used Fresh milled Spelt flour in this recipe?
I haven’t tested this recipe with fresh-milled spelt flour. It can behave differently than commercial flour, so you may need to make adjustments if you experiment.
This is my weekly bread and I absolutely love it. I have taken to making it with honey and molasses instead of sugar, and have also used maple syrup and agave. Each time it turns out successfully. I do use 1 tsp of salt due to taste preference. On occasion, I add buttermilk powder to the water. It always makes a delicious loaf. Thank you for the recipe
This recipe looks really good! Could I substitute honey for the sugar in this recipe?
That should be fine. Also, here’s a short article on substituting honey for sugar in bread recipes.
Can this be made without the gluten? I am using my bread machine after being stored for 10 years and don’t remember ever using this product in past recipes. Also can honey be used in place of sugar?
Gluten-free breads are a lot different than breads with gluten and require special recipes. I don’t have any of those on this site. Sorry! However you can buy mixes. Here’s an experiment I did with gluten-free bread mixes.
And here’s an article that talks about the differences between honey and sugar.