One little problem you have to tackle when you keep a sourdough starter is how not to waste an inordinate amount of flour. I work hard to be able to keep my starter active but to not end up handing a heap of good food to the chickens. When I know I am not going to be baking for a while slowing everything down to a crawl using the fridge is often the best option. Often though I will need bread but circumstances like heat or time pressures mean that on a specific day that is just not possible.
With natural starters they don't sit in the back of the cupboard and wait for you. They have their own timetable and set of needs that can be manipulated to a certain extent, but only so far.
What that means for me is that I need a whole lot of quick recipes to use that food. With only a 2-4 hour start to finish time this little recipe really fits the bill. I will also admit the fact that it is better cooked outside on the BBQ was just that little bit more appealing over the last couple of days.
Spelt Pita Pockets
(makes 10 flat bread)
200g (100%) Spelt Starter
3 C (423g) Wholegrain Spelt Flour
1 C (141g) White Spelt Flour
1 C Water
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Oil
- Mix together the starter,flours and water until they are a basically incorporated, raggy mess.
- Leave covered for 20 mins.
- Add the salt and oil and knead until you have a giving, pliable dough (approx 5 min hand kneading, 1-2 min in stand mixer).
- Roll into a ball and put the dough in an oiled container. Leave for 2-3 hours to rise.
- Pull your dough out of the container and give it a minute or two of hand kneading to bring the spring back to the dough.
- Cut the dough into 10 pieces and roll into balls.
- Sit the balls in an oiled container where they have some room to expand a little for around 20-30 min.
- Roll out, and cook on the BBQ (side 1 on the hot plate until you can see a goodly number of bubbles, side 2 given more direct heat on the grill)
Most of mine only successfully puff to about 3/4 - 2/3 at my current level of experience. That said I am getting better at eye balling it so that I have enough bubbles in stage one to quickly puff together in stage 2 without burning anything which really is the key to puffy flat bread.
Happy Baking, this recipe is being entered in this weeks Yeastspotting
3 comments:
fantastic, they look great. I love spelt- such a wonderful flavour, havent found any local stuff yet..
I knew there was something I had to add to my list - make sourdough.
I've never eaten anything with spelt flour in it. What does it tast like?
Hi Kelly,
I am really lucky, Powlett Hill BD mills, are within my food shed and do quite a lot of useful and interesting grains. I realise they may be getting their grain from outside that area but I can only be so pedantic before I drive myself insane.
Hi Nevyn,
Tell me when you are ready to give sourdough a try and I will send you up some starter and a few well tested wheat recipes.
Spelt is a really old strain of wheat, ie well before the green revolution started messing with things, so in many ways it's pretty similar. Taste wise I find it bit nuttier than standard wheat and from a general digestibility pov I find it much easier on my system which is why I use it quite a lot.
Kind Regards
Belinda
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