Spelt sourdough bread (Dinkel, soft seeded tin loaf)

Spelt has plenty of gluten, but it's extensible and fragile, so the usual instinct - knead it firm, shape a taut round - works against you. This loaf does the opposite. It's a deliberately soft, almost pourable dough loaded with coarse meal (Schrot) and seeds, mixed briefly, then poured into a tin to rise and bake. The grains and the long, gentle ferment give it a deep, nutty flavour and a moist crumb that no quick wheat loaf matches. The single most important thing to remember: the dough is supposed to be wet, so don't add flour to 'fix' it.

Makes one tin loaf (about 1 kg). Weigh everything; the soft consistency depends on the water-to-grain balance.

The seed and flake mix is a template, not a rule: pumpkin seeds, sesame, chia, millet or cracked rye all slot in, and oat flakes can become spelt or barley flakes - keep the total seed-and-flake weight near 130 g so the hydration holds. The spoon of beet syrup (Zuckerrübensirup) or honey feeds the ferment and rounds out the flavour; you won't taste it as sweetness. A strong starter raises this with no yeast at all; if yours is young or sluggish, add a small pinch of yeast for insurance while you build it up. For the lighter, free-form spelt boule see how grain choice changes a loaf in our flour guide, and why this wet dough behaves so differently in our hydration guide. Logging the bulk and proof in Sourdough Tracker helps you read this soft dough next time.

Two cues decide this loaf. For the bulk rise, you want the dough genuinely doubled and domed, with bubbles working through it - in a warm kitchen that can be two hours, in a cool one closer to six. For the final proof in the tin, watch for it to climb by about a third and use the finger-dent test: dampen a finger and press in gently. When the dent stays put rather than springing straight back, it's ready to bake. Because it's a wet, seed-heavy dough it won't billow like a lean wheat loaf, so trust the rise and the dent over any set number of minutes.

If you have the time, retard the bulk in the fridge overnight. A cold, slow rise builds a deeper, tangier flavour and firms the dough up a touch as the Schrot and seeds keep drinking water, which makes it easier to scrape into the tin. Bring it back to room temperature for the final proof. Either way, cool the baked loaf completely before slicing - a seeded spelt loaf, like rye, finishes setting as it cools, and cutting in early leaves the crumb damp.