What is spelt bread?

Answer 1

Spelt (Triticum spelta) is the 'mother' of modern bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), and evolved in the Near East about 6,000 years BC. It spread into Europe a few millennia later, along with bread wheat. It was abandoned as a crop in the UK in the 6th century, and in most of continental Europe by the medieval period, but survived as an exotic crop in some parts of Germany and Switzerland into the modern period. It was also grown on a small scale in the USA in the later 19th and 20th centuries, but fell out of cultivation when modern wheat varieties became available in the early 20th century. It was rediscovered as a 'health food' in the 1970s in the USA, the UK and Germany, and is now the most common 'alternative' cereal in cultivation.

Genetically, spelt wheat is extremely similar to modern wheat, and modern spelt varieties have been developed by crossing 'pure' spelt lines with modern varieties to produce 'modern' spelt varieties with better yields and baking qualities. This means that most of the spelt being sold is actually almost identical to modern wheat. Like other primitive wheats (emmer and einkorn) the rough husk (chaff) must be removed before the grain is milled - in contrast to 'naked' bread wheat which are easily threshed.

Many claims have being made about spelt wheat that are anecdotal and factually untrue such as:

1. Spelt is more easily digested than modern wheat (research has recently shown that the opposite is true for many spelt varieties). And both modern wheat and spelt are eventually digested easily enough in a healthy human gut.

2. Spelt is not a wheat (it is almost identical to modern bread wheat at a genetic level; it is clearly a wheat in the Triticum genus).

3. Spelt contains more nutrients than modern wheat (not necessarily true; how a wheat is grown greatly affects its nutritive value - organic foods can contain more nutrients than chemically-grown food; and how a flour is used will also affect its nutrient qualities.

4. Spelt has less gluten than wheat (again not true, it depends entirely on the variety of spelt and bread wheat grown, how it is grown, and how it has been processed.

5. Many people with food sensitivities find they can tolerate spelt flour (so it appears, but given that spelt wheat and bread wheat are almost identical in terms of their gluten content and other components, why is this claim made ? It may have a lot to do with how the bread is baked (long fermented bread is healthier and less irritating to people with gluten or wheat intolerances).

Spelt is a wonderful flour for baking bread, and is a wonderful alternative to standard 'high gluten' bread flour made from modern varieties. Spelt flour can also contain added (powdered) gluten, as with most commercial bread flours.