Spelt Bread with Nuts

I made this bread two weeks ago for brunch, but haven't gotten around to uploading this post until now. I'm not very keen on white bread so this is just the kind of bread I like. It's packed with nuts which give it richness and a wonderful flavor. It goes well with cheese. Or just with butter. Plain and simple. Actually, that's the way I enjoy a slice of bread the most.

Recipe

(Original Recipe in German here)

400g spelt flour

400g flour mixture of wheat and rye (German recipe suggests „Bauernmehl“)

12g salt

30g yeast

1 tablespoon honey

5dl water, luke-warm

75g walnuts

75g hazelnuts

75g almonds

In a bowl, mix flour and salt. Press the flour down in the middle so that you have a hollow.

Crumble the yeast with your fingers and mix with the honey and about half of the luke-warm water. Pour this mixture into the hollow. Mix this with some of the flour from the edge so that you have a yeast sponge in the middle. Then dust this with some flour. Set aside at a warm place for about 45 minutes. In the meantime, coarsly chop the nuts.

After 45 minutes, add the rest of the water to the dough and mix everything with a wooden spoon. Then, on a surface dusted with flour, knead with your hands until you have a smooth dough – for about 3 minutes. Then, add the nuts and knead again for about 3 minutes. Put your dough into a large bowl and cover with a wet towel. Let rise until the dough’s size has doubled.

Take the dough out of the bowl and form a loaf. Place onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with a wet towel and let rise again for about half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 230°C. With a knife, cut in the dough crosswise so that you have a grid-pattern. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for another 30 minutes. Brush the bread with water for a bout 4 times while baking so that it will get a crunchy crust.