"Dave Bell" > wrote in message
ea.net...
> A couple of years ago, it was determined that some persistant digestive
> problems I had were due to allergies to wheat and corn. When I eliminated
> them (and that's not easy!), I improved greatly. Good, but not a happy
> situation for a bread lover! I later learned that some people allergic to
> wheat can safely eat spelt, and tentatively tried some products, finding
> that I could handle them much better than wheat.
>
> I wasn't particularly pleased with any commercial spelt baked good, other
> than one decent yeast- and dairy-free white spelt bread, with a sourdough
> style. I bought some flour and started to experiment on my own. I learned
> that I could handle white spelt, but whole grain gave me similar problems
> as wheat, although to a lesser extent.
>
> The problem is, I haven't been able to really bake well with it (not that
> I was much of a cook with wheat, either.) Quick breads and drop biscuits
> come out quite well, as do shortbread style cookies and usually, scones.
> Yeast breads generally fail miserably, way too dense, not rising or
> staying "up" properly. Cookies like oatmeal-raisin and chocolate chip rise
> in the oven, but collapse before they are finished baking and firm up.
> They taste great, but are flat and chewey, even tough, not the style I
> intended! In general, I have found that it takes a little more flour or
> less liquid, and probably more chemical leavening than AP wheat flour, but
> I don't have the bakery experience that some of the folks on here have, to
> analyze the problems and work around them.
>
Your problems with wheat flour are probably due to the gluten content which
is much lower in spelt. Unfortunately, it is this ingredient that allows
bread to rise and trap the carbon dioxide. High gluten bread flours are too
strong for cakes etc., and so cake flour has a low gluten content. Spelt
has a low gluten content so makes lousy bread, unless mixed with some normal
wheat flour for support.
Graham