How to Make Bread When You are Wheat Sensitive
I always tell people that they fall into 3 catagories when we are talking about eating bread and baked goods. Either your are 1. Regular, 2. Wheat Sensitive or 3. Allergic to Gluten (or Celiac). If you fall into the regular catagory and can eat everything without any adverse health related problems (other than gaining weight from over-eating), then you are very lucky and you don't have to watch everything you eat. I have already talked about Celiac or Gluten Free baking in a previous blog. It certainly is the hardest diet to work with. Wheat Sensitivity, which is the second catagory, is not as difficult as you think it might be.
Wheat sensitvie people sometimes have a harder time digesting the wheat and their bodies react in various ways like with diarhea, or blotching of the skin. The reason some of us have this problem, does not lie with the person themselves. It is the wheat. Wheat has been on earth a very long time. Over the centuries it has been cross-bred and hybridized (probably not spelled right) and so it is not as pure as it once was. Even in my own lifespan I have noticed that the bread doesn't produce as good as stretch or gluten development as the wheat I purchased in the early 1970"s. Wheat still has the most protein in it to help it rise but it is not the only grain you can use to make yeast risen bread.
The ancient grains like Kamut and Spelt can be used in place of wheat to make very good light breads or baked goods. The ancient grains were found in the tombs in the middle east about 50 to 60 years ago and they were propagated and to everyone's surprise actually produced more grain. They have not been cross-bred so they usually can be eaten by the Wheat Sensitive population without any problem. They tend to be a more expensive than wheat as they are not grown as widely across Canada as wheat is.
Kamut is usually a little cheaper and I find that I can use it easier than spelt and get a lighter loaf of bread from it. It also has a nice flavour and lets the bread rise nicely. Spelt tends to make a little denser bread but has a wonderful nutty flavour and a little darker in colour bread.
You use these flours (we mill our own in a grainmill) pretty much the same way as we use wheat except for one thing. YOU USE LESS KAMUT OR SPELT FLOUR THAN THE RECIPE CALLS FOR WITH WHEAT. When you are making bread in the Bosch machines we have told our customers forever, to add flour until the bowl has started to clean the sides and the dough forms a ball. When you are using Kamut or Spelt flours you add it until it just barely starts to clean the sides of the bowl. You stop adding the flour and let the kneading arm finish the work in about 10 min. if you are making it straight (no white flour). You can add a little gluten flour with the Kamut or Spelt flour to help it develop a higher loaf of bread. Generally the Wheat Sensitivity is to the grain and not to the gluten. Kamut and Spelt have gluten in them as well, but since they have a different genetic makeup, their properties don't affect these people adversly.
The rule of thumb when transferring a wheat recipe to one made with Kamut or Spelt, is to use only 3/4 of a cup of the ancient grain flour for every 1 cup of wheat flour in the recipe. If making a cake or cookies with it, just think light. This same rule applies for automatic bread machines like the Zojirushi. Measure the flour on the light side and probably add a Tbsp. more of warm water after it starts to knead so that you have a sticky dough. You can also program this automatic bread baker to knead for a longer period of time and rise for a longer period of time if required when using the Kamut and Spelt.
We will be posting more about these wonderful grains at a later date.
Click here for some of the nutritional info for Kamut or Spelt
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