Playing with flours (spelt)

A few years ago, baking for me almost exclusively meant reaching for that bag of all-purpose flour. Now, I'm almost as likely to also reach for my jars of whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour.  I find that I can often substitute somewhere in the neighborhood of one-quarter to one-half of the all-purpose flour in a given recipe with those whole wheat counterparts without a very noticeable difference in results.  I like doing that and feeling like I'm hopefully making a slightly more nutritious choice for my family. Personally, I also enjoy the nuttiness and little bit of extra texture provided by those flours in their own right.

Spelt muffins, with almonds and chocolate

So I've been slowly getting acquainted with whole grain flours.  But just when I think I'm making some strides (even if it is more like baby steps), I read about so many other varieties of whole grain flours that I've yet to try.  It feels like a constant game of catch-up and sometimes I just want to ignore all the chatter, all the latest and greatest, because it gets a little overwhelming.  At the same time, if I did that, I'd never learn and benefit from it.

The one whole grain flour I've been really curious about for a long time is spelt.  Articles like this one and many mentions in cookbooks have been touting it as the one to try if you were to pick one because of its mild, slightly sweet flavor.  I finally picked up a bag of spelt flour (Bob's Red Mills has everything) recently to give it a try.

As you no doubt notice, many recipes (with exceptions such as these delicious whole wheat chocolate chip cookies) call for a combination of all-purpose plus whole grain flour.  I really wanted to get a taste of the spelt alone so I tried these muffins made completely with spelt flour.  What better recipe to try than the very one printed on my bag of spelt flour.  Though I wanted a good taste of the spelt, that didn't preclude me from tossing in some chopped almonds and dark chocolate, however.

So I baked these simple spelt muffins, I tasted them, and I liked them.  The earth didn't exactly move because I think the flavor and results were pretty much in line with what I expected.  As promised, the spelt flour imparts a slightly sweet, nutty flavor.  There is no bitterness, like some find with whole wheat flour - though maybe because I use the milder white whole wheat flour, I've never found that to be an issue.  

As you can hopefully tell from the interior of the muffins, these all-spelt muffins are by no means dense - something I worried about.  Without the little bit of almonds and chocolate, these plain muffins are almost like bread and I don't mean that in a bad way - just that the flavor reminds me of a light wheat bread.  I don't think it will surprise anyone when I say these muffins taste best freshly cooled from the oven, when it has a nice crusty edge to them.  I find that leftovers are still good after you warm them up a bit in the microwave.  With those leftovers, I may have slathered on a bit of jam...and maybe a little Nutella...for my fellas.