French bread

As someone who reacts to wheat and being the spelt baker, every time I travel I take my flour and ingredients with me to make spelt bread.

In 2008, Christine and I went to France. I took our organic spelt flour from the bakery as well as a few other key ingredients to make bread while we were away. As much as I love eating all sorts of other foods. 2 weeks without bread is just too long for me and so usually when I travel I bake bread. Maybe it's just loving baking as much as I do, I can't quite imagine spending two weeks without making a loaf or 600.

When we were in the North of France staying with Christine's family, I baked a large loaf of bread in the convection oven at her parents place in the photo above. I made a sponge one day with yeast and then made the bread in a similar way to Janet's Country Bread that we sell at the Spelt Bakery. And yes, that bread is named after me.

I was so amazed by the flavour and texture of the bread. It was different than what I usually have in Vancouver, but it was exactly the same ingredients EXCEPT for the water. Finally I figured it out. The reason that bread is different in France compared to North America is the water. It was the only difference.


Having made bread for as many years as I have, I can tell by texture what a dough should be like to make a good loaf of bread. At the most recent workshop on bread and buns, I was able to show people the texture that the dough should be and everyone was amazed at the height of their bread. I also showed them how to correct a dough if it is too stiff or too soft.

I made a beautiful dough in France, soft and pliable. I baked it the way I would here in Vancouver and I ended up with a loaf of bread with a nice hard chewy crust and a porous crumb on the inside. The picture above was the loaf that I ended up with.

That was a fantastic trip of a lifetime, family, adventure and a great loaf of bread.
That is what I call living the high life.

My favourite stuffing!

One year I was making the stuffing for a big family Turkey Dinner and amongst the many special diets was my vegetarian son and my mother who asked me to make the stuffing with just some poultry seasoning. I asked her if she meant that powdered stuff that comes in a glass jar?

It was the first year that Christine and I were together. A Chef and A Baker and we were doing the Turkey dinner. There was going to be no poultry seasoning in my stuffing, however, I knew what my mom meant. Don't put fancy things in, no sausage and nothing that might cause reactions for her or her wife, my other mother. So, I decided to go with a nice clean and simple stuffing made with fresh and good quality ingredients... so here is the recipe:

1 onion
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 or 2 loaves of spelt french bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 package of fresh sage, chopped, approximately 1 ounce or 28 grams
1/2 package of fresh thyme, pulled of the branch and crushed between your fingers. Save the other half of the package for decoration.
1 963 ml container of organic vegetable broth.
1/2 cup white wine.

Sautee the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until slightly golden on the edges. Add bread crumbs, prepared sage and thyme and stir, slowly pour in half of the vegetable broth stirring constantly and then the wine, the second half of the vegetable broth until bread has all become moist. If the stuffing is too wet, add more bread cubes. Place finished stuffing inside Turkey or chicken and roast.

For vegetarian stuffing, grease an oven safe pan and place stuffing in pan. drizzle approximately 1/4 cup of olive oil over the top of the stuffing and bake in the oven at 350F for approximately 1 hour. Serve in pan with sprigs of fresh thyme on top.

This is now my favourite stuffing and is incredible with cranberry sauce.

Happy eating!

Spelt Tortillas

Spelt Tortillas

4 cups organic white Spelt flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon oil
1 1/4 cup water.

mix together all ingredients and knead by hand for about ten minutes. Weigh out into 60 gram balls and with a rolling pin, roll to a ten inch round.

Bake at 450 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes until tortilla is baked through. Use immediately for making burritos, Quesadiilas, whatever you want.

You can also cook them on a large cast iron skillet on the stove top. Frying on both sides, a couple minutes each side.

Please tell me your suggestions of what you would make with them.

I Love SPELT!