Wholegrain Spelt: Which Bread Machine Cycle is Best?

Have you ever wondered which bread machine cycle is best for wholegrain spelt? Does it make any difference whether you use the specifically designed wholemeal setting, or can you make great spelt loaves using the rapid option? Here I take a look at what works best using wholegrain spelt flour.

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When using my bread machine to make loaves, I always noticed that the tops were a little sunken. I honestly didn’t pay too much attention to it, as they tasted great, and I thought the issue was perhaps just wholemeal spelt flour.

Then I got to thinking about why, and decided to see if playing around with my bread machine’s cycles might produce a different outcome. So, I tested the same recipe several times, using both the wholemeal flour setting and the rapid cycle, to see what would happen. 

What’s the difference between wholemeal, wholewheat and wholegrain?

Before we start, there is a little difference in terminology across countries. In the UK, we tend to refer to all products that use full grain as wholemeal. Whereas, in the US for example, they might refer to full grain flour as wholegrain or wholewheat.

However, these names are not always entirely accurate. I use wholegrain spelt, but because I am British, tend to call it wholemeal. Therefore, you might see both terms used interchangeably in this post. So confusing. If you are as befuddled as me, the people over at Cotswold flour have written a great explanation of what these differences are. 

The recipe

I have been making my recipe for wholemeal cinnamon and raisin bread for a long time. It’s on my blog, and I never use a recipe unless it is tried, tested, and I am happy with it. 

I made several loaves, amending the measurements a little in some places, but for the main comparison between the wholemeal and rapid cycles, the ingredients and amounts used were exactly the same:

Can you use spelt flour in a bread machine?

I think it’s pretty obvious from my blog that you can. But, if you’re new here, this might not be a given. Yes, you absolutely can use spelt flour interchangeably with all-purpose (plain) flour. However, you need to remember that most bread makers have been designed for regular wheat flour, and spelt behaves a little differently, especially during the proofing process.

There is no special setting for spelt flour on any machine I have seen, which is a shame. Spelt bread needs a much shorter rising time, and less liquid, so we can already appreciate how using a conventional bread maker might cause some issues. Most bread maker manufacturers are clear about this and don’t recommend the use of spelt in a bread machine. Well, at least not following a whole baking cycle. They suggest adding all-purpose or bread flour to the spelt, which is a good idea if you just fancy a little spelt nuttiness in your bread. Not so much if you want a spelt loaf. The other suggestion is to only use the bread machine to make the dough, then shape, and bake in an oven. 

This is what I mainly use my bread machine for. I like that I don’t have to knead it myself, can turn it on, and go about my day doing other things. I then shape the dough however I like and bake it in the oven. I’ve made everything from cinnamon coffee buns to spelt subway bread buns using this method. I much prefer this way of preparing dough. Spelt needs less liquid. I always under-flour my dough, adding more at the shaping stage. If you use a bread machine for the whole process, you no longer have this luxury: you add all ingredients and set it off. 

What happens to spelt bread on a wholemeal bread cycle?

As there is no special cycle for spelt flour, I have always used the wholemeal setting. On my bread machine is a long cycle. In total, it takes three hours and 40 minutes to complete. The reason for the long cycle is because wholemeal flour is heavier than white flour and takes longer to rise.

For my first few attempts, the long proofing worked way better than I had anticipated. The spelt dough rose beautifully. Way higher than you might expect for wholemeal dough of any kind. I was so excited. What baker doesn’t love to see a good rise? In fact, I was worried that the dough would overflow the pan at the baking stage. After the machine had started baking, I eagerly peered in, and what I saw brought the kind of dismay that nobody wants to feel. Not only had the bread stopped rising, it had sunk. 

Apart from the sunken top, the bread was delicious. I re-created the same recipe for my cinnamon raison wholemeal spelt loaf a couple of times until I felt it was good enough for the blog. The bread tasted good, so who cared about a slightly sunken top?

Why might spelt dough sink in a bread machine?

After writing my post spelt vs plain flour: which makes the best cupcakes, I quite liked the analytical side of how and why spelt flour behaves the way it does. So, I thought more about why my wholemeal spelt loaves sunk at the baking stage of a bread machine cycle. I made several loaves for the purpose of this experiment using the wholemeal bread setting, tweaking certain ingredients. The same thing happened each time: that beautiful, slow rise followed by the rapid sinking.

• Too much flour?

Thinking that perhaps too little flour was the issue, I tried adding more. Research (and a little reflection) helped me understand why this was likely the issue. While a wet dough works well in a bread machine for just the dough part, baking that same under-floured dough perhaps not so much. Too much liquid (or not enough flour) can cause a loaf to sink after the proofing stage. Bingo. I had discovered why my bread was sinking. Or so I thought. Wrong. After adding more flour, I was still left with a deflated top.

• The wrong yeast?

Many people in Sweden bake with fresh yeast. In the past, I’ve experimented with it myself (it smells divine), but prefer the convenience of dried. We have two types of dried yeast, one for sweet dough and one for savoury. That’s it. We don’t (at least to my knowledge) have a special kind of yeast for bread machines. I wondered if my yeast was causing the issue of a fast rise and rapid drop.

The USA seems to have so many more options when it comes to yeast, including active dry yeast, instant yeast, and SAF yeast, to name just a few. The choice is mind boggling, so I am glad that they do things a little more straightforward here in Sweden. King Arthur offer a really useful resource on yeast, and state that you can use active dry and instant yeast interchangeably. Apart from when baking bread in a machine. Then, they recommend that active dry yeast is the best, but if using instant yeast, to use less.

So, it didn’t seem as though yeast was the issue, either.

Is a long proofing a problem for wholegrain spelt?

One thing I did know was that spelt flour produces a very fast rise, and this is compounded by a bread machine, which will activate dried yeast very quickly. So, could it be the long cycle (and proofing) that was the issue and not the yeast or wetter dough? Especially on a long wholemeal flour setting? I wondered if using a shorter cycle, with a speeded up proofing, might help. To see whether this was indeed the case, I also made the same dough using the regular rapid cycle, and compared the two loaves. 

Using a rapid bread machine cycle with wholemeal spelt

The cycle on my bread machine is really quick. At one hour and 30 minutes, it is only five minutes longer than the dough setting. 

Before this experiment, I had never used the rapid cycle on my bread machine. I guess I didn’t really know what the purpose of it was (apart from that it was quicker, obviously). When researching the cause for sunken tops, it appeared that this wasn’t just a spelt flour problem, or even wholemeal. It happened for all kinds of white flour, too, but they were due to the reasons I’ve given above (and ruled out).

The end result was very different to the long wholemeal cycle. Although the loaf was a little stumpier, it was beautifully domed. No sinkage at all. The rising part of the cycle was much shorter, which meant that the spelt dough no longer had the opportunity to over-proof.  Therefore, it appears that the regular wholemeal cycle on a bread machine is way too long for spelt flour, and this was the reason for the sinking.

Side by side analysis

Here are two loaves, one made on a long wholemeal cycle and the other made on a fast cycle, side by side. Quite a difference, right?

• Appearance

The biggest difference is how they look. The loaf baked on the longer cycle is much taller, although it has definitely sunk. In comparison, the fast cycle bread has a clear dome, with a slightly cracked top, but is much shorter. The image below shows the stark contrast between the top of the loaves:

Even the coloring is different, with the fast cycle loaf a different shade at the dome. Although I used exactly the same amount of raisins, they are much more noticeable in the fast cycle loaf, due to the loaf being a little smaller in size.

• Crumb and Texture

As you can clearly see from the picture below, the crumb on both breads is also substantially different. The crumb on the shorter cycle was more hard-packed and when sliced, it was sturdier and less fragile. The taller loaf had a looser, crumblier crumb, which was evident when I sliced it. This fragility was particularly noticeable when I toasted a slice of both loaves. The taller loaf fell apart a lot easier when I tried to butter it. The short cycle bread held its shape a lot better.

• Taste test

Perhaps the most important aspect of the experiment. Looking good only gets you so far. Despite the stark contrast between how the loaves looked, there wasn’t as much difference in the taste between the two. Both loaves were dense, which is to be expected when using all wholemeal flour, but the flavor was the same. Overall, the crumblier texture of the long cycle loaf was less pleasing than the sturdier crumb of the bread made on the quick cycle.

Wholegrain Spelt: Which Bread Machine Cycle is Best?

As mentioned, there wasn’t a great deal of difference in the actual taste. But there was a very interesting way for me to unconsciously determine which was the best. I made a lot of bread to carry out this experiment and needed to freeze most of it. I had separate bags for the different breads, for no other reason other than my bags could only fit in one loaf. I placed them in the freezer and whenever I fancied a slice of raisin cinnamon bread, I took a slice out. The fast cycle bread was the one I reached for every time. 

Overall, the rapid cycle bread is a clear winner for me. It is quicker to make, has a crumb that is not only more pleasing to eat, but it is also sturdier, especially when toasting. There is less bread (because the loaf doesn’t rise as much), but its compactness is what I liked most.