Spelt and Rye Crusty Dipping Bread

It's great when you throw a few ingredients together and it works, that's what happened here.  I wanted to make a small rustic loaf to have with baked camembert as a starter.  I had a small quantity of spelt flour and some wholegrain rye flour so thought I would do a mixture of the two.  

The shape is inspired by the French fougasse bread which is made in the shape of a leaf with slits in it...I haven't been quite that creative but I think the idea of increasing the surface area to create more crusty edges is great for a dipping bread. The texture is quite chewy with big air holes and it's full of flavour, I have found that I make this again and again!

Ingredients

150g White Spelt Flour (plus more for dusting)

150g Wholegrain Rye Flour

1 teaspoon Salt

200ml Warm Water

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Sugar

7g (1 sachet) Dried Fast Action Yeast

• Mix the flours and salt in a large bowl.
• In a measuring jug, measure the water then add the sugar, yeast and oil, mix.
• Pour the water mixture into the flour bowl and mix with a fork until a dough is formed.
• Tip it out onto a floured surface.  If the dough is too wet to handle, dust with more spelt flour (or strong white flour) and work in until it is reasonably easy to handle, it will still be a bit sticky.
• Knead until bouncy, about 10 minutes should do, then put the dough back into the bowl which you have oiled.  Cover with cling film and put somewhere warmish for 1-2 hours until the dough has doubled in size.
• Tip the dough back onto the surface and knock the air out, then knead for a few minutes, flatten and shape into an oval.  Put it onto an oiled baking tray and with a sharp knife, cut slits all the way through depth of the dough, keeping it attached at the sides.  Pull the strips apart to create space between them.
• Recover the dough and leave for 45mins - 1 hour to rise again.
• Pre-heat the oven to 220C (fan) and bake the bread for 20-25 minutes until dark golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath.
• Leave to cool, but not totally....it's fabulous warm!