No Knead Pear Yogurt Bread With Spelt

The first time I had soda bread was some time around 1980 or so. A friend of mine baked it and I got the recipe. It was loaded with sugar and syrup. My father, who was still alive then, loved the bread. Now, thirty years later, better variations on this basic soda bread recipe have began to develop. For example, it can be made with healthy dinkel flour.

Dinkel flour, also known as spelt flour, is now available at a reasonable price at every Swedish supermarket. Some people who are allergic to wheat can tolerate dinkel flour without adverse effects. It does contain gluten, but the gluten in dinkel flour has its own form. It is more easy to digest because it is water soluble. But, be sure to check with your doctor before trying it, if you are allergic to wheat.

A healthy soft bread with a coarse texture and dark brown color.














INGREDIENTS:
* 2 dl porridge oats
* 5 dl dinkel flour (spelt flour)
* 1 dl flax seeds
* 1 dl sesame seeds
* 1 dl dried apricots, cut into strips
* 1 dl hazelnuts, roughly chopped
* 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda
* ½ - 1 teaspoon Himalaya Pink Salt
* 5 dl plain, natural yogurt
* 1 pear, grated
* 3 tablespoons runny Acacia honey

METHOD:
1. Preheat your oven to 175°C/350°F.

2. Line a rectangular oven pan with baking paper. Grease the bottom of the pan, before applying the baking paper, to prevent it from sliding around. The size of the baking do not have to be precise. Mine is 25 x 35 cm (approx. 10 x 14 inch).

3. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. In another, smaller bowl, mix yoghurt, grated pear and honey.

4. Mix everything just until all the ingredients come together. Scrape the sticky mixture into the baking paper lined oven pan. Lightly sprinkle the top with spelt flour.

5. Bake in the lower part of the oven for approx. 60 minutes, or bake until the center is done when tested. How long depends both on the size of your pan and your oven peculiarities.

6. Serve cut into squares. If the squares are too thick, cut them in halves. Freeze what you don't plan to use in the next couple of days.

This is a very flexible recipe that allows you to experiment:

You can substitute pear with apple as well.
You can use raisins instead of dried apricots.
You can use fibre rich oats instead of porridge oats.
You can substitute hazelnuts with almonds, or leave nuts out altogether....

Deciliter (dl) to Gram (g)
2 dl porridge oats = 80-90 grams (3 oz)
5 dl spelt flour = 250-300 grams (8 oz)
1 dl flax seeds = 60 grams (2 oz)
5 dl yogurt = 500 grams (17.6 oz)
1 dl sesame seeds = 50 grams (1.76 oz)
1 dl hazelnuts = 65 grams
1 dl dried apricots = 50-70 grams

So, good luck!