Name: Easy Spelt and Sunflower Sourdough Bread
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1545 min
Ingredients: 250g Water; 150g Sourdough Starter; 175g White Flour; 175g Spelt Flour; 100g Sunflower Seeds; 10g Salt

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This beginner-friendly spelt and sunflower sourdough bread recipe simplifies the process, stripping away most of the fancy techniques. If you’re new to sourdough baking and want a straightforward approach to creating a delicious spelt and sunflower loaf, this method is perfect for you. It focuses on the basics, ensuring that you can achieve a satisfying result without feeling overwhelmed by intricate details or specialized equipment.

Read all the way through to understand the basics of sourdough bread-making before making this spelt and sunflower sourdough bread loaf!

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This spelt and sunflower sourdough was my first love when I began experimenting with ancient grains, and it quickly became a staple in my kitchen. The nutty, deep flavor of spelt blends perfectly with the subtle crunch from the sunflower seeds, creating a hearty loaf that’s both satisfying and full of character.

Spelt is one of my favourite grains, not only because of its unique, rich taste but also for its functional protein content and ancient history. It has been cultivated for thousands of years and offers a great alternative to more modern grains.

The use of spelt in this bread brings both nutritional value and an unforgettable flavour, making it a perfect addition to any meal. Whether you enjoy it as a sandwich or on its own with a generous amount butter, this spelt and sunflower sourdough is sure to become a favourite.

Bronwyn’s Sourdough Notes

This is your loaf! I’m here to share my tips, experience, and what’s worked for me — but sourdough is wonderfully flexible. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out, feel free to experiment and make this recipe your own. There are a bajillion ways to make a great loaf of sourdough, and my goal is simply to help you find the methods and rhythms that suit you best.

Water: If you can drink it, you can bake with it. I’ve used city, tap, well, and filtered water — all with great results. Don’t overthink it.

Salt: Use whatever fine salt you have. Unrefined salts like Himalayan or Redmond Real Salt support fermentation beautifully, but table salt works fine too.

Sourdough Starter: Start bread with an active, bubbly starter for best results. Learn more about your starter here.

Temperature: Dough rises best around 23–26°C (73–79°F) dough temperature.
Colder = Slower fermentation (6-12 hours)
Warmer = Faster fermentation (3-6 hours)
Adjust with warm or cool water depending on the season.

Flour: I always do a blend of standard all-purpose flour and freshly-milled whole grain flour as my whole wheat flour. Use whatever flour works for you.

Hydration: In summer, I use cooler water and slightly less. In winter, warmer water and a touch more can help balance fermentation speed.

Autolyse: This step involves holding back salt and sourdough starter at the mixing stage. I prefer a simpler variation — I mix in the starter right away but hold back the salt for 30–60 minutes. This short rest gives the dough time to hydrate and relax, especially important when using whole grain flour, which takes longer to absorb moisture.

Where To Source Fresh-Milled Spelt Flour

If you’re living in a city, you can mostly likely find a bakery or fancy grocery store that sells fresh-milled flour. You can also buy spelt flour online.

If you’re living in the country and you can source whole-grains, you may want to consider milling your own flour. You can start without making a large investment by using a powerful coffee grinder or blender that you already own. A step up would be purchasing a KitchenAid grain mill attachment.

If you’re really enjoying working with fresh-milled whole-grains and you have a reliable source of grain, you can also consider a Harvest NutriMill which is the one I use almost everyday and love both for its beauty and practicality.

Get your Harvest NutriMill when you’re ready to invest using this link and my discount code BRONSBREAD20 at checkout to get $20 off your order!

Materials You’ll Need

Medium-Sized Mixing Bowl: A heavy set ceramic mixing bowl would work best.
Bowl Cover: Anything that covers and seals the bowl and covers your loaf for final proofing. I use these reusable elastic bowl covers.
Dough Whisk (optional): It is cleaner to get things started with a dough whisk but it’s definitely not necessary.
Plastic Bench Scraper: I find this tool very handy for cleaning and scraping the dough out of the bowl. It can also be used for dividing dough and pre-shaping.
Metal Bench Scraper: I use this tool for dividing dough, pre-shaping, and cleaning the table. Not essential though, as the plastic bench scraper can serve similar purposes, but I like using both.
Kitchen Scale: I prefer sharing most of my recipes in grams so there is less room for error as I’m not in the kitchen with you! Everyone scoops things differently.
Banneton Basket: I like a 10″ basket for my artisan loaves.
Razor Blade, Bread Lame or Sharp Knife: I haven’t found a bread lame I really like so I just use razor blades as is.
Dutch Oven: For baking your artisan loaf. It is the best vessel for trapping steam and giving your dough a nice strong rise.
Cooling Rack: For cooling down your loaf.

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Ingredients

White Flour: I use Rogers all-purpose flour, nothing fancy.

Spelt Flour: I use fresh-milled organic whole-grain spelt flour but any spelt flour from the store will get the job done.

Active Sourdough Starter: An active sourdough starter is bubbly with large bubbles, a domed top, double to triple in size, sweet and sour smelling, and floats in water. A perfectly active starter is essential for the perfect loaf but it’s not essential to make sourdough bread. You can work with the starter you have even if it’s not perfectly active, just expect inferior results.

Sunflower Seeds: Raw or roasted hulled sunflower seeds.

Salt: I use Himalayan sea salt but any salt is good. Avoid highly processed table salt. The more mineral content, the better.

Water: Any drinking water can be bread-making water.

How To Make Spelt and Sunflower Sourdough Bread

Mix – Add water + starter to your bowl, mix until dissolved. Add white flour, spelt flour and sunflower seeds. Mix until no dry bits. Rest 30–60 min (autolyse).

Add Salt – Add salt with a splash of water, squeeze in until fully integrated and dissolved. Rest 30 minutes.

Strengthen – Perform a series of stretch and folds. Let rest for another 30 minutes.

Strengthen (pt.2) – Perform another series of stretch and folds.

Bulk Ferment – Let the dough rest until doubled in size, jiggles, and has a domed surface. (Warm 4–6 h; cool 8–12 h.)

Shape – Pre-shape into a ball and let it bench rest for 20–30 minutes. Final shape into an oval log shape. Coat your loaf with crushed sunflower seeds or flour your banneton basket and place your loaf in it, seam side up.

Proof Options

Same-day bake: cover and let rest on the counter at room temperature until risen and puffy (1-3 hours).

Next-day bake: cover and refrigerate 8–24 hours for enhanced flavour, structure, fermentation & easy scoring.

Score & Bake

Dutch oven: Preheat your oven to 500°F with the Dutch Oven inside for 30-60 minutes. Gently remove your loaf from the banneton basket to a large piece of parchment paper by flipping it over so seam side is down. Once preheated, lightly flour the surface of your loaf, spread it around, and score. Remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven and then carefully place your loaf into the hot Dutch oven, cover, and return to the oven. Bake for 20–25 minutes covered and then 10-15 minutes uncovered, until dark golden crust is achieved.

Cool – 1 hour minimum before slicing to ensure the crumb has fully set and then enjoy with a generous amount of butter!

Notes

Keep an eye on your loaf while it’s baking with the lid off. Every oven is different and you may find it gets dark too quickly at 425F. Feel free to reduce the temperature and extend the time if you feel that gets a more even crust.