I had about 250g of wholegrain spelt flour languishing in the store cupboard for months. There wasn’t really enough of it to make anything by itself so I combined it with some plain, strong bread flour to make a version of Roman bread.
Roman bread – as you may guess – is apparently a recipe found in the Apicius – an 4th century cookbook. It’s a simple, rustic loaf consisting of spelt flour, water, yeast, honey and olive oil.
Spelt is an ancient grain that would have been common at the time the Apicus was written. It fell out of favour in the 19th century but, mainly because of its lower gluten content, it’s growing in popularity once more.
Spelt dough requires more liquid, but doesn’t need to be kneaded or proved for as long as regular wheat flour – which is an advantage if you’re pushed for time!
I would have thought that the yeast originally used would have been of the wild variety, made using grape must.
I may attempt to make an ‘authentic’ Roman bread soon – using a pre-ferment, 100% spelt flour and will form the loaf into a traditional round rather than use a tin. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Roman bread
Ingredients
- 250 g wholegrain spelt flour
- 250 g strong bread flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp quick yeast
- 1 tbsp honey
- 400 ml warm water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC/fan 180ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and quick yeast
- Dissolve the honey in the water and roughly mix it into the flour
- While the dough is still craggy add the oil and mix well
- Knead or work the dough for a few minutes then divide between two 500g/1lb bread tins
- Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about 25 minutes
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes
