Spelt Flour

Spelt flour comes from Triticum spelta, a hulled wheat that must be dehulled before milling. EU buyers pay for it as a distinct product, often organic, so the key commercial risk is identity: a spelt lot blended with common wheat. Contract varietal identity and a test for it, alongside the usual flour parameters.

At a glance

• Raw material: hulled spelt, dehulled before milling
• Types: white (around German Type 630) and wholemeal
• Contains gluten; spelt is named as a cereal containing gluten
• Often organic; certificate of inspection required per consignment
• Identity risk: blending with common wheat, checked by DNA methods

Grades, cuts and calibration

White spelt flour and wholemeal spelt flour are the two main products; the type is again an ash band. Spelt gluten is softer and more extensible than wheat gluten, so dough tolerates less mixing, and gluten index values are typically lower than for bread wheat.

Identity matters because spelt sells at a premium. DNA-based methods can detect common wheat in spelt; agree the method, the laboratory and the action threshold in the contract.

Protein in spelt flour is often similar to or higher than in bread wheat flour, but the gluten it forms is weaker, so protein alone overstates baking strength. Ask for a trial bake result with the sample.

Seasonality and availability

Spelt is harvested in July and August; dehulling capacity, not grain, often limits supply.

What the buyer checks at intake

• Ash, moisture, protein, wet gluten and falling number.
• Identity test for common wheat admixture at a frequency agreed in the contract.
• Organic certificate of inspection in TRACES for organic lots.
• Mycotoxins and residues against the contracted position.

Where it is used

Artisan and industrial bread, pasta, crackers and retail bags of flour, frequently organic.

Baking behaviour and product choice

Spelt gluten is more extensible and less elastic than common wheat gluten. Doughs need shorter, gentler mixing and often lower water, and over-mixing gives a slack dough that spreads. White spelt flour is used for bread rolls, pastry and pasta; wholemeal spelt for bread, crackers and breakfast products. Many buyers sell spelt on taste and on the organic claim, so both the variety and the certification chain matter as much as the lab values.

Wet gluten and gluten index are still useful for spelt, but compare them with previous spelt lots, not with bread wheat targets.

Standards and routes

Bagged by curtainsider or container; organic lots kept physically separate and labelled.

Identity, organic status and documents

The commercial risk in spelt is substitution: modern common wheat is cheaper and easier to grow, and a blend is hard to see in flour. DNA-based methods can estimate the share of common wheat; agree the method, the laboratory and the tolerance before the contract, and test the grain as well as the flour.

For organic spelt, the organic certification of the grower and the mill must be valid on the shipment date, and each consignment travels with a certificate of inspection issued in TRACES under Regulation (EU) 2018/848. Check that the lot numbers on the certificate, the bags and the invoice match.

Ask for a certificate of analysis per lot with ash, moisture, protein, falling number and the mycotoxins named in the contract. Spelt contains gluten and is labelled as such. Background on milled products: flours and milled grains.

Common specification mistakes

• No identity test for common wheat
• Expecting wheat-like mixing tolerance
• Organic lots shipped without the certificate of inspection

How to brief a supplier

1. State white or wholemeal and the ash band
2. Require an identity test and name the method
3. State organic status and control body
4. Give protein, gluten and falling number bands
5. Define packaging