Before You Bake . . .

Um, so you know how I highly recommended whole spelt flour? So, er, there's an addendum to that. 

Yesterday, I attempted to make cookies for Shaloch Manos, and I quadrupled my usual cookie cutter recipe. 

It was a nightmare. 

The dough never came together; it remained sandy and crumbly. I tried adding more oil, more liquid, and nothing doing. I attempted to cut them out, and it was horrific. They refused to stay together, falling apart, jagged edges. When I shoved them into the oven and eventually took a peek, I saw in shock that they were foaming. 

I googled "whole spelt cookie cutter" and the few recipes either called for copious butter (I'm currently remaining pareve) or they enthused, "These cookies are deliciously crumbly!" 

Oh. 

So I bolted to the nearest health food store and miraculously, they had the whole wheat pastry flour in stock (I've been having difficulty finding it since COVID hit). I redid the dough, and OMG, it was like silk. It rolled out into beautiful slabs. The cookies held their shape magnificently. I nearly wept.

The whole spelt flour, however, has been performing very well in cakes, and non-cookie cutter cookie recipes. I've even made stunning challah from it. 

So even though I initially recommended it for cookie cutter cookies, I take that back. My first attempts with it went ok but then I hadn't quadrupled the recipe. Those sort of details matter, apparently. Blurgle.