Hi Lea, thanks for your question. We have been loving baking with ancient grains lately, and we did a number of tests using spelt flour. While we didn't make a naturally-leavened sourdough, we did make a yeast bread using 25%, 50%, and 100% spelt. Our taste testers all agreed that the 50% version had the best taste and texture. If you'd like to give the Extra-Tangy Sourdough recipe a try using some spelt flour, you might want to start by making the Day 1 starter with all-purpose flour and then using spelt flour on Day 2 to make up the rest of the dough. This should give you a loaf that rises nicely but has a notable flavor of whole grains. You may not need to add a full 2 cups of flour on Day 2, so add it slowly in 1/4 cup increments until the dough feels soft and tacky to the touch.

As for your question about lowering gluten and the bread's placement on the GI index, there has been much research and debate about how these factors play out in sourdough. At this time we encourage you to speak with a nutritionist, as our expertise focuses on the baking qualities of bread and naturally-leavened recipes. Refrigerating the shaped loaf overnight before baking will encourage a more sour loaf. We hope this helps, and happy baking! Kye@KAF

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