Rustic European Breads

Spelt burgers, spelt dumplings and spelt coffee are among the surprises in The Spelt Cookbook: Cooking with Nature's Grain for Life, an October title from Avery Publishing. Author Helga Hughes, a health and food writer, explains why this flavorful, little-known grain fell out of favor during the Industrial Revolution and offers 175 recipes to promote its acceptance as a foodstuff full of nutrition and nut-like taste. ($14.95 paper, 198p ISBN 0-89529-696-9) Linda West Eckhardt and Diana Collingwood Butts, the authors of Bread in Half the Time, strike again with new ways to achieve time-honored ends. In Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine, coming from Doubleday in September, they teach how to make 100 or so hearty kinds of bread using a bread machine's dough cycle, shaping by hand and baking in a home oven. Dark breads, wheat breads, flatbreads, bagels, baguettes and more. Mail order sources are included. ($25 336p ISBN 0-385-47777-5)