Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe
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This Tartine style no knead Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread recipe is wonderfully nutritious and delicious. The long cold rise aids the fermentation of the dough and improves digestibility, making it a great choice for many. Sourdough also contains higher amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that commercial breads.
With our tips you will have great success in baking Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread using either white or red wheat berries. Please also check out our baking guides. You will find them all in our Sourdough Baking hub.
How does Whole Wheat affect Sourdough?
Using whole wheat flour will add more flavor, fiber and protein to your bread loaves. The color will be noticeably darker and the structure may become a bit denser, but won’t negatively affect the crumb of your loaf.
Some folks prefer the flavor that whole wheat brings, as it will increase the nuttiness and richness of the bread. Others prefer only adding a percentage of whole wheat flour into the dough, rather than making a fully whole wheat dough.
Technique Video
The video shows you the techniques used in making the tartine style sourdough recipe and every step in order. The video dough is not a whole wheat flour bread but it a great technique video for all sourdough breads.
It’s all the same process for the Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread method, except for the slap and fold method which is described further down this post.
This white whole wheat loaf is beautiful with a nice amount of rise, moist flavorful crumb and it’s extremely nutritious.
More Homemade Food Junkie Sourdough Bread Recipes you may enjoy. Just click the link at the bottom of the picture to open a new recipe.
What is the healthiest Sourdough Bread to eat?
Sourdough bread itself is a very healthy bread made with minimal ingredients and containing a lower gluten level than most breads. For an even healthier sourdough bread choose one made with a combination of white and whole wheat flours.
The whole wheat flours will increase the protein levels, the fiber and the vitamins; while the white flour keeps the loaves lighter in texture and crumb. A sourdough loaf made entirely from whole wheat flour will be amazingly healthy, it just may be a bit more challenging to work with for beginner bakers, and it may present a slightly denser crumb than you prefer.
What is the difference in white or red Whole Wheat Flours?
White Whole Wheat Flour
- White whole wheat flour is a variety of 100 percent whole wheat. Just like any other whole wheat flour it is grown from wheat berries and made into whole wheat flour.
- White whole wheat flour is planted, grown and milled without extra steps or additives. No bleaching or mixing in other flours.
- It is exactly like brown whole wheat flour nutritionally.
- White is just a different color wheat and it can be easier to work with.
- The crumb of white whole wheat bread is dense compared to an all purpose bread flour but less dense than hard red berry whole wheat flours.
- White whole wheat flour makes baking with whole wheat flour easier. The crumb is about mid way between the lightness of all purpose bread flour and the heavier red winter wheat flours.
Montana Prairie Gold white whole wheat flour is a great way to lighten the whole wheat loaf and give it a softer, moister crumb.
White Whole Wheat Flour is simply naturally lighter in texture making it easier to work with. It’s full of the same nutrients classic red wheat flour has.
For this Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread recipe you can use any combination of white and red whole wheat flour, but the handling of the dough will be impacted.
Red Whole Wheat Flour
Whole Wheat Flour made with hard red winter wheat berries is the most often used flour for whole wheat recipes. It is darker in color and can create a denser loaf of bread. Working with hard red winter berry whole wheat flour in a long rise sourdough bread is challenging.
- The heavier Whole Wheat Flours are stickier than all purpose white bread flours.
- They don’t develop gluten easily or raise as well as 100 percent white whole wheat sourdough bread, and will demand a longer rise time.
- Loaves will have a denser crumb and a stronger nuttier flavor.
- When making your own flour using red wheat berries we recommend setting your mill grain to the finest setting.
Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe
Now we know why white whole wheat flour is a good choice for the beginner artisan whole wheat bread baker. Let’s get started learning the method for this bread recipe. It’s very easy, it just takes some time.
TIP: Fresh milled flours offer the finest properties for baking. Whole wheat flours quickly go rancid, so use freshly milled flour for best results.
If you are a beginner we suggest:
- Start by watching the video to learn the techniques.
- Then read the printable recipe card to familiarize yourself with the method.
- Finally, read the tips you’ll find below. They are specific to this recipe. If you are still confused about something please feel free to ask us.
WILD YEAST STARTER
Wild yeast starters provide a much better, fuller, more complex flavor and texture compared to commercial yeasts. Your starter provides the lift, flavor and has a lot to do with your finished texture and crumb. A good starter is crucial to your whole wheat sourdough bread success.
Refer to this post on How To Make Wild Yeast Starter for more information and help if you need to make a starter from scratch. Dont want to make your own? buy it From our friend Sasha
- TIP: Do not begin your bread recipe until your active starter passes the float test.
- To float test your starter drop one teaspoonful into a cup of tepid water.
- It should bounce right up and retain its form.
- If you do have an inactive or lazy starter be sure to feed it.
- Feed it now and check it in a few hours then retest. That may be all it needs.
Feeding your Starter
The night before, or several hours before you begin your recipe, take your starter out of the fridge and feed it. I usually use 100 grams for the amounts I feed for this recipe. In equal amounts by weight. Mix together in a medium sized bowl.
- starter
- flour
- water
Let it sit at room temperature for several hours to overnight. It should pass the float test before using it for this recipe.
The Slap and Fold Technique
Using whole wheat flour will make the stretch and fold process a bit more difficult because the dough will be more resistant to stretching. This method will de-gass the dough somewhat which will give it the denser crumb you see pictured. However, it’s a great way to develop gluten for a sandwich bread that you want a close crumb on anyway.
- Pick up the dough with one hand and let it hang in the air until it stretches a bit.
- Slap it on the counter. It should be a stretched out piece of sticky dough.
- Release it from your counter with the dough blade and fold it over.
- Pick it back up by a different side and repeat until the dough has been counter slapped four times.
To achieve a lighter crumb
Beware too much liquid with the heavier red winter wheat flours. Start with 200 grams of starter and see if that works best for you. If it’s too dry add the extra starter after you have mixed it at the autolyse stage.
Stick to the gentler stretch and fold if you want a highly aerated loaf with lots of artisan like holes.
If the gluten does not develop and the dough is continuing to break after 4 folds add another stretch and fold until you get a stretchy dough. Adding more stretch and folds will help the gluten develop.
Scoring the loaves
Proper scoring helps the bread attain its optimal bread rise, which will give you the best crumb. It takes practice.
- When the oven and dutch oven are preheated remove the dough from the fridge.
- Set it on your parchment paper on the counter.
- Using a sharp lame or very sharp knife make deep grooves evenly around your boule.
- You can use any pattern you desire. The way you score the dough will determine its shape and lift to a large degree.
Helpful Suggestions
- Measure ingredients by weight. Flours especially need weight rather than volume measures for the most consistent results.
- We recommend a food scale like this G Dealer scale.
- You will need a dutch oven or other high heat oven safe skillet with a lid to bake your bread in. Chad Robertson prefers a Cast Iron Skillet Combo. A popular choice is the Le Creuset Oval Dutch Oven or a similar style.
- A good quality Dough Scraper Set is very helpful when working with high hydration doughs. The bowl scraper is genius. This is a sticky dough and the bowl scraper slides that dough around like a dream.
- Bannetons are for the final long rise often done in the fridge. They come with handy cloth liners that fit to help keep the dough well formed. The finished bread has lovely ridges in it. If you remove the cloth liners and heavily flour the baskets your loaf will look very artisan.
- A Lame Knife for scoring your loaves is also really helpful in releasing the dough to rise properly.
Your Printable Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe card.
I suggest for this lengthy recipe you print out the recipe and refer back to it while reading the post tips.
Beginner Sourdough Whole Wheat Artisan Bread
Make your own delicious bakery quality artisan sourdough breads at home. This recipe is a good start for new sourdough bakers. It's a long process but an easy one. These breads are so worth it!
Ingredients
- 525 grams water-80 degree F. -NO chlorine , 2.22 Cups
- 250 grams Very active starter - make sure it floats , 1 1/4 Cup
- 20 grams Sea salt , 1 Tablespoon
- 700 grams WHITE whole wheat Flour, about 5 1/2 Cups
Instructions
MAKE THE STARTER
- Make the STARTER AHEAD (This can take up to a week or more) AND DO NOT USE UNTIL IT IS ACTIVE ENOUGH TO FLOAT A TEASPOON ON A CUP OF WATER. Continue the recipe
- Leaven Float Test
MAKE THE DOUGH
- Pour the water into a large bowl.
- Add the ripe starter to the water and mix thoroughly with a whisk or by hand until the floating cloud of starter is mixed completely into the water
- Add the flour to the leavened water and mix with the dough bowl scraper or other spatula. At the end use wet hands to form a shaggy dough ball.
AUTOLYSE: Technically, we do a Fermentalyse, since we add the starter with the water and flour. This jump starts fermentation.
- Let mix rest about an hour. This stage can be extended without worry up to four hours at 75 degrees F.
- Now add the salt to the bread dough. Use your hands to pinch and stretch the dough gently until the salt is mixed into the dough. (see video for my technique)
STRETCH AND FOLD (OR SLAP AND FOLD)
- Using your wet hands pull the dough from under the dough ball up and stretch it gently as you pull it over the dough ball top. Release. Repeat this process as you give the bowl quarter turns until the dough is stretched and pulled from each quarter of the bowl. (SEE video for a demo of this technique).
- Over the next 2 1/2 hours repeat the stretch and fold every 30 minutes. Whole wheat flour can be VERY resistant to this technique. If you prefer use the SLAP and FOLD technique.
- The dough should become an elastic resilient dough that passes the window pane test. BUT whole wheat flour may need more time in the stretch and fold(Or slap and fold) to build gluten sufficient to pass this test.
BULK RISE:
- Allow the dough to bulk rise IN THE BOWL at room temperature an hour or SO until it rises by 30 percent or so.
- Cover the bowl of dough with a plastic bag and set it in the fridge for 15 to 18 hours (Or overnight). It should continue to rise slowly so give it room in the bowl. Whole wheat flour will rise even more slowly than all purpose bread flours.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit on the counter in the bowl for two hours or until the dough reaches room temperature (or pretty close). The dough will soften and gently rise (a tiny bit) and relax as it warms.
DIVIDE AND BENCH REST THE DOUGH:
- On a clean unfloured counter pour out the dough into a large mass. Flour the top of the dough lightly but evenly.
- Divide the dough mass in half with your metal dough scraper.
- BEING CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWORK THE DOUGH-Form each half into a dough ball. The most efficient way to do this is to use the counter as your pivot point. Scrape in a circle around the dough (leave it unturned, flour side up). The unfloured counter will hold the dough center and create tension as you circle the dough with the scraper forming a ball. Repeat to form two dough balls. The DOUGH edge should be round and the dough ball should have some form and resilience to it.
- Let the dough balls rest for 30 minutes or so. They will spread out but should not fall off at the edge of the pancake. If they do, reform the loaves and bench rest them again to build the structure of the dough better.
FINAL SHAPE AND RISE:
- Gently slide the dough scraper under one of your dough balls and flip it over so it rests on the floured side.
- Now gently stretch and pull the dough over from the bottom to 1/3 up the loaf. Stretch and pull the dough from the sides to the dough middle. For the final stretch take the dough from the top of the ball and pull it all the way down to the bottom. Form a seam. Pinching the seam if necessary.
- Place the dough seam side up in your rice floured, cloth lined banneton or bowl.
- Rise in the fridge 2 to four hours until completely chilled. The loaves will not rise much at this point.
Baking Instructions:
- Set a baking stone (if you have one) on your oven bottom rack. Set your dutch oven with it's lid on next rack up (lower third of oven). PREHEAT oven to 450 degrees F. for at least 30 minutes.
- Keep the formed loaf in your banneton in the fridge until you actually need to place it in your preheated dutch oven. Cold dough will aide the oven spring. (which means the loaves will rise better).
- Remove one banneton from the fridge. Place the dough in your preheated dutch oven. Do this by flipping the loaf into the dutch oven as gently as possible seam side down. OR:
- Alternate method: Place high heat safe parchment paper over the banneton. Turn the banneton upside down so the dough falls gently onto the parchment paper.
SCORING THE LOAF:
- FOR OPTIMAL RISE: Score the loaf with your lame knife or a razor blade or sharp scissors. Scoring helps the dough rise better if you score the loaf at least an inch deep. And use cross cuts (The pound sign works well)
- Now pick up the scored loaf with the edges of the parchment paper, if using, and gently and carefully place it into your VERY hot dutch oven.
- Put the lid on the dutch oven and return it covered to your preheated oven.
- Bake 30 minutes at 450 degrees.
- Now REMOVE the lid (and parchment paper if using). Steam should come out. Hopefully the bread is a light golden color with a nice rise and set crust. Bake an additional 10 minutes UNCOVERED or until the loaf thumps hollowly and the surface gets dark(Caramelized darker than you are used to maybe) and the scored areas look shiny. (To prevent over browning turn the parchment paper (or foil) upside down over the loaf as it finishes in the oven.)
- Remove the dutch oven. Place the finished loaf on a cooling rack. Do NOT cut it for at least an hour to set the crumb.
- Return the dutch oven (with it's lid on) to the oven at 450 degrees F and preheat for 15 minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining loaf.
- To tell if your bread is properly done. It should sound hollow when thumped. The crust should look shiny and Caramelized at the scored sections. Whole wheat loafs are dense. The crumb may be open or closed depending on how you handled it.
Notes
WATCH your dough as it goes through the stages of fermentation.
This dough can easily over ferment at high room (Or oven proofing) temperatures. If your dough gets slack, unworkable and won't form or rise it is probably over fermented. At this point I suggest you Make pizza with it instead of loaf bread .To avoid over fermentation keep the room temperature (or oven) at 80 degrees or less. Whatever flour you are using will influence this process. Learn to work with the dough you are creating.
This bread freezes VERY well.
After it is completely cooled double wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and set in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature wrapped or unwrapped. Slice and eat.
For best results store your sourdough bread loaves in a bread box
(I use my dutch oven with the lid slightly cocked). That beautiful crunchy Sourdough crust gets soft in an airtight container or plastic sack. Once cut just set the bread cut side down to protect the crumb. These loaves hold very well for at least three days. Freeze the other finished loaf if you can't eat it right away.
Banneton Tips:
High Hydration dough tends TO STICK to the liner cloths and banneton ridges.
- Scrub rice flour (or cornmeal) into the cloth or banneton sides. Once the dough is in the banneton I add a bit more rice flour around the side of the loaf to keep it from sticking during the rise.
- IF your dough sticks a bit to the banneton cloth, use a sharp knife to pull it away and add some flour to the sticking spot. Now it should invert without too much trouble.
- For really tough sticks, cut the dough away from the cloth and repair it carefully by pressing the dough to reshape it before baking.
- Careful of burns if you are doing this in a hot pot.
- Don't despair. I have had some pretty mangled loaves come out of the oven beautifully!
Nutrition Information
Yield
20Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 112Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 389mgCarbohydrates 24gFiber 4gSugar 0gProtein 4g
Sourdough Troubleshooting:
If your bread doesn’t turn out the way you expect, start with our comprehensive Sourdough Troubleshooting guide: If you have questions, please ask them in the comments section below this post. we will answer. Happy Baking!
Or jump to the specific issue you’re seeing:
- Bread turns out dense –Why Is My Sourdough Bread Dense?
- Sourdough flour Types– How Different Flours affect your loaf
- Dough spreads instead of rising – How to Shape Sourdough Bread
- Score won’t open – How to Score Sourdough Bread
- Crust is soft or pale – How Steam Baking Sourdough Affects Oven Spring and Crust
King Arthur Has more info on White Whole Wheat flours
Recommended Reference Books On Sourdough Bread Baking:
- Tartine By Chad Robertson
- Tartine 3 By Chad Robertson
- The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
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This is the instruction I’ve been searching for to help my dense – but tasty – whole wheat sourdough bread. Thank you for doing such a thorough job explaining/showing how. ☺️ Question though…I bake my loaf on a stone with a steam pan in the oven, or is the Dutch oven the key to success?
Thank again!
Hi Elizabeth, I’m glad we are able to help. You can bake this recipe in your oven with a stone and a water bath if that is what you have. The dutch oven will give you a somewhat different crust but the key to getting a lighter crumb is in the process and ingredients. Make SURE you use high protein white wheat flour for the lightest crumb. It makes a world of difference. Have a great weekend and happy baking. I’d love to know how you loaves turn out.
I made it again and made one loaf without dividing the dough. It was perfect! Thanks for the advice.
Glad to hear it!
I halved the recipe and it came out great. I had one perfect;, tasty loaf. If I want one large loaf, can I not divide the dough? I have one banneton and a good dutch oven, but I like a larger loaf.
Hi Sue, I’m delighted your loaf came out well. If you want one really large loaf you can not divide the dough. Just be careful to make sure the loaf is baked to the center. Use a digital thermometer and be sure the loaf is baked to 200 degrees F. So you know, as long as you keep the proportions exact you can adjust the loaf size to suit your needs. I often make this loaf about one third larger that way. Happy Baking!
hi there, i made this yesterday but had problems
i used whole wheat flour, realising now that may be a problem in itself.
i mixed my starter with water but didn’t have enough, so i fed my remaining starter waited a few hours until bubbly and then added to the dissolved starter mixture, possible error?
the stretch and fold went well i did it a total of 6 times as it still wasn’t that stretchy by the end.
placed in the fridge for 15 hours, slight rise, looking good, then left on the counter as instructed for 2 hours
when i turned it out it was just slop, how could i have prevented this?
is there any way to rescue this slop? feel like i wasted product and time and energy, sigh.
still very new to the sourdough baking, have only made AP sourdough twice and typically i make no knead bread.
Hi Georgie, It sounds to me like your dough over proofed. This means the starter was exhausted before the bread was done developing. Whole wheat flour has a lot of enzymatic activity and our warmer summer temps can also be a part of this if your bulk rise was in a very hot (75 degree F or higher) room.
You can still bake the bread. It’s possible there is really nothing wrong with it. This is a high hydration (lots of water) dough. So it WILL seem very different from any yeast breads you have ever made. Try baking it and let me know how it goes for you. We can continue troubleshooting after you get it baked.
Just scoffing a few slices of this delicious moist bread!
My first successful whole-wheat loaves? Thank you!
Not the usual dense bread I usually end up with!
Hi Lou, I’m so happy to hear this. 🙂 You made my day. Thanks for the great recipe review and enjoy. Happy Baking!
HI! Thank you so much for the detailed tutorial! It was so helpful baking this bread. I am questioning about the resulted texture of my bread. Is it supposed to be spongy? Thanks!
Hi Bridget. I’m glad you found the tutorial helpful. The crumb of this bread should be resilient and moist. I hope that helps. 🙂
Hi, I used this recipe with a starter that was made with equal amounts flour and water. The whole dough came out very wet. Is it just a question of sticking with the recipe but use less water or add more flour?
If I do the math it’s 650 grams of total water content and 825 grams of flour which comes to almost 79% hydration (not including the salt). That seems awful high for a regular loaf.
Hi Martijn,
This is a high hydration artisan style dough. That is what gives you the texture of the crumb you see. It’s a very wet sticky dough. Use wet hands and tools while working with it for best results. The results are worth it In my opinion. OR add more flour into the mix. This will help with the hydration challenges but will also give you a heavier denser loaf. We have the video for you to see how I handle our white flour version of this recipe. The whole wheat should absorb more water as it develops. All the best!
This bread came out perfect except it was so salty it was inedible unless slathered with jam. I will make it again with half the salt.
I was able to find the link for the video in Ryan’s post. Thank you .
I do have another question: You mention that whole wheat is resistant to the stretch & fold technique. Is it possible to use a mixer to get the gluten going? Or is a mixer hard on the sourdough?
A mixer is going to break the gluten strands as they develop. If you have a mixer up to the task you can initially use to get the ingredients mixed. However, It’s VERY important to allow this dough to relax so the gluten can develop. The autolyse and stretch and folds help that process.
BUT if you have trouble getting the dough to stretch I use the slap and fold technique as I describe in the post. It really helps get the gluten forming if you can’t stretch the dough by hand. Hopefully this won’t be necessary after the first few stretches. But the whole wheat flours are quite a bit denser and more resistant to the stretching than a white bread flour.
Several new bakers have made this recipe with great results. It’s much easier if you have whole wheat white flour but as pictured I have made it with hard red wheat flour. It works. But the loaf is a bit denser due to the heavier flour. The flavor is fantastic!
Hello Ladies! I am very excited to try this recipe with my new starter! I have searched through your blog, but I cannot find the video you refer to often in your instructions. I would love to watch it if you can provide a link for me.
Hi Julie, Here is a link to our video on our youtube channel if it does not load on the side bar in the post. Happy Baking!
Hello, this is a great website. I am almost ready to go. One question about the banneton ; I am making a 100 white wheat sourdough as per your recipe. I actually have a grain mill and grind my own flour. One website recommended lightly misting the cloth for the banneton prior to dusting with rice flour; the reason being that it helps the flour adhere to the cloth. Most other websites recommend just dusting the cloth with no spraying…. What do you recommend?
Thanks in advance… Gus
Thank you Gus. I’m so happy your enjoying our site. Welcome to our community! I also grind my own flours. I recommend you use the smallest grain setting you have to achieve the results you see pictured in this post. All these loaves were made from my home ground flours.
I never spray my bannetons. I keep them dry. I can see why they spray the banneton to keep the flour on the sides but if you ask me that defeats the purpose of the flour. The water will make the flour stick to the dough and laminate it to the sides of the banneton. Not what we are after.
I use either rice flour or cornmeal in my dry bannetons. I then drop in the dough. NOW I will gently pull the dough off the sides of the banneton and sprinkle flour all around the loaf edge. This has helped me so much avoid the dough sticking to the banneton when I need it to release. I hope this helps. Have a great day!
At the loaf shaping stage could the dough be shaped for a loaf pan and baked in the pan?
Yes it can.
TIPS: Score the loaf with three deep (1/2 inch to inch) diagonal slashes across the top of the loaves before baking and spray them really good.
Are you baking them in your pre heated dutch oven as for the boules instructions? Do that if you can. Otherwise put the loaf pans on a baking sheet.
Next shelf under the loaves put a water bath ( roasting pans work good half full of water).
Use your roaster lid to cover the sprayed loaves to help keep the steam around the loaves. Then remove the lid as instructed.
If you have a really hot oven be sure to watch the loaves for over browning. I just use tin foil as a shield if they need it at the end.
Your loaves are done at 200 degrees internal temp with a digital thermometer. Or thump the loaves. They should sound hollow.
If you need help forming the loaves for a bread pan go to this tutorial post. Best of luck!
Did the video get removed?
Hi Ryan, No it’s still on the post. I just added it into the bottom of the recipe card for you also. Also here is the youtube link. Sometimes the video doesn’t load if you move by it too fast. If you are using the jump to recipe button just scroll through the recipe card to the bottom and click to play it. Hope that helps. Happy Baking!
I halved the recipe and when I mixed the starter, water and white WW flour together it was a much firmer, not shaggy ball than in the video. Should I add more water?
Yes, whole wheat absorbs more liquid, you can add a bit more water to the dough.
Hi I’m very excitedly working my way through this recipe as my first foray into sour dough. I had some time appreciation issue caused by my starter taking forever to wake up. I am using red whole wheat bread flour, can I leave the dough in the fridge for 27-28 hours so I’m not baking bread at 1 AM?
Hi Jesse, yep. That’s fine. You may want to eliminate the room temperature bulk rise so you don’t overproof the dough. Over proofing happens when the structure of the dough goes slack and your loaf won’t rise when baked. It’s easy to do with whole wheat breads. So adding to the long cold rise and eliminating the room temperature bulk rise should work great.
Welcome to our Homemade Food Junkie community. If you have any further questions I am happy to help. Happy Baking!
Can this recipe be halve if I only intend to make one loaf?
Hi Eliza, you sure can. Just keep all the ingredients in proportion.
Good Morning! Thank you for this recipe and the Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe as well. Your instructions are well done and very easy to follow. I did the Raisin Bread at 60% fresh ground hard white whole wheat flour to 40% all purpose flour and it came out wonderfully! I did this bread with 100% fresh ground hard white whole wheat flour. As of last night I had really nice dough. It passed window pane test and felt wonderful. This morning, I’m having a hard time getting it to hold it’s ball after forming and it won’t pass window pane. Help! Is it over fermented? I tried some slap and folds again and it seems to have helped. Fingers crossed I don’t make bricks! 🙂
Hi Kyris, It might be on the edge of over proofing. Whole wheat flour tends to over proof a bit faster than an all purpose bread flour. If you have high heat in your kitchen (High 70 or more) the dough will develop very fast. BUT that said. The dough is more than likely ok.
Do this: Let the dough stay cold and go to the bench rest step. the bench rest stage work the dough balls until they form a tight tension on the dough ball surface. Watch the video to see how I pull the dough around to form the ball.
That tension is necessary to get the best shape for the rise. If the dough is slack. Bench rest it again. Then form and refrigerate. Shorten the fridge time to the time required to properly preheat the oven.
You want to minimize the room temperature time if the dough is proofing too fast. Fridge time will calm down the yeasts and help preserve the action for the oven bake. Best of luck! Please let us know how it comes out for you.
I did as you suggested. I don’t have bricks! The bread has big airy holes, even after the slap and folds. (overproofed?) It’s going to be yummy though. I didn’t get as much oven rise as I hoped for but it is very much edible. It seemed to expand as much as or more so than up. It didn’t have enough surface tension to hold it’s shape? (I did, in my excitement, forget to score the loaves which could have effected this.) I’ll definitely try this again. This is be best success I’ve had with a whole wheat sourdough and it certainly won’t go to waste.
Well this sounds like your dough was fine. If you have air holes and good flavor without a dense crumb I think this is a very good start.
The shaping and getting the surface tension on the loaves is going to get better with experience. They both have a great impact on getting the proper rise and an even crumb.
And Yes! The scoring is HUGE for your proper rise. Next time do deep scored of an inch or so down into the dough for lots of expansion.It’s going to be much better risen and shaped. Good start!
I was successful in making this bread – it was amazing! It is more forgiving than I thought! I am hooked! Made sourdough waffles with the cast off too, delish! Thank you for a great experience and delicious bread ?
Oh Karen that is great to hear. Thanks so much for the lovely review on this and the waffles too. Enjoy this wonderful world of sourdough. Happy Baking!
For this recipe what size banneton do you use?
Hi Gus, I use my 8.5 inch bannetons. Happy baking!
@Diane, do you think the entire recipe will fit into one banneton similar to your size ?
It will fit and I have made this recipe into one loaf. It will be denser and take longer to bake. The rise is also not as high. The weight of the loaf has an impact here.
The bread is still very good. Bake it covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 20 minutes. Check internal temp of loaf. Do not remove loaf from oven until it attains a temp of about 206 degrees F. Best of luck!
Hi! I didn’t realize you had a whole wheat version of this recipe and starts making the dough using the AP flour version of the recipe but with whole wheat white flour. I noticed the only difference in ingredients is that the whole wheat version calls for 50g of more starter. Will this be a big issue (if I used 200g instead)?
Hi Jun, If you’re at the autolyse stage you can still mix in the extra starter. Otherwise just go ahead with the recipe with less starter. If the dough gets real stiff wet your hands as instructed to work with the dough and it will help add extra hydration to the dough. Whole wheat white flour is much easier to work with than the red hard wheat. So this should work fine.