This whole wheat sourdough bread is another great bread for everyday baking if you like darker breads. Whole wheat breads offer more flavor and are generally much healthier than white breads. This particular loaf has a wonderful open crumb, a nice chew, a mild acidity and a lot of flavor. We use it to make sandwiches or as an accompaniment to soups, stews and salads. It makes delicious croutons. You don’t even need to toast it when its fresh; just cut the bread up into pieces and add to salads. There is plenty of flavor and crunch in it as is.
This bread is made with pure sourdough starter (levain), which produces bread with a more rustic and denser crumb, with bigger holes and a thicker, chewier crust. I like baking it to a darker crust, which promotes the development of dark chocolate flavors.
I like my whole wheat bread’s crumb lighter, with large holes, so I add 35% of bread flour to the mix. This ratio produces a very nice crumb crumb as shown below.
The higher the ratio of whole wheat the denser the crumb will be, with progressively smaller holes. You see how the crumb transformed when using 25% bread flour and 75% whole wheat flour below.
Increasing the amount of whole wheat to 100% is absolutely possible but expect the crumb to get denser and the bigger holes to disappear.
The process I use to make whole wheat sourdough bread is practically identical to the process I use to make other sourdough breads. As with other breads, you must complete bulk fermentation where the dough doubles in size. Three ‘stretch and folds’ are performed at the beginning of bulk fermentation to strengthen to dough. Once the dough is ready, it is cut in half, shaped and proofed before baking.
As much I love my baking stone, I now bake most of my breads in two bread cloches. I picked clay bread cloches over cast iron combo cookers as they don’t burn the bottoms as cast iron cookers do at high temperatures.
The biggest reason for that is that I get a noticeably better oven spring in pure sourdough breads. It’s not a problem with yeast breads, such as French baguettes or no-knead yeast breads. Another reason is that I don’t have to worry about steam. This makes things just a little easier.
Bread Formulations
Levain Formula
Feed an active starter twice, 12 hours apart, using the formula below. The starter will be ready to use 8-10 hours after the second feeding. It should increase about 2-3 times in volume.
For example, when using the baking schedule provided in the recipe below where the final dough is mixed at 6:00 PM, you would feed your active sourdough starter at 8:00 PM the night before and at 8:00 AM on the dough mixing day. At 6:00 PM, the levain will be ready for the final bread dough mixing.
| WEIGHT | INGREDIENT |
|---|---|
| 80 g | Bread Flour |
| 20 g | Whole Wheat Flour |
| 30 g | Sourdough Starter |
| 100 g | Water (90F-95F) |
Final Dough Formula
| WEIGHT | INGREDIENT | BAKER’S PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|---|
| 565 g | Whole Wheat Flour | 70.6 % |
| 235 g | Bread Flour | 29.4 % |
| 640 g | Water (85F) | 80 % |
| 200 g | Levain | 25 % |
| 18 g | Kosher Salt | 2.25 % |
Overall Formula
| WEIGHT | INGREDIENT | BAKER’S PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|---|
| 585 g | Whole Wheat Flour | 65 % |
| 315 g | Bread Flour | 35 % |
| 740 g | Water | 82.2 % |
| 18 g | Kosher Salt | 2% |
Note the higher than usual hydration in this recipe. This is because whole wheat flour absorbs more water than white flour. Even at this hydration, the dough is quite easy to work with.
Ingredients
- 565 g whole wheat flour Bread flour
- 235 g bread flour I use King Arthur 'Special'; you can also use all-purpose flour
- 640 g water at around 90F - 95F
- 200 g levain see the levain formula and feeding schedule above
- 18 g kosher salt or sea salt
Instructions
The night before baking, around 6:00 PM
- In a large bowl, dissolve the levain in water. Add both flours, salt, and mix the ingredients together. Cover and let rest for 30 minutees to an hour.
Around 6:30 - 7:00 PM
- Perform the first set of stretching and folding.
Around 7:30 - 8:00 PM
- Perform an additional set of stretches and folds. Cover and let rest.
Around 8:30 - 9:00 PM
- Perform the final set of stretches and folds. Cover and let rest.
Around 10:30 PM - 11:00 PM
- Depending on your ambient temperature, the dough should double in size by this time. If not let it ferment until it does. If the room is too cold, place the bowl in the oven with the light on. When it does, divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape into balls and place, seam side down, in proofing baskets. Cover and keep in a cool room (about 55F-60F) overnight. You may also refrigerate the dough but make sure the fridge does not run too cold.
The next day, around 7:00 AM
- If the dough was refrigerated, take it out of the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours or even longer, until you see some increase in the volume from the last night and the dough passes the 'finger poke' test. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500F.
- When ready to bake, prepare two pieces of parchment paper, turn the dough over on the parchment sheets, score and load in the oven.
- Drop the temperature to 485F and bake with steam for 20 minutes. If baking in a cloche or a cast iron combo cooker, there is no need to worry about the steam. Next, bake without steam at 450F for 30 minutes.
- Remove bread from the oven. Cool on a cooling rack for an hour before slicing.
Jose
Hi! I love the looks of your sourdough bread, as is. But, using your own formula in the recipe, I am going to eliminate the bread flour and replace it with a whole grain flour. I may use a Kamut and rye flour combination, which I can grind myself on my NutriMill mill. As we know, the bread flour gives the bread bigger holes and lighter crumbs. But I rather like to have a more nutritious and flavorful bread. Thanks for the recipe. I am not giving your recipe a five-star rating, because it is not a 100% whole grain bread.
Andrew
Made this bread twice already and each time it was a success. I struggled with other WW sour dough recipes but this one hit the mark for me. The cumb was very soft and open and the crust was perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad to hear it, Andrew. Enjoy!
Heather
Hello Victor, I see that you add salt to your bread dough when you first mix the dough. I’m new to making sourdough, and I was under impression that you should let the dough autolyze without salt & only mix salt in it after dough has autolyzed. Have you ever tried doing that with this recipe? If not, do you think it would make any difference to final result?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Healther, there is so much contradicting information. Some say adding salt at the very last moment is ideal, others say it doesn’t matter. Some say fine salt is bad and coarse grain salt is fine. Some say autolyzing for an hour or even a few is ineffective, and only becomes effective if you do it for a day. I’ve tried this one and many other of my recipes diferent ways, including with and without autolyzing, and found absolutely no noticeable difference. I know several professional French bakers who don’t. So I don’t do it anymore. It saves me time, effort, and makes mixing much easier and I am happy I don’t see a benefit from it. The most important part – I am happy with the results. I bake a lot so less complication is very welcome for me.
Heather
Thank you for your explanation. It makes it easy to understand.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are welcome.
Jocelyn Teh Ding
Hi there! The recipe says to put the dough in the proofing basket seam side down. Is this bread baked seam side up?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Yes, I bake it seam side up, which makes it look rustic. It’s a personal preference, you can reverse it if you like.
Steve
Hi, when retarding in the fridge (which I run on a low setting), how long can I leave the dough in the fridge? As I understand it there’s a time limit for this when using wholemeal flour over white.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Steve, I normally retard my bread dough at least overnight and most often 24 hours. I also do 48 sometimes but not as often. I’ve gone longer but the dough begins to deteriorate and change texture, so I don’t like going longer. I think 24 hours is optimal, 48 hours gives marginally more flavor and more tang, and I don’t like my dough too tangy. Whole grain flour has more nutrients so the dough ferments more actively. I am not aware of any specific limit that you speak of, perhaps it’s has been scientifically tested, but yes, the more whole grain your starter and/or dough has, the more actively it will ferment. However, most fermentation activity drops dramatically at fridge temps, the the lower they are, the less fermetnation will occur. I’ve read that fermentation stops below 38F. Never tested this but I did notice that the colder the fridge temp the less the dough will rise in the fridge. I use the fridge that’s not too cold otherwise the dough will need to sit at room temp for 2-3 hours in the morning to sort of catch up. Hope this helps.
Ann
Looking forward to trying this recipe. Can you clarify if the Dutch oven is heated while the oven is preheating or is this a “cold bake” method? Thanks
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
It must be pre-heated. Good luck and happy baking!
Vickie
I am a first timer at this and am going to attempt to make this today. I’m feeding my starter right now! My question is….I have fresh ground hard red wheat and fresh ground spelt. Are these acceptable to use, and any recommendations would be appreciated!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
My apologies for the delayed response. Either of those will work but each will add own flavor/nuances. Happy baking!
Katie.com
Can I bake.this as one load in a 4.5 quart Dutch oven?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
I think it may be too small for the full recipe, but would be fine for half the recipe.
Elise
Just wanted to say that your recipe is outstanding. The best whole wheat bread I’ve ever made and I tried many recipes before this one. It’s a definite keeper. Thank you for posting.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome, enjoy!
Marg
Hello.
I’ve made your recipe several times and love it. Today, I mixed the dough in the morning and did 3 stretches by 11:00 am. It is now rising. My question – once it doubles in size, do I need to let it sit in a cool area/fridge for 8 to 10 hours or can I bake it after letting it sit on the counter for 4 or 5 hours?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Marg, there are two ways to do it: 1 – shape, proof and bake, 2 – partially ferment and cold retard in the fridge, or fully ferment, shape and proof in the fridge (same cold retarding) then bake. Cold retarding slows down fermentaiton and/or proofing, or both if you want, and lets more complex flavors to develop. You can also make bread without cold retarding, I do it very often. You still get a very flavorful bread. After the dough doubles in size, shape it, put in prooding baskets, cover and let proof at room temp until it gets about 30-50% larger, that’s my rule of thumb. Then score and bake.
Mike
I am not sure what I am doing wrong, when I go to bake the bread it is flat, I am unable to get it to dome. Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong? The crust and flavor are there and taste great.
Thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Mike,
there are several factors that may cause that and the results may be vastly different. Let’s say you overproof your bread or score it too deeply, it will stay pretty much flat but the crumb will still be very airy and open, like this example of my over-proofed bread here – https://tasteofartisan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/sourdough-bread.jpg
If your dough is underfermented and/or under proofed, it will usually stay flat but the crumb will be noticeably dense and tight. I usually look for a 2-2.5X volume increase during bulk fermentation and a 30-50% volume increase during proofing, this approach has been working for me quite well.
Keep in mind though that the more WW flour you have in your dough the less open/airy the crumb will be. Oven spring will also be much less pronounced compared to bread made with white flour.
Hope this helps. It’s easier for me to tell what the issue may be if I see some pictures. I will email you.
Diliam
Hi Victor,
Have you tried 50% whole meal 50% white flour? Would I ha e to adjust the water? Thanks
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Diliam, if by whole meal flour you mean flour made by finely grinding whole wheat grain, yes, I have and I actually use this type of flour quite often. I recently discovered a mill about an hour away from me where I can get some really good flours made from ancient grains and even vegetables and fruit. Yes, blueberry flour, pea flour, etc. In general, whole wheat grains absorb more water so you’d need to bump hydration a percentage point or two. With whole meal it should be OK as is. That said, take a look at your dough, see how it feels and adjust if needed. There are other factors at play here so it’s always best to adjust based on your flour, temperature, and ambient humidity.
Tania
Hello, when I feed the starter the second time, do I use just 30g of the levain?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Tania, think of it as a more frequent starter feeding, nothing else. Same quantities. The reason I recommended that is to get a stronger starter, that’s all. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Mike
I was wondering according to your directions at what point do you make the levain prior to starting at 6pm?
Thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Mike, I wrote about that in the post above, towards the end, under ‘LEVAIN FORMULA’.
Mike
Good Morning, Yes I read that, and so if I understand it, I feed my starter at 8pm the night before, then that morning at 8am, then at 6pm the starter is ready to use, so at 6pm make the levain and mix it into the dough. Is that correct?
Thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Mike, yes, that’s correct. That’s just one way to do it and this method produces a very vigorous starter that work exceptionally well. Letely, I’ve been using a slightly different method – I feed my sourdough starter on a 24 hour schedule using regular room temp water (RO water). I’d feed the starter in the evening and mixt the dough the next day around noon. What I do differently is use a slightly warmer water, around 80F, and it works very well to. If I use RO filter water (in the 60s), the dough is very slow to ferment.
Rose
Hi there, to piggyback on this questions.. there is no time for the levain to ferment together, so what would be the purpose in making a levain right before adding it to the rest of the dough vs just adding the starter?
Thanks!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Unless you feed a portion of your starter with a different flour(s), or different ratios, levain is the same thing as your starter. Levain is nothing more in this case than a portion of your starter. You feed it twice and after the second feeding, you let it ferment for 8 hours before mixing the final dough with it.
You can simply use a portion of your starter. I am suggesting this feeding schedule because I struggled with getting a good rise and an open crumb until I got my starter very strong. Doing the way I suggest will ensure that your starter/levain is very strong for this bread.
Stephanie
Can I just cut all ingredients in half to bake one bread instead of two?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Yes, cut all of them in half to get one loaf.
Markus
Very nice, just one observation: publishing on the internet gives you an international audience, and if you already use the standard metric units (like g) then why not specify the temperature in metric units (°C) as well? Or at least in both F and °C?
With greetings from New Zealand!
Markus
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Thanks for the feedback Markus. Will keep that in mind. Happy baking!
Virginia
I do not “see” the starter recipe? Please add or send me a link to get it.
[email protected]
Thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Virginia,
Take a look at my Sourdough Starter post. I don’t have a recipe for it, but there are plenty online, follow any of them to get your sourdough starter going. My personal recommendation is to do what I do – buy a packet of dry organic San Francisco sourdough starter, re-hydrate and feed for a few days until you get a very active starter. This is what I’ve done after many failed attempts at making my own from the wild yeast in my house.
Patti
Thanks for all your help!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome.
Patti
Is there a limit to questions? I hope not. Ignore my last one. So, I got to the part where I divide the dough and form into 2 balls. Not so easy. Now I understand why I kept hearing high hydration is not for beginners. And then, where to proof? I read your instructions probably 50 times but still, I don’t have your bakeware, so I though I would proof in a bowl with a tea towel but decided it would be a good idea to put some parchment down. Actually it wasn’t. The dough stuck so badly I finally ended up putting it on the cast iron dutch oven top and a cast iron skillet and in the fridge. Hard to form a tight ball. I wonder what the trick it. I did better with one than the other.
So in the morning I bake, right in the cast iron they are spending the night in. But covered part way. No guess how this ends.
Any way to learn this technique or watch a video? I’m quite a good cook, don’t love baking much, but the pandemic got me into bread. So I’m hooked. I’m never afraid to try something new but this is leaving me with a lot of questions.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Patti,
No limit, ask away. Though, after reading your email, I see that you are well on your way and those loaves that you baked today look great. Beautiful open crumb. As I mentioned in my email, don’t be afraid to drop the hydration a little to be more comfortable handling the dough, you can always work your way back up later as you master the technique. Instead of parchment, use paper towels. No sticking!
I am not much into making videos but a lot of people have been asking so I am planning on making a few videos of my recipes.
Happy baking!
Amy
I actually use tupperware and tea towels to put my dough in the fridge overnight. The trick to keeping it from sticking is to liberally apply brown rice flour to your tea towels. This keeps the dough from sticking but brown rice flour does not absorb moisture easily and therefore does not pull a lot of the hydration from your dough like other flours will. Hope this helps.
Patti
Hello Victor,
I started your WW sourdough recipe tonight, I have 1 cast iron dutch oven and I can’t figure out what to cook the second loaf in. I have Le Cruset, Dansk dutch ovens but none rated for that high a heat. And overnight I can let it sit in the dutch oven? I doubt I’ll get an answer before cooking time but worth a try!
Tx.
Patti
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Patti, I see that they are rated to 450F, if that’s the case, you can try that. Recently, I’ve had good results baking breads at 450F for 20 minutes covered and 425F for 35 minutes uncovered in my cloches. You get less crusty bread, many like it. Alternatively, bake the loaves sequentially… I know more work… If do decide to do it this way, take one dough out of the fridge and leave the other in for about 50-60 minutes longer. Problem solved.
Patti
I am new to sourdough baking, having made perhaps 4 loafs total, not high hydration. But like a fool I am determined to try yours this weekend, as it looks too good not to. I have a cast iron dutch oven and not a lot of places to let the dough sit etc, so will have to half it, but good luck to me. And what’s more I have company coming so that makes it more of a big OOH NO..but still. I am determined. I appreciate your time writing all this.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Patti, good luck, let me know how the bread turned out.
Yesterday, I made a hybrid (sourdough/commercial yeast) 50% WW bread with 82-84% hydration (did not calculate exactly). The dough was quite wet but I’ve learned to turn the dough over from proofing baskets onto my cloches, quickly score, cover and bake. This process works very well for me for high hydration. Anyway, this was the highest hydration I’ve attempted for this type of bread and we all loved it. There is something so special about the chewiness and moistness of high hydration bread. I will post this recipe on the blog soon as lately, I seem to bake this hybrid bread way too often.
Derek
Ive made this recipe a few times now and it always turns out amazing. I add fresh rosemary and sun-dried cranberries. the last time to see how it would turn out. Turned to awesome. Thanks for posting this easy to follow recipe.
My question is how long do you think I can keep this in the refrigerator before baking? 24 hours?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Derek, apologies for the delay in responding to your question. I find 12-24 hours to be quite optimal. I’ve gone as long as 48 hours and even 3 days once but I could see how the dough becomes noticeably sourer and loses its freshness so to speak. I try not to go over 24 hours in general. It also depends on the temperature, the lower the temp the longer you can retard but also any fermentation/flavor development activity grinds to a screeching halt. I’ve read that temps below 38F stop any such activity.
Sasha
Hi, I was wondering why the loaf is placed in the proofing basket seam side down? I’ve read in many other posts and books that loaves that are proofed seam side up require scoring but proofing seam side down doesn’t. How does proofing seam side down affect this specific loaf?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi, sorry for the late response. What you describe is true for lower hydration doughs but higher hydration dough will have all the seams gone by the time proofing is done so it needs scoring. At least that’s been my experience.
Susan Thomas
I am confused about the feeding of the starter for this recipe. Does that mean every 6 hours, total time 12 hours out feed it twice, every 12 hours making it 24 or more hours? And, you will have discard at the second feeding or twice what you need…….
Thank You,
Susan
Thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Susan, my sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your question. You will need to feed the starter twice, 12 hours apart. For example, when using the baking schedule provided in the recipe below where the final dough is mixed at 6:00 PM, you would feed your active sourdough starter at 8:00 PM the night before and at 8:00 AM on the dough mixing day. At 6:00 PM, the levain will be ready for the final bread dough mixing. I clarified the notes as well. Hope this helps. Happy baking!
Nicole
Does it matter if I’m using white whole wheat instead of regular whole wheat? My dough was super sticky.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Nicole, sorry about the late response. The coarser the flour the more water it can take. If your dough turned out super sticky as you say, add more flour until you get to the consistency you are comfortable working with. Then, you can work your way back up as you get more comfortable. I love high hydration bread, there is something magical about it.
Sahar
Hello and good morning…. Why does my bread get wet inside? my whole wheat flour doesn’t get to the stage of stretch it and fold it?
Thanks!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Reduce hydration by 5% and try again. If needed, drop it more, until you can comfortably handle the dough. Some flours may be very hydrated so need less water.
Jyoti Patel
I loved This recipe and made many times. I modified little as I am familiar with baking and cooking.
Amy
I have been looking for a good whole wheat sourdough and am glad to find your recipe. What changes would I need to make if using freshly ground flour? I would be using hard red wheat. I have soft white wheat that I think would work for bread flour.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Amy, I have yet to explore baking with freshly ground flour so I can’t answer your question competently, but there should not be any changes required. Typically you will find freshly ground flour to be more hydrated so you might decide to reduce hydration a little, but that often is very minimal to worry about.
Ann
How do I adjust the recipe when i want 1000 grams total flour (whole wheat and bread flour)? I intend to sell and prefer a bigger loaf. Thank you so much!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
In the body of the post there are baker’s pecentages for all of the ingredients. Simply multiply them by the common multiplier to get to where you want it to be. E.g. total flour in my recipe is 900g, if you want it to be 1000g the multiplier will be 1.111.
Molly
I was wondering if I could use a whole wheat flour dough (following this recipe) with a completely all purpose Levain?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Molly, yes, you can but you have to really watch the dough and make adjustments along the way if necessary. E.g., you may need to extend fermentation time, etc. It’s always best to use levain that has the same or similar composition as your final dough though. You want your yeast to be used to feeding on what will be in your final dough.
Gigi Estes
If I were to add some rye flour how would that affect the dough? How much would that be? Thanks
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
I often add about 5-7% of rye flour in most of my white or whole what breads by simply substituting WW or bread flour for rye flour. Even add some in my baguettes. Normally don’t change hydration or anything else for this type of substitution.
Gigi Estes
Thank you!
YC
Hello, I’m curious why this recipe does not need autolyse? What happens if I do half hour of autolyse first, before adding the salt and starter?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Either way will be fine. Autolyse method is critical in commercial bread production where overmixing and oxidation due to using mechanical tools are an issue. These are much less of an issue with home bread baking. I’ve baked numerous loaves with and without autolyse and struggled to find any appreciable difference.
Anne Robinson
Hi Victor (from UK ) if I halve the recipe do I halve the leaven recipe too?
Cheers anne
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Anne, yes, otherwise your ratios will be off.
Aliya
Hi Victor,
Thanks for sharing this. May I ask you for the levain formula. You mentioned that the levain should be ready to use after second feeding. Does it mean after first feeding, I take 30gr of it as an active starter, than add the bread flour, whole wheat flour and water again?
Thanks,
Aliya
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Aliya, the levain formula is in the post above. Yes, you got it. The reason I ask to do two feedings is to make sure that your starter is strong and is fed the flour mix to be used to make the final dough. This way you will get the optimal rise.
Aliya
Thanks for the reply Victor!
Btw the bread flour here is the white bread flour, isn’t it? I just realised I bought whole grain bread flour 😅
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Yes, but will be surprised how much the same type of flour may differ from brand to brand. That’s what I meant.
Eliza
Hi Victor! Thank you for sharing this recipe. My question is: will it be a significant difference in crumb if I use 100% whole grain sourdough levain?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Eliza, you won’t see much of a difference, not as much as you would when using 100% whole grain flour to mix the final dough.
Eliza
Thank you for your prompt reply. It was a tough prep as I am not used to such high hydration dough. When it was time to score it and put it in the pot it melted and turned into a tortilla. Either way I stuffed the sad and limp dough with no second thoughts and wished it a good journey. It came back with a presents of good oven spring, fantastically chewy sour crumb, and delicately crispy crust. I will definitely be working on your recipe from now on until I get a better hang of it. Thank you. Here is the result of the influx of white hairs on my head: https://imgur.com/cFuvtF3
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Eliza, your bread looks very good, beautiful open crumb. You can drop hydration if it makes it easier, but you can’t beat the texture of high hydration dough. I once tried this type of bread at a farmers market and immediately fell in love. Now all my breads are around 80% or higher. You get good at handling this type of dough very quickly, it’s just a matter of some practice.
Zoe
Hi,
I don’t have a steam oven, what can I do instead?
Thanks
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Neither do I. Check out my artisan sourdough bread and no-knead sourdough bread, and other bread posts to see various steaming options. Or like in this recipe, I use a cloche. You can also use a cast iron combo cooker. These will steam naturally with the moisture from the dough.
Christie MacKenzie
Hello, As a new sourdough baker, I”m trying to find the right combo of white flour, and whole wheat flour. My whole wheat flour is Atta Whole Wheat which also contains barley, mustard etc. (Whole wheat flour could not be found during SARS CoV-2 pandemic). Should this work? I tried more hot water this time; hope it doesn’t turn out as dense as my past attempts. Any suggestions would be most appreciated! Note: I use oiled pottery loaf pans, and I put a casserole dish filled with boiling water on the shelf below my loaf pans, Cooking in a convection oven, at very high temp. 475 deg.F., this seems to work. I get aa nice brown top and sides of my loaf, but it is “damp” at the bottom. I will try removing the boiling water for the last 1/2 of cooking time.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Christie, you should only bake with steam the first 1/3 – 1/2 of the baking time, then remove the boiling water and let the crust form fully and brown. Loaf damp at the bottom? Do you bake on a baking stone? If not, using one will help a lot. As far as you flour goes, it’s not easy to say as there are a lot of ingredients in it. Experiment and you will see how it responds to changes. That said, I often aff various seeds and grains to my breads so it does work very well.
Erika
Thanks a lot Víctor, I dos just that and dont know what happened but my bread camera out flat. You think it was under proofed? I did the last proof on the fridge and didnt see much more growth after that. That said, the taste is good. Thanks again.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Erika,
I can’t really say much without knowing exactly what you did, better, yet, see how it looked. I emailed you, send me some pics. That should help me identify where the problem may have occurred.
Erika
Hi, I just found this recipe and gonna give it a try tomorrow but I have a question: I have two 7 inch bannetons and think this recipe is too mucho to fit in them, can you tell me the size of yout banettons for me to ajust the recipe? Thanks a lot.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Erika,
I don’t use a banneton, I proof in a couche as shown on the picture in the post above. That said, just cut the recipe in half and that amount of dough will fit nicely in your 7″ bannetons.
Karen
Hello, I’m trying this recipe for the first time and have a question. Why don’t these sourdough bread recipes simply use active starter in them vs creating a separate levain? Is it essentially to change the hydration level vs a 100% hydration starter? And alternately, can the same amount of active starter be used in place of the levain?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Karen, we are not building levain in this recipe, it’s the same formula, same proportions as for my regular starter. However, your starter and mine may be very different – as in what you feed it, hydration level, water temps, ambient temps, etc. It may not be as active as mine. Hence, I recommend to feed your starter using my formula twice. That way I can ensure that your bread will turn out like mine. That said, if you have a pretty strong and active starter, use it.
Karen
Thank you for the quick response, Victor! I really appreciate your answer. That makes a lot of sense.
Another question is, why is it (the levain) ready to use after 8-10 hours after the last feeding? Mine are most active between 2-4 hours, and have deflated again by 8-10 hours afterwards and most certainly won’t pass the float test (which is what I’ve always read is necessary for baking with). Thoughts?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Karen, you provided a good example of how different starters behave differently. Mine is most active after 8-10 hours after feeding. And if I use cold water, it takes even longer. If yours is active after 2-4 hours, which I find very aggressive to be honest, then youse it after 2-4 hours.
Karen
That is great to know, Victor! I will use this advice going forward when making different recipes. Yes, my starter rises pretty predictable these days. When I started it a couple months ago, I had lots of trouble getting it to rise at all. Then I bought a digital thermometer to test out different locations for temperature (we live in Tennessee). I have ended up using my oven with just the light on to keep it steadily in the right range. When it’s hotter in here (from cooking other foods or just a warmer day) I leave it on the countertop and then return it to the oven at night. Seems to be working great. I’ve really enjoyed the sourdough journey so far!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
As they say, temperature and time are just another two ingredients that go into bread, and sourdough starter too. It actually gets pretty easy once you learn how your starter behaves and how the dough behaves in your environment and adjust. Ideally, you’d want to get a small bar fridge with a temp controller and small seedling heat mat (you can get all for about $150 – $200, if buying the fridge second hand) that way you can proof, ferment, retard at specific temps and not worry about it. But so far I’ve been doing it in the house as is without issues. The best part is that pretty much every loaf turns out a little different. That’s how I discovered many different tweaks and tricks. Agreed, this hobby is very enjoyable and rewarding.
Karen
Thank you so much for all your insights! I really appreciate the wisdom as a “sourdough newbie”. I hope to start this loaf today after my starter is ready. I will be sure to come back and let you know how it turns out.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome. Try my sourdough cinnamon rolls if you have a sweet tooth. Those are very good.
Karen
Thank you! I would love to try those! I’ve made them from another site before (actually a couple different versions) and we’re big fans over here, so I’ll be sure to try out your recipe! 🙂
Manuela
I made another loaf yesterday and I baked it 5 minutes longer. It was perfect!! I cannot thank you enough for sharing this recipe. It is so good —the mild sour taste comes through even more the next day!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
I am happy to hear that, Manuela. Happy baking!
Kay
Hi there! I am resting my dough for it’s first rise now. Do you recommend baking uncovered in a Dutch oven if I prefer a thicker crust? Looking forward to it!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Kay, you want to bake covered the first 15-20 minutes no matter what – it will give the bread a nice oven spring. Otherwise, the bread will be quite flat and dense. If you want a thicker crust, bake at a higher temp.
Shannon
Can I make one big loaf instead of 2? If so, what would you recommend for baking time?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You absolutely can. I used to bake big loaves but it was quite a bit of time ago so I can’t recall exactly how big my loaves were and how long they baked. I do remember though that the time required to bake bigger loaves wasn’t that much more, about 10-15 minutes extra. The bottom line is you want the internal temperature of the loaf to be around 205F – 210F.
Carol
Could you please put these temps in the recipe? I spent 15 minutes looking for them
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Happy to do it but I don’t know which temps you are referring to. Can you please remind me?
Manuela
Hello,
Thank you for sharing your recipe. It is easy to follow and it is the first sourdough whole wheat recipe that has more than 50% whole wheat flour. I like that a lot.
I just made it last night and it turned out pretty well except the loaf was a bit sticky/tacky, it sticks to the knife a little. I baked it in a clay pot, and I also made sure the temp reached 200 deg. F. With that said, the bread came out with beautiful open crumb and tasted great! How can I adjust or do different to achieve a moist but does not stick to the knife kind of bread?
Thank you!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Manuela, I am glad to hear that your sourdough bread turned out great. The stickiness is can be caused by under-baking or cutting the bread a little too soon. Let it cool down, if you can wait;), then cut and see if you like it better. Mine is sticky too when I cut it hot from the oven. Any bread is, actually. But let it cool down for an hour and the stickiness goes away. Another thing to try is to bake it a little longer, 5-10 minutes more. If those fail, reduce hydration by 2% and see how you like it. I love high hydration bread, there is something special about it, but you may prefer lower hydration one. It’s a matter of personal taste.
Manuela
Thank you so much for your response! I am eager to give your recommendations a try. I will report the results! Meanwhile, we have no problem finishing the “somewhat sticky” bread!
Manuela
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad to hear it, Manuela. I decided to experiment a little and made a really easy loaf of sourdough bread. I threw all the ingredients (lower hydration and bread flour only this time) in a bowl of a stand mixer, mixed for 5 minutes, let it rest for 30 minutes, then divided, shaped and threw in two buttered aluminum bread pans. Sixteen hours later at room temperature, my dough has doubled with big bubbles on top which I pricked with a needle. Baked at 450F for 30 minutes and the bread turned out spectacularly soft and tasty, with a beautiful open crumb. Now, it didn’t look good on the outside though, it was pale and unappealing but so good inside. I’ll experiment more to make it look better and post my recipe on the blog.
Russell
When feeding the starter, how much do you recommend discarding? Is this a building phase, so there’s no discard?
Or should I discard all but 30g of starter before the second feeding?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Discard all but 30 grams. Start with an active starter, then feed it every 12 hours, two times in total, using 30 grams of starter and discarding the rest (you don’t have to throw it way, use for other recipes). This will give you a very active and strong starter. Through experimenting, I found that this gives me excellent results with a nice, open crumb.
Joe
What a wonderful post you have written, thanks for sharing! I followed the instructions to the tee. The bread itself baked up outstanding. The crumb is beautiful. It isn’t very sour which is great as that’s how I like it. The flavor is very good.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Great to hear that, Joe. Happy baking!
Claudia
I was very pleased with how my whole wheat bread turned out. I am very happy I found this web-site. I wanted to thank you for your time putting together this wonderful guide.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome, Claudia. Happy baking.
Alissa
Followed your recipe to the tee and my bread came out perfect! The crumb was light and airy, with big wholes. Wonderful taste with mild acidity and deep flavor. I baked mine in a CI combo cooker. Thank you for the great recipe!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome. Happy baking!
Louise
I’m just starting out so my breads have a lot of room for improvement but this one turned out really good, better than my other breads. Great recipe and easy to follow! I am keen to try your other recipes, especially the baguette recipe.😁
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad to hear it, Louise. Good luck with the baguettes.