The wonderfully rich flavor profile of whole wheat sourdough bread ranges from sweet caramel notes to robust earthiness depending on the wheat variety used. But what I find even more important is the sense of satisfaction when eating this style of bread, both in terms of satiety and knowing you’re eating all of the nutrition a wheat berry has to offer.
Depending on the wheat variety you use, whole hard red wheat will give an upfront and personal flavor profile, whereas a white whole wheat loaf will be more subtle, thanks to the reduced tannins. Both kinds of wheat and other grain like spelt, Khorasan, and even durum are worthy additions to a loaf, as they serve different desires. My favorite, though, is to use hard red wheat, as I do in this recipe, to get all that robust and punchy wheat flavor.
When it comes to whole-grain bread, it’s important to adjust our expectations of what exactly makes a successful loaf. Because whole wheat flour contains the entirety of the wheat berry, including much more of the nutritious bran and germ—and more fiber—the final loaf will be a little more squat than bread made with highly sifted white flour. But! While you’re trading ultra-tall loaves with an open crumb for a squatter loaf with a tighter interior, whole wheat sourdough bread is like a pirate’s ship hauling new bounty, laden with copious flavor and nutrition.
Still, if you want to eke out the highest rise and the most open whole wheat sourdough bread, I have an option with this bread to sift out the bran and germ, create a soaker from these bits, and then work them back into the dough during bulk fermentation. This sifting and scalding, as it’s sometimes called, helps you get more rise in a loaf by softening these nutritious bits by treating them like any seed soaker or other mix-in. This helps preserve a strong gluten network and open interior without forgoing nutrition or flavor.
Note: if you have my sourdough bread cookbook, you’ll find this recipe starting on page 219!
Flour Selection
I used Cairnspring Organic Whole Grain Expresso flour for this 100% whole wheat sourdough bread. This flour, made from hard red spring wheat, has a protein percentage of around 13.5 to 14.5%.
Note that compared to high-protein white flour, also known as whole wheat flour with a high protein content, is not “high-protein” in the same way we think about something like white bread flour. This is because whole wheat flour contains the entirety of the wheat berry, including the brand and germ, which are naturally high in protein. So while whole-grain flour is “high-protein,” it’s referred to as such because it is literally the entire grain, and not because it’s very strong white flour.
Due to the nature of whole wheat flour and the high level of nutrients available for your starter or levain, dough fermentation will be vigorous. Keep an eye on your dough during bulk fermentation, especially if it’s warm in your kitchen, and divide the dough when it looks ready (more on this later).
Can I Use Freshly-Milled Flour for This Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread?
Yes, freshly-milled whole-grain flour can be used for this sourdough bread recipe. Use your home grain mill to mill whole wheat berries into the finest flour possible. If available, I recommend using Yecora Rojo hard red wheat berries.
Be sure to follow my guide to freshly-milled flour at home for more tips on operating your mill for the highest quality flour and storing it after milling.
Why is Whole Wheat Bread Dense?
White flour primarily contains only the starchy and strong endosperm part of the wheat berry. When mixed into a dough, white flour produces an extensible and tight-knight viscoelastic dough that excels at trapping the gaseous byproducts of fermentation. With sourdough fermentation, and assuming all else equal, white dough is generally less acidic (higher in pH) when baked, leading to less gluten breakdown.
This means bread with potentially large interior holes, or an open crumb.
One challenge in baking bread with 100% whole-grain flour is that the resulting loaf will have less volume than a loaf made from all white flour (or a mix of white and whole wheat flour). Unlike white flour, whole-grain flour contains the entirety of the wheat berry, including the fibrous bran and germ. These nutritious bits can interfere with gluten development and, to a degree, reduce the volume and openness of a loaf.
But there’s a way around all that.
For Open Whole Wheat Bread, Sift and Scald Your Flour
To reduce the effect of the increased bran and germ in whole wheat flour, which can result in a tighter crumb, these larger bits can be sifted out of the flour, soaked in boiling water, and then reincorporated into the dough at the end of mixing or beginning of bulk fermentation. By performing this, we can soften these large particles and add them in after the dough has been strengthened when mixing (especially if you’re mixing in a mechanical mixer).
In essence, we’re transforming our whole wheat flour into whiter flour, then adding back in the bran and germ using a technique similar to that of porridge bread.
Another way to look at it is to think of the sift-and-scald technique as similar to how seeds, nuts, or other mix-ins might be incorporated gently into dough to reduce their impact on its structure.
Note that it’s a little easier to add the scalded mixture back into the dough at the very end of mixing instead of folding it back in during bulk fermentation—and it’s just fine to do this. (I personally add it back in bulk fermentation to reduce the impact on the dough structure as much as possible, but it does take some work to get it reincorporated.)
Sifting and Scalding Whole-Grain Flour: Step by Step
- Place a flour sifter or sifting screen over a large container or bowl
- Pour all of the whole wheat flour called for in the recipe on top of the screen
- Shake the container and screen to allow the fine bits (endosperm) fall through while the larger bits (bran and germ) are retained on top of the screen
- Remove the sifter and pour the retained bran and germ into a heatproof container or bowl and pour in boiling water to cover
- Let the mixture cool, then cover until ready to add it to dough at the end of mixing or in bulk fermentation
This is the sifting screen I use. After sifting my flour, about 13% remained on the screen. This means if I sifted 1000 grams total whole wheat flour, I’d have about 130 grams leftover to scalded. The final extraction heavily depends on the flour you’re using and how it was milled.
If your screen is more coarse or more fine, it’s okay, too. The extraction percentage here doesn’t have to be precise. Any amount sifted out will help lighten the loaf and it’s okay if more or less flour ends up in the dough.
Note that the amount of water used to scald the bran and germ should be accounted for in the recipe. In other words, I will take water from Water 1 or Water 2 (the water used in the recipe). This way, you’re not adding extra water to the dough, which may result in overhydration.
Baking Schedule
This whole wheat sourdough bread is made over two days for increased flavor and a convenient baking schedule. But it’s also possible to make it in a single day by allowing the dough to proof on the counter, shape it, and cover until it is puffy, relaxed, and passes the poke test (about 2 to 4 hours, temperature depending).
100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe
For tips on calculating baker’s percentages or modifying this formula (including baking only a single loaf), see my post on baker’s percentages (baker’s math).
Vitals
| Total dough weight | 1,800 grams |
| Prefermented flour | 7.0% |
| Levain in final dough | 15.1% |
| Hydration | 90.0% |
| Yield | Two 900g loaves |
Total Formula
Desired dough temperature: 75°F (23°C) (see my post on the importance of dough temperature).
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 921g | Whole wheat flour (Cairnspring Organic Whole Grain Expresso or Central Milling Hi-Pro Fine Whole Wheat) | 100.0% |
| 737g | Water 1 (levain, optional scald, and autolyse) | 80.0% |
| 92g | Water 2 (mix) | 10.0% |
| 18g | Fine sea salt | 1.9% |
| 32g | Ripe sourdough starter, 100% hydration | 3.5% |
Additional Ingredients
About 60g (½ cup) of raw wheat bran or, previously sifted bran and germ, for topping (optional)
100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Method
1. Prepare the levain – 9:00 a.m.
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 64g | Whole wheat flour | 100.0% |
| 32g | Water 1 (levain) | 50.0% |
| 32g | Ripe sourdough starter, 100% hydration | 50.0% |
Mix the ingredients in the chart above in your favorite jar and leave them covered at a warm temperature, 74-76°F (23-24°C), to ripen for 5 hours. This is a stiff levain; if it is hard to knead the ingredients together, use more water as needed to make incorporation easier.
2. Optional: Sift and scald flour – 9:10 a.m.
Place your sifting screen over a large container. Pour some whole wheat flour and sift it by shaking the stack. When no more flour falls through, continue until you’ve processed all the flour.
Place the sifted-out bran and germ in a heatproof bowl and pour 200 grams of boiling water on top to cover. Let this soaking mixture rest near your levain until we are ready to mix the dough.
See earlier in this post, here, for more details on sifting and scalding.
3. Autolyse – 1:00 p.m.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 857g | Whole wheat flour (minus any sifted) |
| 705g (or 505g if sifting and scalding, which will absorb all 200g of water) | Water 1 (autolyse) |
I use the autolyse technique for this recipe to help reduce the total mixing time required, but I also find it helps aid in the dough’s extensibility.
Warm or cool the autolyse water so that the temperature of the mixed dough meets the final dough temperature (FDT) of 75°F (23°C) for this recipe. Place the flour and water 1 (autolyse) in a large bowl. Use wet hands to mix until no dry bits remain; the dough will be shaggy and loose. Use a bowl scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl to keep all the dough in one area at the bottom. Cover the bowl and place it near your levain for 30 minutes.
4. Mix – 2:00 p.m.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 92g | Water 2 (mix) |
| 18g | Fine sea salt |
| 128g | Ripe levain (from Step 1) |
This highly hydrated whole wheat dough benefits from extra strengthening during mixing. Below, I’ll discuss mixing this dough by hand, but it’s also possible to use a mechanical dough mixer. In this case, mix the dough until it smooths and holds itself together, about 5 to 6 minutes on speed 2 in total.
To mix by hand, add the salt and break the stiff levain apart, and spread on top of the dough in autolyse. Use a splash of water 2 to moisten. With wet hands, mix thoroughly. Use wet hands or a dough whisk to help make mixing easier.
Next, knead the dough for a few minutes using either the slap and fold technique or folds in the bowl. For this dough, I kneaded for about 5 minutes until the dough smoothed and became elastic. Transfer the dough back into the bowl, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.
If the dough feels very wet and soupy, don’t add any remaining water. If it seems cohesive, add the remaining water 2, mixing it in until absorbed. Once again, scrape the dough out to the counter and use wet hands to slap and fold the dough for 3-5 minutes, making it smoother and more cohesive.
Transfer the dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.
5. Bulk Fermentation – 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (3 hours)
At a warm room temperature, 74-76°F (23-24°C), bulk fermentation should take about 3 hours and need 4 sets of stretches and folds at 30-minute intervals.
Before you give your dough its first set of stretches and folds, spread about 1/4 of the scald over the top of the dough (if you decided to do this optional step). Then, grab one side of the dough and stretch it up and over the dough to the other side. Spread on another 1/4 of the scald to the new top. Rotate the bowl 180° and perform another stretch and fold. Spread on another 1/4 of the scald, then rotate the bowl 90° and do another stretch and fold. Finally, spread on the last of the scald, turn the bowl 180° and do one last stretch and fold.
It’s okay if the scald streaks through the dough at this point, there will be more stretching and folding to help it incorporate more thoroughly.
Perform 3 more sets of stretches and folds at 30-minute intervals. After the fourth set, let the dough rest, covered, for the remainder of bulk fermentation.
6. Divide and Preshape – 5:30 p.m.
After 3 hours, the dough should be risen and puffy in the bulk fermentation container. Because of the high percentage of freshly milled flour and whole grains, the dough may not rise as high as a recipe with more white flour. It will be ready to divide when the top of the dough is smooth, bubbly, and the edge where the dough meets the container is slightly domed downward.
Fill a small bowl with water and place it next to your work surface. Scrape the dough onto a clean work surface and divide it into two equal pieces. With one wet hand and a bench knife in the other, preshape the pieces of dough into loose rounds.
Let the dough rest, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
7. Shape – 6:00 p.m.
Place a baking sheet or clean kitchen towel next to your work surface and, if using, spread an even layer of raw wheat bran or germ on top, if using.
Flour the top of the preshaped round and your work surface. Using your bench knife, flip one of the rounds over onto the floured area. Using floured hands, shape the dough into a bâtard or a boule. Transfer the shaped dough, seam-side up, to the baking sheet with germ, if using, and rock it back and forth so the germ sticks. See my guide to topping bread dough for more help on topping bread dough.
Gently transfer the dough to an 11-inch long proofing basket, seam-side up. Repeat with the remaining round.
8. Proof – 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Cover the baskets with a large, reusable plastic bag and seal shut. Place the baskets in the refrigerator to proof overnight.
9. Bake – 9:00 a.m.
Due to the oval shape of these loaves, you can bake them in a Challenger baking pan as I’ve done here or directly on a baking surface, steaming your oven.
Place an oven rack with an oval Dutch oven in the bottom-third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C) for 30 minutes.
Take one of the proofing baskets out of the fridge, uncover it, and put a piece of parchment paper over the basket. Place a pizza peel or inverted baking sheet on top of the parchment, and using both hands, flip everything over. Gently remove the basket and score the dough.
Remove the bottom of the preheated Dutch oven and slide the dough into the pan. Return the pan to the oven and cover with the lid. Bake for 20 minutes. Vent the pan of steam by uncovering the pan (remove the lid from the oven or place it on the rack next to the bottom of the Dutch oven). Continue to bake for 35 minutes more. When done, the loaf should have an internal temperature of around 204°F (95°C), and the crust should be deeply colored.
Carefully remove the loaf from the Dutch oven to cool on a wire rack. Return the Dutch oven lid and bottom to the oven to preheat for 15 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough in the refrigerator.
Let the loaves cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours, preferably 3, before slicing.
100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves
- Category: Bread
- Cuisine: American
Description
Sourdough bread made with 100% whole-grain wheat flour. With a robust and Earthy flavor, this is nourishing and wholesome bread.
Ingredients
Levain
- 64g whole wheat flour
- 32g water
- 32g ripe sourdough starter
Autolyse
- 857g whole wheat flour (minus any sifted)
- 705g water (or 505g if sifting and scalding)
Main Dough
- 92g water
- 18g fine sea salt
- 128g ripe levain
Instructions
- Levain (9:00 a.m.)
In a small container, mix and knead the levain ingredients and keep at 74-76°F (23-24°C) for 5 hours. - Optional Sift and Scald (9:10 a.m.)
Place your sifting screen over a large container. Pour some whole wheat flour and sift it by shaking the stack. When no more flour falls through, continue until you’ve processed all the flour. Place the sifted-out bran and germ in a heatproof bowl and pour 200 grams of boiling water on top to cover. Let this soaking mixture rest near your levain until we are ready to mix the dough. - Autolyse (1:00 p.m)
In a medium mixing bowl, mix the Autolyse ingredients, cover and let rest for 1 hour. - Mix (2:00 p.m.)
To the mixing bowl holding your dough, add the Main Dough ingredients: salt, ripe levain (from step 1), and water. Mix by hand or with a dough whisk and strengthen the dough for 5 minutes until it becomes smoother and slightly elastic. Transfer to a bulk fermentation container and cover. - Bulk Fermentation (2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.)
Give the dough 4 sets of stretch and folds at 30-minute intervals, where the first set starts 30 minutes after the start of bulk fermentation. - Divide and Preshape (5:30 p.m.)
Lightly flour your work surface and scrape out your dough. Using your bench knife, divide the dough in half. Lightly shape each half into a round shape. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, uncovered. - Shape (6:00 p.m.)
Shape the dough into a round (boule) or oval (batard)—place in proofing baskets. - Proof (6:30 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. the next day)
Cover proofing baskets with reusable plastic and seal shut. Then, place both baskets into the refrigerator and proof overnight. - Bake (Preheat oven at 8:00 a.m., bake at 9:00 a.m.)
Preheat your oven with a combo cooker or Dutch oven inside to 450°F (230°C). When the oven is preheated, remove your dough from the fridge, score it, and transfer to the preheated combo cooker. Place the cooker in the oven, cover with the lid, and bake for 20 minutes. After this time, remove the lid (you can keep it in the oven or remove it) and continue to bake for 30 minutes longer. When done, the internal temperature should be around 208°F (97°C). Let the loaves cool for 2 hours on a wire rack before slicing.
100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread FAQs
Why is my whole wheat bread gummy inside?
This can be from underproofing, overproofing, or underbaking. Be sure you use your sourdough starter when it’s ripe to make the levain, and ensure the levain is ripe when mixing it into your dough. To spot overproofing, look for a lack of rise in the oven and a dense interior with lots of little holes. Be sure to fully bake your dough until the interior temperature reaches around 204°F (95°C) and let it fully cool before slicing.
What gauge is your sifting screen?
My sifting screen is #20, but any gauge will work as long as it’s not too fine so that nothing falls through, or too large where everything falls through. You’re looking for around 10 to 20% extraction (meaning, for every 1000g you sift, 100 to 200g will be left over).
Can I make the sifted and scalded mixture ahead of time?
Yes. I would sift the flour, scald with boiling water, let it cool, then cover and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. The morning you want to add it to bread dough, let it come to room temperature so it doesn’t adversely cool the dough.
Can I add the scald back into the dough during mixing instead of bulk fermentation?
Yes. It’s easier to add the scalded bran and germ back in at the very end of mixing and if you prefer this, by all means, go for it.
What’s Next?
This 100% whole wheat sourdough bread is the purest example of healthy sourdough bread. If you’re looking for a loaf that’s just as flavorful but lighter in texture, my Fifty-Fifty Sourdough Bread is the ticket.
Buon appetito!
261 Comments
for sourdrough starter, how do u make whole grain sour dough starter?
Same as with AP just use the whole wheat. Or start with an AP starter and just feed with whole wheat.
Like @disqus_wvqMEoWZKS:disqus said below, either way will work!
Hi there!
I have a question, do you only get this amazing crumb with sourdough?
Or can you make something similar with instant yeast and a long ferment?
You can get similar results with a yeasted bread for sure. Unfortunately, I tend to bake only with sourdough so I don’t have any recipes I’ve developed with IY—sorry about that!
No problem Maurizio, don’t worry.
But if we talk about flour and it’s enzimes (I had the same problem as Jeremy about the viscous dough), and the bran acting as a razor and all that technical stuff what would be your recommendations?
I’m asking because I tried to adapt your recipe to a yeasted version with no succes.
I actually started a “masa madre” already, to see if it has to do anything with that beautiful, beautiful
crumb.
Thanks for your time, saludos desde México!
Suggestion: on sifting flour: I learned it in SE Asia from my mom. You sift flour over a double spread of newspaper and then pick up paper to transfer sifted flour to any bowl. It is way easier.
That’s a great idea, Soon! I’m going to have to try that, sifting can be a messy task.
I put the sifter with flour in a large plastic bag and hold the bag closed around the wrist of the hand that shakes the sifter.all the flour falls into th bag and no dust flies around.
sorry – how much sourdough starter do you add to this ww bread, 500g flour…
just begun the recipe and can’t see the weight… I have my starter bubbling away, so haven’t followed the weights you suggested… eek!
41g starter to build the levain!
So what exactly makes ‘bread flour’, bread flour? Is it just the additional of malted barley to whole grain wheat flour?
Flour classification here in the USA is very confusing. Typically, “bread flour” indicates flour that’s higher in protein percentage, usually around 12-13% vs. “All-purpose” which is usually around 11%. Bread flour, which is presumably intended for bread, also usually has diastatic malt added.
Hi Maurizio.
This bread is currently my Everest. It is my nightmare. It curdles my milk and stomps on my roses. I DESPISE it. My miller is currently working exclusively with a red wheat and I haven’t been able to get this loaf to work. I used to get tall, shapely loaves when they had white wheat, your process was wonderful. But now? An hour into fermentation, no mater my dough’s temperature, the dough is grotesquely viscous, all signs of the strength built up through autolysis and stretching it are gone. And that’s before I add in the sifted bran! I’ve tried everything: room temperature water, near boiling water during autolyse, cold water. My starter is always at its peak, nice and strong when I start. All signs point to a good bake but things just fall apart after an hour. I’ve yet to manage getting this monster out of its tub in a single piece after bulk fermentation, about a third of it sticks to the bottom, no matter how long I wait. I’ve tried reducing the water in 50g increments but I don’t want to end up with a tight crumb and a dry loaf.
Is there any hope for me at all? The dough is so sticky after the first hour of fermentation that it feels like I’m working with a 100% rye mix (I’m not, I triple checked – 100% whole wheat goodness). I’d even consider just dumping the dough into pans and working through my supply this way but I don’t wanna give up quite yet.
Save me from these cursed hockey pucks I’ve been baking, I beg of you.
Hey, Jeremy! Yikes, sounds dismal 🙂 It almost sounds to me like the flour might be an issue here, especially if you’ve tried adjusting things and haven’t had an improvement. Granted, a 100% whole wheat loaf can be a challenge, but it’s rare I see a super flat pancake even if I have things very wrong.
It’s possible, and something I’ve run into in the past, where a flour has such high enzymatic activity (amylase in this case) the dough almost falls apart and becomes very sticky by the end of bulk fermentation. Typically this results from a flour that has a very low falling number (and your miller can tell you if this is the case). When I’ve seen this in the past, my loaves always end up coming out of the oven as a flat disc.
If you’re game to try another attempt, I’d say don’t sift out the bran and skip any autolyse (which will only make enzymatic activity carry on for longer). Shoot for a low final dough temp of 73-75F. To add to this test, if you have another bag of ww from a different source, you could mix this up with exactly the same conditions and do a side-by-side bake. See how that dough gets on through mixing/bulk/proof as a sort of control. A standard source like King Arthur or Bob’s whole wheat will work well for something like this.
To be clear: I’m not trying to place blame here on your miller, their flour might be totally fine, but things like this have happened to me in the past! If you give this a go, please let me know how it goes and I hope this helps. I know baking time after time and getting pancakes is frustrating!
What altitude do you live at? I’m having similar issues and timing bulk fermentation has been really hard at 7000 ft. The WW tends to have a faster enzymatic activity and the altitude has less air pressure for the dough to fight against. I am using a mixture of home ground white and red wheats (Organic from Central Milling), some Spelt and sometimes Einkorn. I typically am using about 85+ hydration. I’m getting a pretty good rise, crumb, and taste most of the time, but have more fails than at sea level. I have to be vigilant when in the mountains about every step. Just curious if altitude is playing a part here.
I live at about 5280 ft, and yes, it can be challenging higher up! Check out my guide to baking sourdough bread at high altitude for some tips and more info.
Some Wholemeal can be like that. Get the autolyse down to 30 mins and don’t do anything fancy kneading wise. I find these weaker Wholemeal flours taste much better but require a delicate touch. And maybe a bit less water. Provided the starter is optimal
Hello!! I need to buy some wheat berries from my local grocer for this recipe. Should I get red or white hard winter or spring wheat? (I’m new to buying high quality flour and struggle with the differences). I want to incorproate as much whole wheat flour into my recipes. So it would be nice to have wheat berries that work ground for whole wheat and then ground and sifted as my generic go-to for bread flour. Thanks!!
For this style of bread I like hard red winter wheat. That’s not the only variety you could use, though! But, I’d start there.
Hi Maurizio,
Thanks so much for this wonderful blog! I’ve made two batches from your whole wheat sourdough recipe now, and turned one boule from the second batch into whole wheat pizza dough.
The pizza crust was beyond my dreams. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I modified the whole wheat recipe only slightly, (grinding the sifted-out bran finely in a Vitamix blender before soaking it,) and used your pizza directions after the overnight refrigerated retard. After forming my two boules, I put one in an oiled bowl instead of a bannetton, and after refrigerating it overnight, I divided it and formed 3 tight pizza dough balls in the morning. I refrigerated these until evening, and formed, topped and baked 3 pizzas.) I got a terrific, puffy, crust rim with large bubbles inside, similar to your pizza photos, but maybe a little less airy. Delicious. While I understand your preference for traditional white flour dough, I think any one who wants to make 100% whole wheat pizza shouldn’t hesitate.
My Boules, on the other hand are coming out a little sticky inside. They look like your photos, which is is to say truly amazing, and they taste great, but, when I slice them open (24 hours after baking,) the knife takes on a thin gummy residue. The crust is also quite hard. The first time i made two boules, and I added all of the water in the recipe. In my second batch, I left out the last 50 gm (other than a few grams of it that I used for wetting my hands as I worked the dough.) The first two boules I made, were baked to an internal 210 F and baked exactly as specified in the recipe. The last boule, was at 211 F at the end of the normal baking time but I left it in the oven for an extra 5 minutes. When I took it out, the internal temperature was still 211 F. I’m trying to decide whether to reduce the amount of water further, or to increase the baking time. Any advice on which would be more likely to reduce the stickiness?
Hi Maurizio,
I have used your recipes a lot and follow the new ones when you publish them. Great work, very tasty baked goods and very good detailed descriptions. I had some french t150 whole wheat laying around and decided to try this method with sifting. I am very impressed with the method and I have never had a taller and more airy wholewheat loaf as this one. Normally if I try hydration close to or more than 80% things get really messy and sticky. I am not skilled enough yet to handle these it seems. But with this super high hydration of about 95% I didn’t have any problems handling the dough at all. This will be my go to recipe for healthy whole wheat breads. Thanks a lot!!
Super glad to hear that this technique worked so well for you!
Hey Maurizio! I’ve used the bran sift-out technique for a while now but I always end up tearing the dough and keep having large bran pockets inside. How would you explain your way of folding in the bran while staying gentle on the dough? I’ve read an earlier comment you made saying you lay the bran as a layer on top and ‘massage’ it inside with some extra water, and later break up the remaining large bits. What I wonder is how to you break them up without pinching through the dough, which for me results in tearing it, and how do you massage it in without tearing or over-handling the dough altogether? I’ve really tried different approaches but always end up with tearing and with the dough getting stiff before I can continue. Thanks for your insights!
Same here! I tried reincorporating the hydrated bran previously sifted out, but, even though I tried to be as gentle as possible, it totally ruined the dough :'(
That’s how I do it! With damp hands, I spread it out in a thin layer on top and tuck some down the sides of the dough in the container. Then, I do my stretch and folds and that folding action helps disperse the bran/germ throughout the dough. If I find any clumps or pockets, I’ll pinch them to help them spread out. If you have a hard time, you can hold back some of the water from the mix and use a little at a time to get that bran to incorporate back into the dough.
Hi! When do you add the last 25g of water? I saw that you add the 700g for the autolyse, then 25g when you put the bran in, what about the last bit, or did you not need it? Maybe I missed it!
He warms it up and uses it to dissolve the stiff ww levain and mix it into the dough that was autolysed.
I used it to incorporate the levain!
Hi! I’m wondering what the combination of high protein flour and high hydration does for oven spring? I noticed yours wasn’t quite as sprung as I’ve seen the lower hydration doughs. Mine didn’t come out too high either.
Hello! I am wondering if I could use this 100% Whole Wheat recipe and mix in raisins, nuts and cinnamon – or savory items – such as in your cinnamon raisin loaf or in your cranberry walnut loaf. In normal times, I would just go get the flours you recommend in your other recipes, and follow them. But in CoronavirusTimes, I can’t find those things. I have a 50# bag of Central Milling’s Organic Whole Wheat Hi-Pro Fine, and I need to base my recipes off of that. So, would mix-ins work if added during the second turn? Is this a terrible idea? I could just go experiment, but honestly, my experiments are generally failures, and I figured you might have insights! Thanks again for your excellent site, by the way.
Hi Maurizio, I’ve been following your work and making your recipes for the last 2.5 years. I have been meaning to write you and now finally have a reason. What amount of leavin do you put into this bread? I couldn’t find it on the page so I used the entirety of the recipe. I had super active dough, but unfortunately, flat loaves. Did using too much levain make my loaves flat? They grew by about a third in the fridge, which is pretty uncommon for me.
Anyway thanks for all the work you put into crafting your recipes and this website! Baking bread has become an integral part of my life and I mostly attribute it to your site.
Hey, Webster! Somehow this comment didn’t pop, sorry for the late reply. Yes, it sounds like you had over proofed dough there. I added in the entire levain made in the steps above. If you’re finding your dough is proofing too fast you could reduce this levain percentage added into the dough or try to keep your dough on the cooler side.
Super happy to hear my site has helped! There’s nothing quite like making fresh bread at home 🙂
This recipe is the best thing to ever happen to me and my sourdough! My dad (a store-bought loaf lover) gets so excited about me making bread now that he cuts into it before it’s even cooled! I got the most open crumb I have ever seen in my whole wheat bread, it even looks like your picture.
Thank you so much!
Super glad to hear that!
Hello Maurizio! I’ve been making a whole wheat sourdough with a 8 hour fridged bulk ferment and a 4 hour counter proof after shaping. The bread is nice but it doesn’t come out very airy (holes are super small). I’m planning to try a shorter on-counter bulk fermentation and a longer proof in the fridge as you outline here and wondering– do you think that would affect the crumb? My logic is that I am probably handling the dough too roughly after the bulk ferment and knocking out too much air, so a longer proof would lead to a more open structure. Does this make sense to you?
Also I’m worried the dough will stick to the banneton after all night in the fridge, have you experienced this?
Hey, Mona. I wouldn’t say changing that process will affect the crumb much, in my experience. It’s more about fermentation control/balance and gently handling (as you indicated). I have not experienced the dough sticking, be sure to liberally dust it with flour so it removes cleanly — or use cotton towels/liners, or a combination of both.
I’ve experienced dough sticking to the banneton. Usually happens with high hydration. But I get good results from very generously rubbing rice flour into the banneton liner. Even if the liner gets wet, the dough doesn’t stick if there’s enough rice flour on it.
Ciao Maurizio! Amazing results! I wonder why i can’t handle high hydration doughs really well… After incorporating the levain i always struggle with the stretch and folds, it gets so sticky! What can it be? Maybe my starter is not strong enough? Thanks in advance!
Ciao, Paolo! This is pretty common, the dough IS sticky! I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. Choosing the right container for bulk fermentation does help, too, if it sticks too much when you do the stretch and folds it can be harder. This is why I like a ceramic bowl or certain plastic tubs.
I will try with the plastic one, thanks!
I just started milling my own wheat, finely ground, and I have a hard white wheat on hand ( from my 20 year old emergency food storage). The berries are still great. After success with the 50/50, I tried this 100% wheat with weird results. Because I fresh mill my own wheat, I am able to mill it very finely, and I don’t have any noticeable bran chunks, so I did not sift and re-soak. After the third stretch and fold, the dough had amazing elasticity. I put my dough in the oven on 100° proof setting, and let it sit for the rest of the rising. Afterwords, it was all bubbly, not sunken at all, but had absolutely no elasticity. It would not stretch and fold at all. It was really a weird texture. I went ahead with trying to shape it with no elasticity, it had lots of small bubbles but tore apart easily. I put it in the fridge overnight and bake to the next day. It was pretty dense, twice as dense as my 50/50 and didn’t have a nice crust build. Where did it go wrong?
Hey, Debbilyn! It sounds to me like your dough probably over proofed on you and you saw degradation of the gluten network (evidenced by the tearing). I’d say dial that back from 100°F — this is very, very warm especially for a freshly milled (which tends to have much higher activity), 100% whole wheat loaf! My feeling is, your dough over proofed in bulk fermentation.
For this kind of dough I like to keep it cooler, around 75-78°F, during bulk fermentation.
Give it another try with a lower temp and let me know how it goes!
I regularly make very similar loaves using freshly ground hard white wheat berries and kamut in a 3:1 ratio, and a rye sour dough starter. I love the taste, (nutty and slightly sweet), crumb, and crust. Thanks for the tip on sifting out and soaking bran. I hadn’t tried that until recently and I could see a bit of improvement in rise and crumb. I still need to work on my shaping game, though. Boules are fine but my batards are not as neat as they should be.
Sounds great to me! I do love white whole wheat and khorasan — both great varieties. If you haven’t seen my batard shaping guide, check it out — the video in there is helpful! Have fun with it, too, even if it’s not perfectly shaped, it’ll still be quite delicious 🙂
Hi. I’ve had reasonable results with white sourdough bread so now I’m trying a mixed grain bread using your method. Only problem in the past has been the crust. Crisp out of the oven, but by next day it has gone tough – top and bottom. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
It can certainly be normal, it depends on your location and the bread you’re baking. Here in New Mexico, where it’s extremely dry, I have to keep my bread in a bread box or paper bag starting the second day after baking (usually, unless it’s a very high hydration dough).
Hi, I have just started my liquid sourdough starter following your guide and am very excited to begin making bread in a few days. You mentioned in this recipe that it is fine to use a liquid starter (instead of a stiff starter), does this mean that I can just use the amount of liquid starter (and everything else) will be the same as what you have outlined here?
Thank you so much!
Hey, Diana! Yes, that’s right, it’ll work just fine. I’d recommend you hold back a little more water from the dough recipe, though, because your starter will have more water in it and this will eventually contribute to the hydration in the dough. I’d say around 50g water should do the trick. You can always add it in during mixing if it feels like the dough can handle!
Hi, I have a question on autolyse. I normally do a 3-4 hour autolyse. I watched a video on a 100%whole wheat sourdough bread where the lady autolysed the flour and water in the fridge overnight. Is there a benefit to doing such a long autolyse? Does it make a difference?
I find with whole grain breads an extended autolyse does help, generally. The exception to this would be when I freshly mill my own flour, in that case I usually opt for a very short autolyse or none at all.
With whole grains the added autolyse time will help the flour fully absorb the water given to it (there’s a lot more bran and germ!), it’ll also soften the larger bran/germ pieces which can help improve the interior of the loaf. Keeping it in the fridge would reduce any enzymatic activity typically happening in an autolyse (protease activity, specifically), but it would give the enzymes time to do their work before the dough fully chilled, and then at that point it would simply be hydrating the flour. So in the end, I do find a longer autolyse helps with higher whole grains and typically do this myself.
I also typically employ a longer autolyse when using super strong flour (like 13%+ protein) in large percentages. This helps reduce the elasticity of the dough, allowing it to stretch and extend further.
Hi. I am trying my hand at this for the first time so I might ask some very basic questions.
1) levain means starter? I have a starter and would like to use that. Do I still have to do the whole process of a levain?
2) do I have to add the bran mix? or is it only a suggestion?
3) I have read that I can use left over Whey from homemade cheese, can I add some of that to the water mix? Or should I just use water.
Sorry for such dumb dumb questions…but again I am only just starting with trying my hand at sourdough.
Thanks
Hey, Emily! Answers below:
1) Your starter is your ongoing sourdough culture you feed and keep going indefinitely. A levain is typically an off-shoot of that starter, meant for a single batch of bread. However, you don’t have to do a levain even though I call for one in many of my recipes, you can simply use your ongoing sourdough starter.
2) Adding back in the bran ensures this loaf is 100% whole grain, if you leave it out then you’ll have less than that, which is just fine, it’s up to you.
3) Yes, you certainly can use whey. I do this in my polenta and rosemary sourdough bread recipe: I use leftover whey from making ricotta to cook the polenta that’s then mixed into the bread. You can also use it directly as a substitute for some of the mixing water.
Not dumb questions at all! I hope that helps and sorry for the delay.
Hello! I’m quite new to baking with sourdough and whole grains but have made this loaf successfully a couple of times…it is wonderful! The most recent time, I made it with spelt flour and did not sift it (I don’t own a flour sifter or sieve with a fine enough mesh). I ended up making it at around 93% hydration. It turned out well but felt a little wet and weak to me throughout the process. I’m wondering about the effects of adding the additional 200 g of water without sifting and soaking the bran. Should this extra water be withheld entirely, added fully, or added in part? Still getting a feel for the dough, differences between hydration levels and temperatures, etc, so quite unsure about what effect the water had on my loaves and what difference would be made if I had held more water back.
Great to hear that, Katy! If you’re not sifting and soaking, I’d still add the water (it is part of the formula, it just either is added with the soaked bran/germ, or in the mix if not soaking). However, keep in mind with spelt it can be a tricky grain with high hydration levels. I’d suggest when working with 100% spelt, try reducing the hydration percentage 10% or even more to eek out more strength in the dough. Spelt has a tendency to be extremely extensible (the ability for the dough to stretch out before tearing or showing resistance) which can present as a weak and sloppy dough. The extensibility isn’t “bad,” it’s just a property of the grain and needs a little adjustment. I hope that helps!
Hi Maurizio,
Thank you for your wonderful blog! I have a steam oven that has 3 steam settings Low / Med / High. What would you recommend using? Also the steam function only works at 240 degrees (464F). I have been preheating to 275 degrees (527F) which is the maximum my oven goes up to then when I put the bread in I turn steam on high at 240 degrees. My bread keeps burning so what would you do given this oven? I’m about to try a preheat to 260 (500F) then turn down to 240 degrees immediately. Will report back. Many thanks
Hey! Hard to say on the steaming, I’m not sure what each will output. My approach is to usually start in the middle, then work up/down as results indicate. 240°C should be just fine to bake. If your bread is burning, turn the oven down and preheat at 260°C, then turn down to 240°C. If it still burns, lower the preheat even further and the bake time as well. Hope this helps!