Whole Wheat Sourdough
I made bread this past weekend using mostly whole wheat flour and, unlike my prior attempts with whole wheat, I was able to produce something I was proud of. The other attempts were edible, but very heavy. This latest boule is light and fluffy and also has a better crust than even when I bake with while flour. I used the recipe from my last post with just a little more water.
Whole Wheat Sourdough recipe
ingredients
- 320 g starter
- 800 g strong flour
- 560 ml water
- 10 g salt
directions
- mix flour, water, salt, and starter roughly in a bowl
- dump it on the counter
- knead (should be sticky) until dough can be stretched to translucent
- place in a bowl and put it in the fridge for 12 hours
- divide dough ball into two halves
- shape halves into round balls (fold to form round shape, then drag on counter to tighten skin)
- place halves in a flour dusted proving basket or bowl lined with a linen cloth for about 8 hours at room temperature
- bake at 450 F on a stone for 40 minutes (cover the boule with a Pyrex bowl for the first 15 minutes)
What I did differently this time and what I will change next time
The failed attempts with whole wheat didn’t work well, in part I believe, because the dough was too dry. The whole wheat flour absorbs a lot of water and is hard to keep wet. This time I used a stone in the oven and covered the boule for the first 15 minutes. The stone and covering improve the crust.
Next time I will try 600 g water and also will cover better for the first rise in the fridge. When I took the dough out this time it was a little dry on top. I think covering with a tight fitting lid or plastic will be better than the towel that I used. Another thing I will do differently will be to do the second rise with a real proving basket or just a cloth lined glass bowl. A flour dusted cloth lined bowl has work well for me in the past and for some reason I tried this time without the cloth and the dough was stuck to the bowl so my nicely formed boules were damaged.
Happy baking!