(The “Print” feature is at the bottom of the recipe.)
Whole grain flour is actually TERRIBLE for baking bread, for several reasons:
-15-18% of the flour is made up of bran and germ, which have NO gluten potential.
-Bran is sharp and destroys the gluten network of our bread as the bread rises, leading to loaf deflation during baking.
Back in the “good old days” when all breads were made with whole grains…ALL breads were dense and chewy. But that’s what bread was, so it was good. After we learned to mill white flour, our breads were soft and tender and delicious. Now that many of us are migrating back to whole grains, we want to have our cake AND eat it, too…which is unrealistic.
We have recently learned to bake high hydration breads with extremely high amounts of water, which help counteract the bran problem and result in impressive loaves like NOTHING seen in the ancient world…but these techniques require fussy interventions during fermentation. Lots of folding, stretching, coiling etc. at regular intervals, meaning the bread basically controls your life. But this is the ONLY way to make sourdough bread with 100% whole grain.
The solution is to substitute a PORTION of the flour in the Simple Sourdough recipe for whole grain, while modestly increasing hydration, resulting in a loaf that is around 36% whole grain. Better than all-white, but with a texture that’s still acceptable, and virtually no work at all.
We can also improve the texture of the bread by adding a tiny amount of Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid. It’s healthy for you, and will dramatically improve your bread! (Available on Amazon, or at any health food store. A little goes a long way.)
In a large bowl, measure:
4oz / 113g sourdough starter (must be at 100% hydration, and ideally cold, unfed, straight from the refrigerator)
13oz / 369g water (ideally filtered, room temp or cold)
(If you want to add the Vitamin C for extra lift, measure the water into a quart jar, add 1/8 teaspoon Vitamin C powder/ascorbic acid, shake wildly for 20-30 seconds to oxygenate the water, and then add it to the starter.)
Then add:
8oz / 227g whole grain flour (from any gluten-containing grain: wheat, barley, rye, ancient wheat varieties like einkorn, spelt, triticale, kamut, etc.)
12oz / 340g AP or bread flour (bread flour will give a better overall rise)
0.7oz / 19g salt (any type)
Stir to combine, then finish bringing into a uniform dough with your hands. Rise at room temp until double. (SEE NOTE BELOW ON RISE TIMES!!!) Shape into a boule, place in a greased or parchment lined Dutch oven, rise a second time, then score and place into the center of a cold oven. (For loaf pan baking, see my MasterClass video.) Turn the oven on to 425F/220C and start a 45 minute timer. Remove the lid after 45 minutes and bake an additional 15 minutes.
UNDERSTANDING PROOFING TIMES:
Modestly underproofing breads containing whole grains leads to a better oven rise. To know how long to proof your bread properly, you need to know how long it took the loaf to double on the FIRST rise. So mix up this bread in the morning on a day off, rise in an oiled ziploc bag, and begin watching it around 6 hours.
If it doubles in 12-24 hours, your second rise should be 60 minutes.
If it doubles in 8-12 hours, your second rise should be 45 minutes.
If it doubles in UNDER 8 hours, your second rise should be 30 minutes.
Future loaves will follow a similar pattern to your first, so you don’t always have to watch the loaf as carefully as the first time. Keep in mind, however, that differences in kitchen temps vary throughout the seasons, and bread may take longer to rise in winter than it does in summer. (Or the opposite, depending on your air conditioning habits!)
