Mostly Whole Grain Sourdough Bread Recipe

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Tara, who has been making it for about a year and a half. She gave me some starter then, but I wasn't ready for the commitment. I threw away the poor thing so I wouldn't have to worry about killing it by neglect.

In August, a friend Emily started talking "start," and I was ready to go! I adopted some starter from another friend Stephanie and eventually made my own from scratch because I wanted to use whole wheat flour to make it.

I emailed Tara, and she sent me her go-to recipe. We like it a lot

Scroll to the bottom to go right to the recipe.

I took photos from start to finish of the preparation for the loaf I baked today. I will share those and the original recipe, which came from Breadtopia. You can find it there too, with instructional videos even!

You start this recipe the evening of the day before the day before you want to bake it. I baked it today on Tuesday, so I started it Sunday evening.

This recipe does use rye flour, and spelt flour (which is a bit pricey), and white bread flour in addition to wheat. If you choose to substitute something else for the spelt, I would use more whole grain flour or maybe a little white, keeping the total flour measure by weight the same, so you get the same moisture level and result, although a slightly different flavor. It's fun to experiment!

Here goes:

The evening of Day 1, I mixed whole wheat flour, some starter, and some water together.

I covered it with a plastic bag and let it sit on the counter all night.

The morning of Day 2, I uncovered it to see that it had fermented more, growing and spreading out a bit.

Then, I mixed together what sat out all night with rye flour, spelt flour, white bread flour, salt, and more water.

My scale has been adjusted to read "0" when my measuring bowl is on top. I measure the flours by weight to get the amounts right, since different flours differ in weight by volume.

I just keep all-purpose flour on hand and add 1 Tablespoon of gluten per cup in place of "bread flour."

Ingredients are in the Bosch mixer, ready to go.

I set mixer to "1" and let it knead for 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, do it until dough passes the "windowpane" test. That is, a lump of it can be stretched to about an inch evenly with your fingers before it tears.

I formed dough into a boule, and place in an oiled small or medium bowl. I oil the bowl with either extra light olive oil, or cooking spray.

I covered the bowl with plastic and placed it in fridge for 24 hours.

Morning of Day 3, I could see that it rose slowly in the fridge.

I re-shaped the dough and placed it in a bowl lined with a kitchen towel that has been sprinkled with flour. I heavily sprinkled top of boule with flour also and covered bowl with another kitchen towel. I left  it for its final rise for 5 hours. When the time is close to being up, I pre-heated my oven to 485 degrees. The bread will cook in a Dutch oven, in a conventional oven. The Dutch oven needs to be in the 485-degree oven for 1/2 hour before baking. The Dutch oven baking helps with getting harder crust and maintaining moisture. If you don't have one, you can put a pan of water in oven 1/2 hour before baking.

Five hours later, I could see that it rose again.

Just before baking, I quickly slashed the top quickly two or three times with a paring knife at a 45 degree angle. This will help give the bread a classic artisan look.

I flipped that dough out of the bowl and plopped it into the Dutch oven. I put the lid on, put it in the conventional oven, and baked it for 30-40 minutes. I am wondering if you are supposed to bake it for longer if you don't use the Dutch oven.

Here is the beautiful loaf of artisan bread. See how the slashes and flour sprinkling made the top so pretty?

Cool for a bit on a cooling rack, then slice and enjoy.

It keeps for several days too, unless you eat it up right away!

Now, for simplicity, here is the recipe.

Mostly Whole Grain Sourdough Bread

Evening of Day 1: Mix together:

• 200 grams (7 oz. or 7/8 cup) water
• 120g (4 oz. or 1/2 cup) sourdough starter
• 236 grams (8 1/3 oz or 2 cups) whole wheat flour

Ferment (let sit out at room temperature covered loosely with plastic) at 69F for 12 hours.
Morning of Day 2: Add to Day 1 ingredients:

• 274 grams (9 2/3 oz. or ~1 1/4 cup) water
• 85 grams (3 oz. or 7/8 cup) rye flour
• 250 grams (8 3/4 oz or 2 cups) white bread flour
• 170 grams (6 oz. or a tad over 1 3/4 cups) spelt flour
• 13 grams (scant tbs.) salt

Knead, place in plastic covered bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Morning of Day 3: Form a boule (round loaf) and ferment (let sit out on counter) 5 hours at 69F.
Bake at 485F for 30-40 minutes.

Note: If you divide the boule into two boules for final rise on the counter, each one should bake for about 25-30 min. Variations in season, temperature, and humidity affect the baking time. I find that in cooler weather, my bread needs to bake longer. To make sure your loaf is done, pull the lid off the Dutch oven and stick a meat thermometer into center of the bread. Bread should reach 185-190F to be not doughy in the middle.