Finally, a whole wheat sourdough bread that doesn’t take days, doesn’t taste sour, and is not dense. You will love the flexibility of this bread in uses like sandwiches, french toast, toast, and all with the best nutrition. The combination of sourdough and whole wheat is the most nutritious kind of bread.

Start to finish bread in 5 hours.

Bakers schedule:

The night before – Make levain AKA starter (see notes)
10:00am – Mix everything except salt and water
10:45am – Add salt and water and set in a warm place (see notes on creating a warm place).
11:30 – stretch and fold
12:15 – stretch and fold
Look for signs of fermentation, remembering dough will ferment for 1 more hour in the loaf pans so do not over-ferment. Hint: if the dough has some bubbles, has risen by 30-50%, and comes out of the bowl clean, the dough is fermented enough.
1:00pm – Shape and put in loaf pans to let rise 1 hour.
2:00pm – Turn oven on conventional bake setting (if you have that setting) to 410°.
2:20pm – Score loaves down the middle (This will give your bread a nice oven spring). Place your 2 loaf pans in roasting pan, add 6 ice cubes into the roasting pan. Close the lid on the roasting pan and bake for 45 minutes or until Internal temperature reads 200°
3:10pm – Take roasting pan of the oven and tip loaves out of the bread pans onto a wire rack to cool. Let them cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe

Print Recipe

Ingredients

200 g starter hard white See Note
350 g milk 1 1/2 cup
1 egg
40 g sugar 1/8 cup
250 g organic all-purpose or sifted bread flour 1 3/4 cup
350 g fresh-milled spelt flour 3 cups
30 g melted butter 1/8 cup
9 g salt
20 g water

Instructions

Mix in this order: starter, milk, egg, sugar, melted butter, organic all-purpose or sifted bread flour, spelt flour
Add salt and water. poke and fold in with hands.
Do 2 Stretch and folds 45 minutes apart. Note: make sure dough is in a warm place. See Note for creating the perfect warm place.
Ferment another 1 hour in a warm place. Look for signs of fermentation, remembering the dough will ferment for 1 more hour in the loaf pans so do not over-ferment. Hint: if the dough has some bubbles, has risen by 30-50%, and comes out of the bowl clean, the dough is fermented enough.
Shape and put in loaf pan to let rise 1 hour.
Turn oven on conventional bake 410° with roasting pan warming in the oven as it preheats.
Score loaves down the middle (this will give your bread a nice oven spring.) Place your 2 loaf pans in roasting pan and add 6 ice cubes into the roasting pan. Close the lid on the roasting pan.
Bake for 45 minutes or until Internal temperature reads 200°

Notes

Note on levain AKA starter: Make levain the night before – 40g starter, 120g water, 120g whole wheat flour (I use freshly milled). This makes about 250g of levain (enough for baking in the morning and feeding for next bake.)

Note on keeping dough warm: Preheat the oven at 350 degrees for 1 minute. Turn oven off, and keep dough in a bowl covered inside the oven. This creates the perfect temperature for fermenting dough quickly. In summer months, you may be able to ferment your dough on the counter with the same effect.