How to Make An Excellent Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread (50/50), Simplicity at It's BEST

No time to stretch and fold? Need an easy whole wheat sourdough loaf that can fit in with a busy schedule? Then this is the recipe for you!

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My Baking Equipment:

Bench scraper / dough cutter:
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Bread lame:
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Banneton / proofing basket (Size - 25cm x 15cm x 8cm):
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Bowl Scraper:
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Dough scales:
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Precision scales (small quantities):
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Challenger bread pan:
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Baking schedule:
Day 1:
14:00 - Feed starter (temp 18c / 65f)
22:00 - Mix dough & ferment overnight (temp drops to around 10c / 50f)

Day 2:
08:00 - Shape, place in banneton (kitchen temp 12c / 54f)
09.30 - 10.00 Bake

You can switch this schedule up to fit into your routine. You could also use the fridge to “pause” the process if needed. Remember that your climate / temperature in the house will affect the proofing times too (see notes below).
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Recipe:
Starter 145g
Water 300g
Whole wheat flour 220g
Strong white flour 220g (my flour has a protein content of 13,2%)
Sea salt 14g

Make sure your starter has been fed and is active and ready to use. My starter is maintained at 100% hydration.

Dissolve the salt in the water and add the starter. Mix in the flours. Give everything a good mix with a spoon and then your fingers.

The Starter will still be visible (as it was fed with white flour), don’t worry, cover the dough and leave it to sit for half and hour, covered, at room temperature. Then tip the dough out onto the work surface and give it a bit of muscle. After a couple of minutes the dough will be well mixed. Pop it into a bowl, cover and leave to ferment. Check my baking schedule above, and see my notes below on time.

After the bulk ferment gently tip the dough out onto the work surface and shape into a loose ball. Be gentle with the dough. A light touch will also stop the dough becoming super sticky.

Flour the top of the ball and flip it over. Roll into a sausage shape and seal the dough down as you go. Flour the top of the dough and gently transfer to a floured basket.

Cover the dough and leave to proof. Check my baking schedule above. The dough is ready when it feels springy and full of gas. This takes a bit of getting used to, but with a bit of practice you’ll get it.

When the dough has proofed, flour the top of the dough (which is about to become the bottom of the dough). Carefully turn the dough out on to your peel. Brush off excess flour and transfer to the oven.

My oven has been pre-heated to 220c with a baking steel inside on the lower shelf. The oven is set to bake mode with top and bottom heat but NO fan.

I invert a large lightweight casserole over the top. I mist the inside with water first. I bake with the casserole inverted over the dough for the first 20 minutes and then finish off at the same temp for the final 20 minutes.

Of course you can follow your own process of baking.

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Hydration
Not all flour is created equal and will absorb water at different rates. Therefore you may find your dough is a little dryer than mine, or it could be slightly wetter. Therefore you may need to tweak the water content slightly depending on your flour.

Flours
Choosing flour with higher protein contents make these “hands off” loaves easy. The higher protein content and the fermentation period will provide enough strength to the dough.

Temperature / climate
I’ve given my schedule above but please note that the time your starter and dough takes to ferment will be dependant on the climate / temperature of your kitchen. You’ll need to play around with times and experiment. When it gets really hot here in summer 35c+ I use a really big cooler box with one freezer block in it to slow down my fermentations. I find that fermenting in the fridge stalls the process too much, in some cases brining it to a halt.

I hope my video helps. If you have any questions let me know.

Happy baking and let me know how you get on.

Cheers
Philip