100% Wholemeal Sourdough Bread
Baking a 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread recipe is all about embracing the heartiness of whole grains while still achieving a beautifully balanced crumb. Sure, wholemeal bread tends to be a dense bread, but with the right technique, you’ll get a wholesome loaf that’s full of deep, nutty flavour and just the right amount of chew. If you love the rich taste of whole grains and the magic of sourdough fermentation, this recipe is for you!
Equipment
- Bench Scraper
- Banneton Basket
- Razor Blade or Bread Lame
Ingredients
- 400 g strong wholemeal flour a.k.a. whole wheat flour, with at least 13% protein
- 7 g salt
- 160 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 300 ml water you may need more*
Instructions
Feed Sourdough Starter
- First thing in the morning, feed your sourdough starter. I typically feed 70g of my starter in a ratio of 1 part starter:1 part water:1 part flour. This simply means that I mix 70g of starter with 70g water and 70g flour. Scoop the mixture into a clean jar, and leave it in a warm spot (ideally, (21-27°C)), semi-covered for 4-5 hours. Your starter should at least double in volume in this time without deflating. If it doesn't, it may need a couple of good feeds before it's fit for purpose.
- I use 160g of active starter for baking and feed the remaining 50g before storing it for the future.
Autolyse
- When your starter is almost doubled, mix the wholemeal flour with water in a bowl of a stand mixer. You only need to mix enough for the flour to hydrate (no dry pockets of flour remain). Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave it to autolyse for 1 hour.
Mixing The Final Dough
- After an hour, add the salt, active sourdough starter and, fitted with a dough hook attachment, run your stand mixer for approximately 10 minutes. If your sourdough looks very dry, add 10ml of water at a time while mixing the dough (whole wheat flour absorbs A LOT of water - some more than others).
Coil Folds And Bulk Fermentation
- Scoop the dough into a large bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place (21-27°C) for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, with cold wet hands, perform the first set of coil folds. Simply lift the bread dough with both hands from the sides and tuck it under to form a coil (video in the text above). Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and coil again. Cover the bowl again, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes again.
- You should repeat the process every 30 minutes until you have done 4-6 sets of coil folds. Your dough will spread less with every set of folds, and by the end of it, you will have a much less sticky, very soft and elastic dough that has blisters on top of the dough. For more information on how to coil fold and when to know when you've done enough folding, head to our dedicated article about Sourdough Coil Folds.
- Once all the folds have been completed, cover the dough and let the dough rise at warm room temperature for 2-4 hours to finish bulk fermentation. Your dough should just about double its original size. If you are using a see-through glass bowl for bulk fermenting, you should see a lot of activity and bubbles forming at the base and sides of the bowl.
Shaping and Cold Retardation
- At the end of bulk fermentation, using a bowl scraper, scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Try and make sure that the smooth top of the dough (the side that is not intact with the bowl) is placed on the floured work surface. Then swiftly fold the four corners of the dough into the centre and flip the dough over.
- Cupping the dough with your hands, drag it against the worktop to create surface tension. You may see some bubbles surfacing on the dough. It takes some practice, but you should aim for a tight round ball of dough that holds its shape and doesn’t spread much.
- Place the dough ball into a well-floured banneton basket (or any proofing basket alternatives). We recommend using rice flour for dusting your proofing baskets. The smooth side of the sourdough ball should be at the bottom, with the seam at the top.
- Pinch the seam together with your fingers, if the dough starts spreading in the bowl to make sure the dough is tight. Sprinkle with some flour, and cover the dough with a clean fabric napkin or small lightweight tea towel.
- Place the proofing basket in a large plastic bag – it will protect the dough from drying out. Then place the whole thing in the fridge for its final rise (a.k.a. second rise) in the fridge for 12-36 hours.
DAY 2
- The next day, place the Dutch Oven in the oven, and preheat it to 240°C (typically, it is the highest temperature home ovens will go to) with the Dutch oven in it. It needs to be piping hot!
Scoring The Dough
- Once the oven is hot, take the dough out of the fridge and out of the bag.
- Invert the dough gently onto a large piece of parchment paper. If your dough was properly bulk fermented and shaped correctly, it should not spread once inverted.
- Dust the surface of the dough with flour. Using a bread lame or a razor blade, score the dough deeply (approximately 1cm deep).
Baking
- Take the hot Dutch Oven out of the oven, take the lid off, and lift the sourdough into it, holding the edges of the parchment paper. Be mindful of how you lift the paper. Sometimes, the scored slash can begin to close up during this process. To prevent this, lift the parchment from the sides that won't push the two edges of the scored dough back together.
- Place the lid back on the Dutch Oven and place the bread into the hot oven for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 200°C, take the lid off, and return the sourdough to the oven for another 20-25 minutes.
Cooling
- Once baked, take the Dutch Oven out of the oven. Lift the bread out by holding the corners of the parchment paper. Place the bread onto the wire rack, and slide the parchment paper from underneath the loaf.
- Leave the sourdough to cool down to room temperature before slicing. 100% wholemeal sourdough will be denser and slightly sticky on the inside - it's just the nature of wholemeal flour.
Notes
*NOTE ON WATER: Whole wheat (also known as wholemeal) flours vary in their bran and gluten content, which affects how much water they absorb. Since all whole wheat flours are quite absorbent, start with 300ml of water and adjust as needed—if the dough feels stiff, gradually add more. A higher hydration level in this recipe will result in a lighter, less dense loaf.
Nutrition
Calories: 1506kcalCarbohydrates: 318gProtein: 57gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 2738mgPotassium: 1453mgFiber: 44gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 36IUCalcium: 147mgIron: 14mg
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