Creating an Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe is delicious and provide nutty flavor sweeten with raw honey to enjoy at any meal.
Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe Video
Baking bread has been a journey for me, I started several years ago when my kids were little and the economic was hard. Money was tight and I wanted to provide healthy food on a strict budget for my family.
I started baking bread in a bread machine and moved on to “Friendship Bread”. My bread baking skills improve and now “fast forward” to today, I am in love with sourdough and the variety it provides.
Sourdough is an art and I love creating different loaf shapes and scoring techniques. Creating delicious and nutritious loafs of sourdough bread feed my soul especially during the last three years. There is magic that appears in my very own kitchen when I witness a natural rise in my dough and bake a smell that is divine.
Stretch and Fold Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
I really learned that stretching and folding your sourdough is essential to create strength and distribute the gluten to enable the bread to rise. Yes, Stretching and Folding is a process and does take practice but, it is easy once you get familiar!
Start by picking up one side of your dough and stretch it as far as you can. Now fold it over to the other side of the bowl. Repeat the stretch and fold process about three more times while turn the bowl in a circle to compete the entire circ*mstance. The stretch and fold process should my done several times throughout the hours of the day depending on the recipe.
The goal of stretching and folding is it should pass a window pane test, meaning without breaking the dough you should see through it.
Shaping Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe
Shaping whole wheat sourdough bread take patience, creativity and magic.
Stretch out your sourdough and fold long way in half. Next stretch the right to meet in middle and repeat on the left.
Rotate sourdough on counter and create a ball and tension. Moving clockwise push and the sourdough away and pull back in towards you. The goal is to create tension and smooth, tight ball.
Once your sourdough is shape place in a banneton, mixing bowl that has been grease or has a tea towel dust with flour to proof. Proofing is the final rise of your easy whole wheat sourdough bread before it is baked. This is the time when I place in refrigerator to allow the dough to develop more flavor and not to over-proof. Seal the top of banneton or bowl with saran wrap, wet tea towel or large plate to prevent sourdough whole wheat loaf from drying out.
Tips on Baking Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Sourdough is alive and most be active to using in baking it responds to its environment.
Each home is different and so it your sourdough starter, you must understand it your home is humid, dry, warm or cold. The seasons can change your sourdough starter.
If you forget to feed your sourdough starter it is OK, just feed it when you can. It is important to stay consist in feeding your sourdough starter so make it a habit in your daily routine.
When baking with sourdough starter you want it active. An active sourdough starter has been feed, looks bubbly and is strong to make bread rise. You should use your active sourdough starter within four hours from when you fed it.
To create the best flavor in your sourdough bread and better rise always let it sit overnight in the fridge.
Note, sourdough discard is not active starter it just is not strong enough. Use discard to make cookies, cakes, pancakes, etc. When I have a lot of sourdough this is a great time to make pancakes and save a bit for bread making.
Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup of organic whole wheat flour
- 2/3 cup of warm filtered water
Dough
- 1 1/2 cup of organic bread flour
- 2/3 cup of warm filtered water
- 1/2 cup of active sourdough starter
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/3 cup of raw honey
- 1/4 cup of softened butter
- 1/4 cup of organic oats
- The night before make a “soaker” with the first two ingredients whole wheat flour and water in a glass jar. Stir together and cover and place in refrigerator this will soften the dough and prevent any issues with the gluten.
- In the morning take soaker out of fridge and let it come to room temperature. Make dough by combining the flour and water in a large bowl. Fold in your prepared soaker, active sourdough starter, salt, honey, oats and butter.
- Cover your bowl with saran wrap, plate or water tea towel for six hours. During the six hours every hour stretch and fold until dough has stretch so much you can see through it.
- Now let your dough rest untouched for until it doubles in size, in my environment this take the rest of the day which is about four more hours.
- Remove your whole wheat sourdough bread from the bowl and shape on a flour surface. After you have shaped your sourdough bread place in a banneton or lined mixing bowl, cover and place in refrigerator overnight.
- The next day to bake the easy whole wheat sourdough bread recipe take out of fridge and score and placed in a greased or lined with parchment paper loaf pan. Scoring is cutting into your loaf to let steam escape.
- Bake in a preheated oven of 500 cover for twenty-five minutes. Uncover sourdough loaf and turn halfway and bake for fifteen more minutes.
- Use ice cube under the parchment paper or in a cake pan to create some steam in your oven. The steam will create a soft crust during the first twenty minutes of baking and allow the bread to rise to full expansion.
- After baking place sourdough whole wheat bread on a wire rack to cool before slicing. Store your Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread in a paper bag or plastic bag.
More Sourdough Inspiration from the Farmhouse
EASY SOURDOUGH STARTER RECIPE
THE BEST SOURDOUGH SANDWICH BREAD RECIPE
HOW TO MAKE FLUFFY SOURDOUGH PANCAKES?
