Somewhat Whole Wheat

I'm a big fan of whole wheat bread, and as a result I've started adapting my standard sourdough recipe to make a lean, hearty whole-wheat hearth bread. This is my first crack at it, but since it's certainly not perfect there will be more. It's still pretty tasty, though. I've also used this post to talk in a little more detail about the basics than I plan on in the future, since the bread here doesn't have anything particularly fancy.

I usually build breads in a couple of stages. In this case (and in the case of most of my sourdoughs), the first stage is a firm starter. That is quite simply a sourdough starter with approximately the consistency of the final bread dough. Since Barmy is at 133% hydration and most of my breads are between 65% and 70%, I separate off the amount of barm I want to use and add the corresponding amount of bread flour to reach 67% hydration. Recipes are given in parts by weight, with flour normalized to 100. (This is called "baker's percentage".) The amount I used in this batch is given in parentheses, again by weight.

Firm Starter

Barm 233 (14 oz)
Bread flour 100 (6 oz)

Mix and knead until it comes together. Don't bother kneading until smooth, since it's going to be kneaded again in the final dough. As a result, it will be rather lumpy and sticky:


Place in a covered container and allow to rise for about 4 hours, until doubled or more. Then either use in a bread recipe that calls for a firm starter, or refrigerate and use within the week. As with all sourdough recipes, the longer it sits in the fridge, the more sour it will get.

Now on to the full bread dough! This makes 3 pounds 7 ounces if you use the amounts below.

Dough

Firm Starter 100 (20 oz)
Bread flour 50 (10 oz)
Whole wheat flour 50 (10 oz)
Water 70 (14 oz)
Salt 3 (0.5 oz)
Honey 3 (0.5 oz)

Despite being a "whole wheat" bread, there is actually more bread flour in there than whole wheat if you count the starter. That's pretty common; the bran in whole wheat tends to interfere with gluten development, making for a somewhat crumbly loaf, so most whole wheat bread contains some higher-gluten flour as well. I figured this was a good ratio to start at. The honey adds a touch of sweetness to counteract the bitterness in the whole wheat flour. Other than that, this is your basic bread recipe: flour, water, and salt, plus yeast (from a starter in this case). Some people will tell you to mix the ingredients in a particular order. I just throw everything into a bowl.

Then mix with a spoon until the dough starts to come together...


... and turn out on the counter to knead, along with any flour that hasn't been incorporated yet.


At first, the dough is sticky, lumpy, and clearly unevenly mixed:

After about 10 minutes, though, it smooths out into a soft, even ball.

It should be quite stretchy, and pass the so-called "windowpane test"; you should be able to tease out a small piece of dough into a translucent sheet without it tearing. Put in a bowl or other container, cover, and let rise someplace warm for a few hours.

The dough rose beautifully, more than doubling. Gluten development continues during the first rising, and the dough was beautiful, soft, and fragrant. The dough can now be refrigerated for later, or shaped. Being on a schedule, I elected to shape.

Punch down the dough and turn it out onto your workspace. Cut off pieces of the desired weight - in my case, 1# 10.5 oz (I was making two loaves). Form them into rounds and let rest for a minute or two.



Then shape as desired. I'm fond of bâtards, tapered torpedoes. The name is French for "bastard," as they are halfway between a baguette and a boule (round loaf). Unlike baguettes, these bake for a fairly long time and thus develop the dark crust of a boule, but they are much easier to slice for sandwiches and the like. They are placed, seam side up, on a well-floured cloth with a fold between them to prevent merging.

Again, now is a good time to refrigerate if you wish to bake later. And again, being pressed for time I did not. The cloth is folded over the loaves and they sit for a couple of hours to rise. (This final rise is called "proofing.") About an hour before they're done, preheat the oven to 450; the hour gives your baking stone time to get hot. You do have a baking stone, right? Good.

And look at those loaves after proofing! It looks like they've passed doubling and are well on their way to tripling. They also jiggle in a manner not entirely unlike Jello when shaken, which is how one knows they're ready to bake. They go on a peel dusted lightly with cornmeal or semolina (not flour; they can stick to that) and get a few long slashes from a razor blade:

Then into the oven!

I squirt some hot water onto the bottom of my oven to add steam, which helps with crust development. If you have an electric stove, you should probably use a cast-iron pan that has preheated in the oven for this rather than pouring water directly on the coils, though it may not actually matter (I haven't tried). The loaves sit in there for about 10 minutes. After 10 here's what they looked like:

As you can see, they've shown an impressive amount of oven spring, going from nearly flat to nicely rounded. They're also starting to brown a little. In goes another squirt of hot water, and another 10 minutes elapse.


Now they're definitely getting browned. Rotate to bake evenly (I just spin each loaf 180 degrees) and give 'em 15 minutes more.


And they're done! They have a beautiful dark brown crust and make a nice hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. Cooling on a rack:


The slight bulges are because they were a little too close when they went into the oven, and reached for each other as they started to bake. I gave them a little more space after the first 10 minutes, when they were firm enough that moving them wouldn't change the shape. And here's a look inside (after they've cooled, of course!):

The crumb structure is decent, with unevenly-shaped holes. It's very springy, like all good bread, so when you squeeze it it'll jump back to its original shape. The crust was a little thinner than I would have liked, but crisp and crunchy.

The bread was delicious, with a good balance of flavors, but I'm not completely satisfied with it. For starters, it's not as whole-wheat as I'd like. The honey does balance what whole-wheat flavor there is, but there's not enough of the latter for what I'm aiming for. There wasn't much sour flavor either, but that's largely because I didn't retard the dough in the refrigerator overnight at any point; the lactobacteria responsible for the dough's acid content need that extra time to really get going. Next time this won't be an issue; I rarely go from mixing the dough to baking in less than a day.

I am going to adjust the flour ratio a bit, in favor of whole wheat, and maybe throw in some other wheat ingredients like bran or rolled wheat. Nevertheless, a good start in the pursuit of a whole-wheat sourdough loaf. Stay tuned for future developments!