Whole Wheat Artisan Sourdough Method!

Thank you all so much for your patience as I get this recipe together. Here it is. I'll keep adding to it asap! Please ask questions or add your thoughts in the comments, so that everyone can benefit!

Makes two loaves.

Soaker Recipe:

• 1000 grams flour (200 grams of white flour + 800 grams of whole kernel wheat flour)
• 825 grams water, room temp.

Levain Recipe:

• 20 grams mature starter (starter that was fed about one whole feeding cycle ago)
• 115 grams flour
• 115 grams water

Additional ingredients:

• 24 grams salt (Not iodized table salt. Any salt without iodine will do.) 

Step 1:

In the morning, mix up the Soaker and Levain, separately. Set them aside until the afternoon. The levain needs to rise to about 2x its original volume by the afternoon. If it's coming along slowly, move it to a warmer area, such as in your oven (if the oven is totally cool) with the oven light on. (If you have a new-fangled oven with LEDs, this is useless, because they only produce light!)

Here's a video of me doing exactly this, this morning!




Step 2:

I have to run get the mill going. Be back soon!

Ok, I'm back. When the the Levain doubles in size, ideally between 2pm-4pm, it's time to combine all of the bread ingredients: the soaker, the levain, and the salt.

This is where you want to start being somewhat delicate and conscious about how you mix the dough. Don't think of it as a bunch of dough in a bowl. Think of it as a single mass, an object, which you are folding over itself. If you need to cut it a few times by pinching it between your fingers, in order to get the levain to really combine, that's fine at this stage, but don't do that hereafter.



* Sorry the sound cuts out at the end. I just say to turn the dough every 30 minutes for 2 hours, or 4 times total.

Step 3:

We now have bread dough! Congratulations! But what to do with it? Not much, actually. That's the key.

First, we want to "turn" the dough every 30 minutes, for 2 hours (so 4 times). Why? This involves basically stretching and wrapping the dough over itself. The key to bread is gluten, and gluten is long strands. The way to encourage their formation and good structure is by aligning them into parallel strands, and this we do by stretching out the dough. We do this in a determined, but not rough way. We want to give it a good stretch and fold it over, but not tear it more than necessary.

Think of the mass of dough as a sheet of wrapping paper, and we want to fold it in on itself from all four corners, by picking up each and folding it over onto itself. Each time we "turn" the dough, we do all four of these folds.




Step 4:

Ok, so we have turned our dough 4 times over 2 hours. We should notice it feeling more supple and plump, having more "structure." Pudding does not have structure. Jello does. It wants to hold its shape, it cares about its form a little bit. That's structure. It should have some degree of structure at this point.

Now we are entering the phase called bulk fermentation. It's really the hardest part. Put a cover over it (I like a plastic cover, but don't seal it) and leave it alone for about 3 or 4 hours.

This stage is vital, because all this time out in room temperature is allowing fermentation and gluten development (yes those little strands keep building their structure even without your help). If you cut this time short and put it in the fridge now for the morning, it would likely be under-fermented and not work out so well. I would err on the side of fermenting it too much at this stage. The only problem I sometimes run into is that it keeps me up too late at night. If that happens, start earlier in the morning next time, or use a little heat to get that levain rising faster.

After bulk fermentation, it is time to do the only part of this process that really requires much technique. We are going to divide the loaves into two, pre-shape them, let them rest on the counter for about 15 minutes, shape them, and then put them in baskets or towel-lined bowls, and put them in the fridge overnight. We'll bake in the morning!

Ok, how to pre-shape and shape the loaves (they're both the same)? I could explain it using somewhat tortured language, but I will film myself doing it asap, hopefully tonight, and upload that. That will make it much easier to understand. See you then!



Step 5:
OK, it's tomorrow morning. I'm going to run bake these now:



Step 6: Success! Take a look at the final result!