One positive thing about being stuck at home during this crazy COVID-19 shelter-in-place is that I have been honing my cooking skills. I have been baking whole wheat sourdough bread to kill time and also because I haven’t seen bread in the store for weeks. Luckily, my wonderful colleague gifted me some starter before I was required to work at home. However, you can also make starter from scratch. Here is the King Arthur recipe for a whole wheat starter.
RECIPE FOR SOURDOUGH
This is a variation on the King Arthur whole wheat sourdough bread recipe with tweaks that worked best for me.
How Do I know When the Starter is Ready for Baking?
Try the float test! This is a test meant to measure how active the starter is based on the amount of CO2 trapped in it. Drop a little bit of starter into a glass or bowl of room-temperature water. It should rise to the top. If it sinks, I recommend more rounds of feeding.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (255g) water
- 3 cups (340g) whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons (25g) vegetable oil
Instructions:
- Mix the dough. Combine all of the ingredients, mixing until a sticky, wet dough forms.
- Stretch and fold. Let the dough rest, covered, for 30 minutes, then grab a corner of the dough and pull it up into the center. Repeat 4-5 times. Cover and rest for 30 minutes and do this three more times (Total of 4 times in 2 hours). Make sure to be gentle, you don’t want to pop the air bubbles, which would make the bread more dense.
- Fermentation. Transfer the dough in a loaf pan or dutch oven (we used a Römertopf Bread Baker the first time, but a Cusinart or Le Creuset dutch oven worked well for us as well ). Cover with a tea towel or a lid and let rise at room temperature for 6-18 hours. The bulk fermentation is completed when the dough has doubled in size and bubbles form on the surface and in the dough.
- Shape. Gently transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Fold the dough a a few times and shape into a tight ball (dutch oven) or a log (loaf pan).
- Proof. Cover the loaf and let it rise until it’s crowned 1″ over the rim of the pan, about 60 to 90 minutes.
- Bake. Heat oven to 500 F. If you are using a dutch oven, you do not have to preheat it, but you can. Turn the dough into either the dutch oven or loaf pan and score the dough in the middle with a blade. Lower the oven temperature to 450 F. Cover the dutch oven or loaf pan with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 400 F, take off the lid , and bake an additional 10 minutes uncovered.
- Cool. Let the loaf cool for 30-60 minutes before cutting.
Note: Because this is a whole wheat sourdough loaf, the bread will be denser and less airy than loaves made from white flour (but it is still very delicious). The crust, however, is crunchy and the inside is still chewy like signature sourdough from artisanal bakeries. The starter took us weeks of feeding for the gluten to build and pass the float test. The results are so worth it though!
I love the rustic look of this bread. Baking is something i have a lot more time for now!
what a great and positive idea to take the time stuck indoors to do something positive and constructive. i really should work on my (fairly nonexistent!) cooking skills. your post has inspired me to do so. And boy this sourdough bread looks delicious and manageable for someone like me.
This looks gorgeous! I love sourdough but I’m not much of a baker.
Oh my goodness that looks beautiful! I’m trying to cut my carbs so now bread for me… but saving this for later when i can have people over again!
Oh thanks You for sharing this recipe, i needed it. one of these days i’ll try it for sure. it looks so delicious and easy to prepare. – paolo
I have been sPending so much mOre time in the kitchen. Will have to tey thIs recipe next time.
Wow! i LOVE THIS. BEST PAIRED WITH COFFEE. I REALLY WANT TO EAT THAT BREAD RIGHT NOW.
This wheat bread looks amazing! I love that you included a link for the starter. I may have to try it this week!
So many friends I have are making breads. I am intimidated by it, but your recipe and descriptions make me want to try. I love the idea of being more self-sufficient.
This looks delicious. I’ve always said that I wanted to try making bread, and this looks like a good starting place. I’m going to give this recipe a try – Thanks for sharing!
i will be trying this recipe, i’ve been doing a lot of cake baking since we have Plenty of time on my hands. Will be adding Bread to My baking list 😃
Great recipe. I want to try making it at home. Homebaked bread sounds pretty cool
Delicious recipe! I’ve never made bread, much less sour dough, but I definitely want to try soon. Such a wonderful thing to be able to give our families.
This bread looks amazing! My husband would absolutely love it!
I’ve been wanting to make some sour dough bread! Thank you for this clear b recipe! Hopefully I find the time to make this soon!
wonderful and delicious recipe in this CRAZY (as you said) period. this time is really a crazy and we must involve us in creative and attractive things before we go crazy. keep it up good sharing with all of us who are facing lock-down.
I love sourdough breads! Congratulations, keep baking!
This sounds tASTY and with all the extra time we have now it’s the perfect time to try out new stuff. Thanks for sharing.
it looks so rustic and delic and COMPARATIVELY easy to make.
This bread looks really delicious and pretty too!I love sourdough bread!
Sourdough is everywhere right now! we are LOving all the delicious inspo.