100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
A recipe for no knead, 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread that actually tastes good. It's made with rye sourdough starter and whole wheat flour with honey for a touch of sweetness.
Equipment
- Dough Whisk
- Digital Metric Scale
- 4 L food container with lid or bowl with plastic wrap
- 8.5" x 4" Loaf Pan
Ingredients
- 100 g Rye Sourdough Starter
- 350 g Water
- 110 g Honey
- 400 g Whole Wheat Flour
- 11 g Sea Salt
Instructions
Scaling
- Measure all your ingredients using a metric scale. All ingredients are measured in grams for ease.
Mixing
- Put the sourdough starter, water, and the honey in a 4L/4Q container.
- Mix ingredients together until you form a slurry with a danish dough whisk.
- Add whole wheat flour to the sourdough/water/honey mix.
- Mix thoroughly until no dry flour remains. Set aside for 20-30 minutes to autolyse (hydrate) the flour. Hint: Using a danish dough whisk makes this step easier.
- Sprinkle salt on top of the autolysed flour.
- Using your middle finger and thumb, pinch together through the dough several times to "cut" the salt in to the hydrated flour. Pull the sides of the mix up and over the salt. Repeat cutting and folding until the salt is evenly distributed. Set aside for ten minutes.Hint: Do not worry if the mix is hard to work with, it will come together and smooth out as you conduct several stretch and folds over the next couple of hours.
- Perform the first of four stretch and folds. To do this, pull the sides of the dough up and lay it over itself. Turn the container 90 degrees and pull the dough up again and lay it over itself. Do this all the way around until the dough is well stretched and folded. Flip the resulting dough ball over so folds are on the bottom. Rest for 30 minutes.Hint: The dough may be difficult to stretch and fold at this point. As it relaxes and the gluten begins to develop, the stretch and fold process becomes much easier. When you stretch the dough, try not to rip it, stretch only to the point where it does not rip.
- Perform a series of three more stretch and folds over the next two hours. Allow the dough to rest 30 minutes in between folds.
Bulk Fermentation
- After four stretch and folds (about 2½-3 hours after the first mix) place the container in a warm place (68-75) degrees. Allow it to rise until doubled in size.Hint: This may take 4-8 hours depending on two factors: how active your sourdough starter is and the temperature in your room. A warmer temperature results in a quicker bulk ferment while a cooler temperature results in a slower bulk ferment.
Folding (sometimes called punching)
- Once the dough is doubled in size, flour a work surface, remove the cover and gently dump or scrape the dough out. Hint: This achieves "punching" the dough down, releasing some of the CO2 gas that has developed during bulk fermentation.
Dividing
- Dividing means cutting the dough into pre-baked portions. This recipe makes exactly one loaf of bread baked in a 10cm x 20 cm (8" x 4" inch) loaf pan. So no need to divide the bread dough.
Pre-Shaping/Rounding
- Gently shape the dough into a 12 cm x 25 cm (5" x 10") rectangle.
- Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap or kitchen towel.
Bench Proofing/Resting
- Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Hint: This allows the gluten to relax so it can be shaped.
- Prepare the 10cm x 20 cm (8" x 4" inch) loaf pan by spraying it with oil. Set aside.
Makeup & Panning
- After the 10 minute rest, roll the relaxed dough away from you into a log. Half way, tuck the sides of the log into the center and continue to roll into a tight shape. Turn it over so the crease is under the bread. Cup your hands around the shaped bread and pull/drag it towards you to tighten it up. Finished size should be a 17 cm x 7 cm (7" x 3") rolled log.Hint: Rolling the bread tightly here gives you a nice closed crumb in your final bread by expelling all the CO2 gas that has developed during the bulk ferment. The closed crumb is desirable and appropriate for a sandwich bread of this type. A loose roll results in a more open hole structure.
- Gently pick up the rolled dough and place it into the prepared pan.
- Cover the pan with sprayed plastic wrap.
Proofing (second rise)
- Set pan with dough in it aside for 45 minutes - 1½ hours to proof. Hint: It is done proofing when it has filled the pan and has risen to about 2 cm / 1 inch above the top of the pan.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
- Once bread has finished proofing and oven is preheated, cut the top of the dough the long ways down the center with a sharp knife.
- Coat the top of the bread with melted butter or spray oil to keep it soft during baking.
- Immediately place the pan into the preheated oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes and rotate the pan 180°.
- Continue to bake for 25 - 35 more minutes until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Total baking time is 45-55 minutes. When removed from the pan, the bottom should also be nicely browned. Hint: If top browns quickly but bottom is not, cover the top of bread lightly with aluminum foil and continue to bake until top and bottom is brown.
Cooling
- Remove the bread from the pan immediately. Place it on a cooling rack.
- Cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing. The bread continues to bake and set until it is cool so do not slice before this time has passed.
Storing
- After the bread has cooled completely, wrap in a plastic wrap, bag or container and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Bread can also be sliced and placed into the freezer, take out one slice at a time and toast for breakfast.
