100 % Whole Wheat Sourdough

It is a challenge to make good tasting whole wheat bread,  it can get too dense or not rise well. This bread is very tasty and is not so complicated to make if you are used to making sourdough. It will need a little dry yeast to give it a better chance to rise.
 In addition to sourdough, I also used the soaking technique (which I learned from the book Nourishing Traditions) where the flour is mixed overnight with apple cider vinegar and water. I hope you make this bread and enjoy it as much as we do. It is super healthy.

Do ahead of time:

1. Starter:

•  30  g of Mother Starter
• 100 g of Water
• 100 g of Whole Wheat Flour
• 230 g Total

2. Soaker:

•  416 g of Water
•  9     g of Apple Cider Vinegar 
• 520  g of Whole Wheat Flour 
• 945  g Total

3. Final Dough:

• 230 g of Starter
• 945 g of Soaker
• 14   g of Salt
•  2    g of Instant Yeast

Method:

Mix  8 to 12 hours prior to making the final dough, in separate bowls, the  starter ingredients and the soaker ingredients. Mix the starter ingredients with a spatula until well incorporated. Mix the soaker ingredients into a sticky ball of dough. Cover both bowls and let sit at room temperature. 

After the 8 to 12 hours, you should mix the soaker ingredients with the starter ingredients and add the salt and yeast. Let it bulk ferment for 4 hours with  2 stretch and folds during this interval. The dough will feel very well developed, pre shape your dough into a ball and let it rest for 20 -30 minutes. Do a final shape and proof at room temperature until it nearly doubles in size (mine took about 2 1/2 hours at 70ºF) . You may also refrigerate it for up to 12 hours and bake. 


Warm up your oven to 500ºF  for about 30 minutes, score your bread, reduce your temperature to 460ºF. Bake with steam* for 15 minutes. Remove steam and continue baking for another 20 to 25 minutes until you get a dark brown color.

* To produce steam, add empty baking sheet  to oven while warming it up. Add a glass of water about 5 minutes before you place bread inside. You can also spray your bread with water  during the first 15 minutes of baking.