Hi, my name is Martha Levi. I want to talk to you about whole-wheat sourdough bread and share a tip or two.

We’ve made it a lot at our bakery, Abigail’s Oven, but we make it at home too. Along the way, we learned that there are some things you should do and some things you shouldn’t. I want to share those tips with you because making whole-wheat sourdough bread can be tricky until you get the hang of it. 

At the outset, when making sourdough bread, we blended 70% white and 30% wheat flour, which was easy to manage. The dough was beautiful—bubbly and awesome.

Then we thought, “You know, we want to make whole wheat bread for its nutritional benefits. Right? It’s better for you; it’s got more nutrients. So let’s do it.”

We tried to look for recipes and instructions. There wasn’t a lot out there. The main book that we learned from, which is Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson, he had a whole wheat recipe, or he had a wheat bread recipe, but it wasn’t 100% whole wheat. It was 70% wheat flour and 30 % white flour. We wanted the whole thing to be wheat.

So we just did it and said, “Well, we’ll just do it!” But it didn’t turn out very well.

It was super dense, as whole wheat can be. Part of the reason that whole wheat bread is denser than white bread is the bran and the germ. White flour has the bran and the germ sifted out. That’s why it’s more white.

The germ is the little nugget of nutrients in the middle, and the bran is the dark outside part of the wheat. That has all been sifted out; those parts are heavier. Also, the bran has these jagged edges when you grind it up. So, as the bread rises, it pops bubbles constantly. That’s another reason that it’s denser. It just can’t be light and fluffy with the bran popping everything.

Tip #1

Higher hydration was the first thing we had to learn.

The bran and the germ absorb more water, so we needed to change the hydration level. Our hydration level for our wheat bread is way higher than that for our country loaf because it absorbs so much water. So that’s the first thing you need to do: add more water than you do for your other loaves of sourdough bread.

Hydration is the amount of water you use compared to the flour, flouring equalling 100% in the equation. The hydration level for our wheat bread is 79%. I know some people who do 85%, but we like 79% because I don’t like huge holes in my bread—the peanut butter and jam fall out. But if you want more of that gourmet look, increase the hydration, and you’ll get the bigger holes.

Tip #2

WORKING WITH WHOLE WHEAT WHITE FLOUR7-ways-to-eat-and-sleep-your-way-to-a-better-immunity

The second thing we didn’t realize is that there are millions more bacteria in whole wheat flour than in white flour. More bacteria means processing (fermenting) faster. The white country loaves dough would be great when we came in after leaving our dough overnight. They’re just ready to bake. At the same time, the wheat would have fallen and was completely over-processed; thought, ” What’s going on?”

But with that much bacteria (so much more), it will process and eat all of the gluten up faster. So, it would be best to treat it differently than your white flour loaves. 

We came in one time when the weather had changed. It went from spring to summer fast, practically overnight. So it went from being cool at night to being warm at night. I stuck my hand in the dough, and the dough fell through my fingers. There was no gluten left in that dough at all.

At that point, you can use your dough as a starter or put it into a pan and bake it, maybe making some flatbread. I don’t know; we just threw ours away. It was very discouraging, but we realized we had to make our wheat dough colder or let it ferment for a shorter time.

Now, because your bulk ferment is the magic of your sourdough, you will want to give it that long time. That way, the bacteria can process everything. You don’t necessarily want to shorten it. If you want to ferment it in the fridge, we found a better option: make your dough colder from the start so that it can sit longer.

Cold water or air makes the bacteria work slower, whereas heat makes it work faster. So if you do colder or for a more extended period, it’s easier to manage and to see when it’s starting to get over-processed. That way, you can see when it is ready. 

Those are some tips for working with whole wheat sourdough bread.

Have a good day,