Whole Wheat (65%) Sourdough

 

Recipe source:  Weekend Bakery

A lovely loaf!  I’m really glad that I picked this recipe as my first experiment on sourdough bread.  The steps are easy to follow and the result is rewarding!  Bread is tasty, texture is superb!

Notes:

• Sourdough starter:  I used my bread flour culture. 100% hydration
• Flour:  Anita’s Whole Wheat Fine Grain and Roger’s Bread Flour
• I put 5ml (1 tsp) more of water during mixing the final dough. 
• As my dough was warmer (81F to 85F) than the suggested temp (75F) and the room temp was quite warm (24.5C), I shortened the time between each stretch & fold to 40mins. The dough was firmer than I expected.
• The time for second proof was slightly less than 2hrs
• Used steam tray, pizza stone and water spray method for baking.  Not much oven spring – may be second proof for too long?  But the bread ended up with very nice crumbs.
• Turn oven to 500F.  Reduce to 450F when baking start. Bake for 35mins in total until it reached 205F.
• Problem: No proofing basket. Used glass bowl, oiled and dust with flour, for proofing. Dough might not be tightly shaped into boule so it split  on top when inversed out from bowl to peel. Did slashing anyway. But when it baked up, all the splits and slashes were gone.  Need to work on shaping next time.  

 

Poolish after 12hrs on the counter.	After mixing the final dough ingredients for about 3mins with machine and another 3mins by hand.  Dough is rough, quite tacky and a bit shaggy.	Dough registered 85F – warmer than recipe suggested.	After resting for 40mins.
After 1st s&f.	2nd rest for 40mins.	After 2nd s&f.	After 3rd s&f.  Dough gradually becomes smoother and softer, just like after kneading for a long time.
After shaping, put in a oiled bowl lightly dusted with flour.	Start of proofing.	Around 1 hr. after proofing.	Around 2 hr. after.  Dough is ready to bake.