Whole Grain Sourdough
Baking A More Traditional Sourdough Bread
No knead bread baking is here to stay, but try this and tell me if you think it’s just better bread. The longer, slower proofing times really help bring out maximum flavor in the grains.
Ever since reading an article in the January 1995 issue of Smithsonian magazine touting Poilâne bread of Paris as “the world’s most-celebrated loaves”, I’ve wanted to experience for myself what all the fascination is about.
This is a bread that historian Steven Kaplan, in his book “Good Bread is Back”, describes as simple, delicious and famous: “Fleshy, tender, with a taste that lingers in the mouth, bursting with odors of spices and hazelnut.” A Poilâne style miche (round loaf) also graces the cover of Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”. Reinhart spent time honing his craft in Paris and seems to have some inside knowledge on how it’s made.
Finally, for my birthday party in March (I called it my “bread-day party”), I joined the likes of Robert De Niro, Lauren Bacal, Steven Spielberg and the tens of thousands of mere mortals who are regular Poilâne customers and ordered one for myself and my guests to enjoy. I figured $48 for a loaf of bread was a bargain compared with a trip to Paris. Besides, these are monstrous loaves, weighing in at over four pounds. ( I can rationalize what I want with the best of ‘em. )
The bread was certainly excellent, although amongst my friends it received mixed reviews. Even though the late Lionel Poilâne felt the bread reached its peak of flavor three days after baking, I think it would have been better the same day. In any case, this got me started on trying to duplicate the recipe. A few attempts at Reinhart’s version resulted in a fine whole wheat bread, but I wasn’t able to come close to duplicating the Poilâne experience. I even sifted out some of the bran as suggested and used Normandy gray sea salt. “What?” you say, “Normandy sea salt isn’t the magic ingredient that will transform my ordinary bread into something world class?”
Now, I realize it’s pure hubris on my part to even think about duplicating Poilâne bread at home or anywhere else for that matter. I should at least have a wood fire brick oven to bake in. But I did ultimately meet a fellow amateur baker who spent 20 years in Paris and felt he had come extremely close to nailing the recipe. I agree.
I’ve posted his recipe, instructions and accompanying video here. Whether or not it approaches the supreme heights of Poilâne bread itself, I thought the results were fantastic. Certainly the best (mostly) whole grain bread I’ve baked and on par with some of the best whole grain bread I’ve had anywhere. I can hardly wait to get that wood fired oven built!
Start the recipe in the evening…
Evening of Day 1: Mix together:
- 200 grams (7 oz. or 7/8 cup) water
- 120g (4 oz. or 1/2 cup) sourdough starter
- 236 grams (8 1/3 oz or 2 cups) whole wheat flour
Ferment (let sit out at room temperature covered loosely with plastic) at 69F for 12 hours.
Morning of Day 2: Add to Day 1 ingredients:
- 274 grams (9 2/3 oz. or ~1 1/4 cup) water
- 85 grams (3 oz. or 7/8 cup) rye flour
- 250 grams (8 3/4 oz or 2 cups) white bread flour
- 170 grams (6 oz. or a tad over 1 3/4 cups) spelt flour
- 13 grams (scant tbs.) salt
Knead, place in plastic covered bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Morning of Day 3: Form a boule (round loaf) and ferment (let sit out on counter) 5 hours at 69F.
Bake at 485F for 40-45 minutes.
Notes: The recipe was created using grams for measurement. For those without a kitchen scale I have translated to ounces and cups. Some of the measurements don’t translate all that nicely, but what I have here is close enough.
Thanks to Franz Conrads for calculating the dough hydration levels in baker’s percentages terms for this recipe.
Don’t sweat the 69° proofing temperatures too much. If you come close, great, but I go with whatever my house temperature is at the time. If it’s summer and your house is very warm, do try and find the coolest spot you can. Temperature does impact results but unless you are running a bakery, you may enjoy the varying outcomes.
The original recipe calls for 20 grams of salt. Too much in my unqualified opinion. 13 works just fine. Feel free to experiment.
Regarding baking time and temperature, all ovens vary somewhat and you might have to make some adjustments here. After the first couple of times with this recipe, I found the bread baked just right in my La Cloche at 485 F for the first 30 minutes, then 10 more minutes at 450 with the lid off.
If you treasure “big holes” in the crumb, experiment with increasing the hydration. You’ll get a flatter loaf, but more open crumb.
Jan. 4, 2010 Update: Breadtopia reader, Wil, contributed this great recipe variation with herbs.
Apr. 26, 2011 Update: See Joe Doniach’s variation of this recipe with photos that tell a story by themselves.
Here are some photos of the actual Poilâne loaf from my bread-day party…
Here’s a particularly gorgeous example of this bread by Jacquie of Aptos, California.
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Hi, I have a 4 week old starter. About a week ago it started smelling quite strong. Not the pleasant sour smell prior to this. Also it developed a layer on the top, sort of a bloom but not mould if that makes sense. I scooped the top off and continued to feed. It still smells very fruity/vinegary/nail polish removery. I baked a loaf of bread -your whole grain sourdough recipe and it was a total success in everything but the taste. VERY fermented tasting. Really really sour. Is there any way I can remedy this starter? Thanks so much for your advice. Also, I keep my starter on the bench. Should I be storing it in the fridge?
I dare say this is the best bread I’ve ever tasted! I had a little problem with it sticking to the banneton due to a previous disaster with the KNM sourdough I baked a few hours before. So the crust is a tad messy looking, but it is otherwise FABULOUS! Thanks again Breadtopia for the wonderful site, I can’t believe I’m finally making delicious sourdough bread!
That looks like the best bread I’ve ever baked too!
This is my new favorite sourdough recipe, 2nd time I’ve made it this week!
Do the no knead rye as well as the sourdough multi- grain breads have to be baked in a La Cloche ( or similar device ) or can they be baked on a stone. Also,if it can be stone baked, does the baking temp/or time need to be adjusted? Thanks,Jeff F
The idea is to create a closed environment to allow the steam to work. You can definitely use a stone in conjunction with a plain old clay flower pot – just heat the pot in the oven (start it cold) on the stone. Put the bread on the stone and cover with the upside down pot. Voila – a DIY La Cloche! Use whatever size pot seems to be right for your bread – 10-12″ is about right (shape is squat – not the taller variety). And buy a new one for this purpose only! Good luck and happy baking.
I have one of those clay chicken/fish dishes, I think it’s called a romertopf. Would it work for baking the bread in do you think? Understandably the shape would come out a little differently, but that wouldn’t bother me.
It will definitely work out. For a long time I had used a Le Creuset and after I tested baking bread in a Romertopf, I abandoned the Le Creuset. The Rometopf gives a much better crust and crust flavor.
Here is a Breadtopia-Video using a Romertopf: http://www.breadtopia.com/spelt-bread-recipe/
I have used the Romertopf many times for the No Knead Method and it works fine. I had just cooked fish in mine the week before and it had a fish smell for the next couple of bakings. Maybe make some type of dish that would dissipate the fish smell & odor before baking bread. I have also used a cast iron dutch oven with cast iron lid, a dutch oven with a glass lid, a pizza stone with an inverted crock and all seem to work equally. As long as you can keep the moisture in seems to be the answer.
Unrelated:
I also have been experimenting with more and more water in my breads. I have put as much as 2-1/2 cups of water to 4 cups of flour and am getting great oven spring and open crumb. Some one said “wetter is better” when it comes to bread making and I am on track to see how wet we can go.
Hey Bubba thanks for your insight. A couple minutes after I posted this I found romertopfs for sale on this website! But with no directions, so I googled using a topf for bread baking and found some good directions at another site. I have a loaf in the oven now and I’m hoping it turns out.
On your unrelated note, I will definitely be adding more water to my dough in the future. My current loaf is SO dry. I’m a little worried. Not nearly enough water in my opinion, especially since whole wheat flour is so much “dryer”. I will post after my bread is finished baking. Wish me luck!
Just pulled the loaf from the oven. It’s lovely, though a little burnt, and the crumb is not so great. No big holes how I like, though it does taste very sour. Next time I’ll split the dough in half to bake, and add more water during the process. Just fed my starter, so I’ll start another loaf in a few days.
That is the baker I use for the whole grain bread. The biggest problem is that because the bottom is so deep, it is tricky to get the bread into the bottom of the baker without getting burnt or dropping it from so far up the bread deflates. I plan to get a le cloche. Try the romertoph though, yes, bread does have a different shape.
I just followed the recipes of making my own
I made this bread today and it turned out fantastic. Great flavor, with a crispy crust. Thanks, I enjoy this site, especially the instructional videos. I could not have learned to make good bread without Breadtopia.
Happy New Year
Bread photo
What did I do wrong ? I thought that I followed the directions to a T and my bread rose great but when I turned it out for baking it went flat and never rose during the baking process . It smells great but is like a flat bread.
What mistake did I make ?
Erika, I will take a shot at this (but I am no expert) and say that your shaping may have been off. Without the tension on the dough surface, the bread will spread out rather than rise. I did a tri-fold on my dough and then did the cupped hands circular motion to form the boule.
Just my thoughts; I hope this helps.
Here is a Peter Reinhart video that shows and talks surface tension in a boule.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtCu9hYGhOU
Hi There,
Where can I find a great sourdough starter video or just a recipe on your site? Sourdough bread baking has proven to be pretty tricky stuff for me.
Cheers :0)
The Tartine blog has great instructions on creating a 100% rye starter. I just followed the instructions in the past month and I’m very happy with the results
http://tartine-bread.blogspot.com/2013/02/9-days.html
Was the spelt flour used in the whole grain sourdough unbleached white or the whole grain version. We have both available in our area?
Whole grain.
Where do I go to get the printed recipe for the Whole Grain Sourdough bread?
Thanks for helping.
Anne
Have made this recipe with great success a couple of times. It gives fantastic flavour. Have now made the mistake (?) of offering it to my microbakery customers so have committed myself to making about 8 (smaller thank goodness) loaves. The schedule in the recipe doesn’t really fit in with my baking schedule (driven by taking kids to this and that) so I was wondering how you felt about 12 hours bulk fermentation then do some stretch and folds, before shaping into banettons. Would then then give it 12 hours back in the fridge before baking pretty soon after it comes out in the morning. It is going to be very embarrassing if I end up with 8 ‘bricks’ or ‘pancakes;’ they being the two most common fault modes for my bread.
Hi Bill,
Give it a try with one loaf to see how it works. I would be more inclined to start with 12 hours in the fridge and then set out for the remainder.
I made this bread to the letter. It tasted nice, but was fairly flat and dense. I would like a higher lift. What can I do to get a lighter, fluffier bread?
Btw, I let if rise for the suggested time, but when I put it in the dutch oven to bake it, it deflated a little and came out and spread out during baking.
Hi Lisa, i had the same result as well, and nobody gave me any insightful input about what the problem was, until i thought maybe i should take the initiative and give it a little tweak myself.
So i had to ways:
1- decreasing the amount of starter incorporated within the dough by almost 40%, and that option was due to overripe starter that i had.
2- Decreasing the time for retardation if option two was not to be considered.
So i had relatively better result. Within the course of baking this bread over and over for several times, i managed to achieve satisfactory results in regards to taste, crumb, crust and oven spring. So i’ll give you an advice, see if your starter is very strong (it can double or triple in less than 8 hours or so), and if it smells acitic, then you may want to consider cutting down on it, but remain within the time frame indicated in the recipe. If your starter is not as i described, the problem could be with your Whole Wheat Flour. WWF tend to be strong due to high protein content. If you know how much is the rate of protein in you WWF and is around 14% then it is OK. If not you should then test it yourself.
If test proved your WWf to be very strong…in fact my WWF is super strong…then you should consider cutting down on cool retardation time, or cutting down on the amount of WWF the recipe calls for and substitute it with bread flour.
Try this and let me know what happens.
Good baking,
Mike
Thanks Mike
hello,
Just purchased some ten grain flour. Any suggestions for using it or any sourdough recepts that anyone would recommend??
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