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.
If you would like to see the “baker’s percentages” for this recipe, see the below post by Frankie G. Thanks Frankie for working these out.
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.
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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‘They’ say the proof (!) of the pudding is in the eating and I have been snacking on my first sourdough all day here at work!
Great with some cheese and tomato …or by itself …
So the crumb on this one was fairly tight…next time I think a longer rise time and more starter added would be good. And some salt next time – D’oh!
Also from what I have read, a longer cook (50-60 mins) on a slightly lower heat (~200C) might also improve the bubbles and give a thinner crust.
Will let you know …
Howie from Utica, NY sent in this great photo of his first attempt at the Whole Grain Sourdough. I hear it turned out as good as it looks. Nice going, Howie!
Well, my first sourdough!
I kind of followed the recipe in so far as I mixed some starter (wholewheat pineapple), some WW four and some filtered water into a dough like mixture. I think I underestimated the flour a little, as it required a fair bit more to make the dough dry enough to work with. Residing in Sydney, Australia, I used the metric “fair bit”, not imperial which you seem to use
It then had about a 18 hour proof, with a knead this morning and about 4 hours rise until roughly doubled.
Then I got impatient and started cooking!
I used a Pyrex bowl with a lid (30 mins) and lid off (20 mins) in 250 degs C oven set to fan bake(a bit less than 500 F on my oven thermometer). I also used a candy thermometer, stainless steel needle type, to measure the internal temp to 200 C.
The result was a small crumbed, almost sandwich style, loaf but with a thick crunchy crust, which I like, but this was maybe a bit of overkill and hard to cut through in places.
Anyway, it was not bad to eat (half gone in the last hour!) but I realised I also forgot to add the salt – D’oh!
So now I have copied the recipe details into a document that I can print and stick on the kitchen notice board for the next one in a few days! I just took a hint from above and made a quick beer batter – unfortunately I was not able to use the whole bottle of beer, so am having to discard that manually (or should that be orally!).
I also bought a range of organic flours to try over the coming weeks – spelt, besan (chickpea), rye, etc.
My point of the above is that I am surprised at how flexible the method is – the long proof and natural/wild yeasts seem to give a resilience and flexibility that is easy to get some sort of results with, even if not quite what is desired.
And a quick question …do you have a recipe using these principles for Ciabatta style loaf?
Just some small hints.
1. If you want to convery Whole Grain Sourdough into Russian Stile Rye bread,Rye srarter can be prepared during
“Evening of Day 1: Mix together:
200 grams (7 oz. or 7/8 cup) water
120g (4 oz. or ½ cup) sourdough starter
236 grams (8 1/3 oz or 2 cups) whole wheat flour”
- JUST USE 236 GRAMS OF RYE FLOWER instead of whole wheat flower and leave for 12 hours just like in the original recipe.
2. I put the boule in the baking form instead of proof basket, and after 5-hour proofing just put the form into a cold oven. As simple as that… that is why I baked for 1 hour instead of 45 min. If you want a preheated La Cloche, use the original baking time.
Hi Eric,
I’ve been baking bread with a bread baking machine since last year and it has been saving a lot of time and effort.
But this year I decided to stop using instant yeast and use a starter. I managed to grow a rye-kefir starter, which is not quite a “dough” because it is a great deal more lquid.
Recently I found your lovely helpful site and experimented to copy some of your recipes, using my own starter – Whole Grain Sourdough bread, 100% Whole Grain bread, Steel Cut Oats Bread. All of them where success! I may send some photos if you are interested.
Then I started experimenting and baked a Russian Style Rye Bread with my Rye-Kefir Starter, using the Whole Grain Sourdough recipe as a basis.
But I think the result can be easily converted to using your usual starter.
I skipped the first 12-hour preliminary stage and just took 550 ml (2 1|4 cup) of ready-made Rye-Kefir Starter.
I mixed it with 270 ml(1 1|4 cup) of water, 150 gr rye flower, 200 gr white bread flower, 170 gr spelt, 13 gr salt, added 2 tsp gluten, 4 tsp rye malt powder, 3 tsp crashed coriander seeds, 2 tsp white vinegar.
I left the dough for 24 h in a frige and then 5 hours in the baking ceramic form (no La Cloch found unfortunately).
Then baked 45 min with closed lid and 15 more without it.
The result was amaizing!
Thank you for your great recipes and baking suggestions!
I believe this Russian style Rye Bread can be easily repeated using your usual Sourdough Starter.
Thanks Debra.
I don’t know if you can ever really tell for sure when your dough is at the perfect point of maximum rise. It does get easier to judge the longer you bake and especially if you’re baking the same recipe a lot.
I actually shoot for putting my dough in the oven a fair bit before it’s fully risen. I get better oven spring that way and greatly reduce the risk of over proofing and falling. I’m not sure how a “fair bit” translates into actual time. It probably varies a lot by recipe and how close attention I’m paying.
LOVE LOVE LOVE your site…it has been a great help to me. I have baked whole wheat bread from scratch (grind my wheat berries, etc.) for about 10 years but am now delving into the sourdough experience. I had developed my recipe for the WW Bread to the point it was a science not an art. With the method I used, my bread turned out perfect every time and everyone loved it.
Reason for writing: It’s hard for me to tell when the dough in the final rising has doubled. I am always afraid it will fall if I wait too long but want it to reach its full rising. With my other recipe, my loaves rose for exactly 20 minutes…no more, no less. Any advice??
Thanks again for your website!!
Debra
Good question, Irene. Maybe others can chime in with some particular tips, but I would suggest just start adding whatever strikes your fancy and see what you like.
One thing I’ve found is that sometimes it doesn’t take all that much of a certain ingredient to impact the results significantly. I also have a short memory for what I’ve done to alter a recipe to my liking so I at least try to remember to write down what I’ve tried (and liked) for future reference.
If you do hit on something that sends you into bread bliss, I hope you’ll let us know about it!
Now that I’ve got the hang of making this incredibly delicious bread I’d like to vary it a bit. Any special tips for adding some leftover cooked whole grain cereal, or sunflower seeds, or walnuts, or…
Thanks again, Eric. This recipe and La Cloche have transformed bread at our house!
~ irene
when starting to making sourdough stater is the water or pineapple juice warm or room temp and as for the bread making is the liquids warm or room temp thank you from shelia who is very interested in bread baking
That’s great, Irene. I love a happy ending (and beginning). And a well written account to boot. This is a nice way to start off the week.
Eric, thank you so much for the video, the recipe and your generous answers to email queries. Today I made the best loaf of bread I’ve ever made. Or eaten. Your whole grain sourdough is beyond superlatives.
The entire process went smoothly and the final rise was perfect. But when I took the banneton (and my courage) in my hands to tip the dough into the hot La Cloche my terrified aim was less than perfect. I overshot the edge a bit and had to scoop an orphanaged edge of dough back up and over one side of the boule.
Forty-five minutes later, to my relief and great delight the boule emerged high and beautiful, the craggy overhang resembling an upthrust along the San Andreas fault, but handsome and golden brown all the same.
And the flavor! My husband is predicting we’ll be needing another boule shortly.
Again, thank you.
~ irene
Hi Jenna,
I don’t think you missed it. I use white starter with about a 100% hydration level, but I don’t think it matters much what type or hydration it is as long as it’s healthy since you’re only starting out with a 1/2 cup of it.
I would give your dutch oven 30-35 minutes to preheat.
It’s been a while since I baked this particular bread and am going to start one this evening. It’s one on my favorites.
Hi your bread looks wonderful. I hope I didn’t miss the posting to this question but can you tell me wHat % hydration your sourdough starter was. Was it white, whole wheat or rye or does it matter. Also if one used a cast iron dutch oven how long would you preheat. Thanks
Thanks, Luke.
Your problem sounds a bit unique. Most people experience the opposite – burnt on the bottom. This isn’t much help but I think you’ll just have to tinker around with different ideas until you get it. It can help to use an instant read thermometer to test when the bread is actually done inside so you don’t end up leaving it in longer than necessary.
I’m sure you can redeem yourself in your wife’s eyes.
Hi Eric,
Fantastic website! I’ve just baked my first wholemeal sourdough loaf from starter I made myself following your instructions – my wife thinks I’ve gone crazy: “how can a loaf of bread take two weeks to make??!!” Anyway, the starter worked great. The fridge fermentation – like other comments above – was very slow but I left the boule to proof for longer and it rose nicely. My problem has come right at the end of this 2 week process in the actual baking. I don’t have a La Cloche but I recently invested in a baking stone. I decided to improvise placing my Le Creuset dutch oven [we call them casserole dishes in the UK] upside down over the top of the loaf. The stone and dutch oven were pre-heated to 250 degrees C. All fine after 30 mins when I removed the dutch oven for the final 15 minutes. I checked back after 8 minutes and the crust was pretty burnt but the under-side of the loaf was not cooked enough [it didn't have that hollow sound when tapped]. My question is how to avoid this. Should I bake the loaf in the dutch oven with the lid on [treating it like a La Cloche] or just use the stone and perhaps spray the crust and/or leave a bowl of water in the oven to produce steam. Any thoughts would be great – I have to prove to my wife that 2 weeks to make a loaf of bread is really worth it!
Thanks
Luke
Hi Matt,
Without the actual recipe from those who bake it, trying to replicate it closely could be quite a challenge. All I can really say is – you can certainly give it your best guess using this recipe as a starting point and see what you end up with.
Maybe one of the farmers market vendors would just give you their recipe. Although I realize it can be pretty weird asking sometimes.
Hi,
I just discovered your site, and what a find! I have been trying to learn how to make a certain kind of whole grain sourdough loaf, but have had no luck. I’ve seen it at farmers’ markets all over the place — it is in loaf form (not artisan), is topped with sunflower seeds, and has flax as well. I first discovered it at the Union Square farmers’ market in NYC. (I think the Bread Alone company calls it their “whole grain health” loaf. It’s chewy and moist and soft and has great flavor. Do you think I could adapt this recipe and bake it in a loaf pan, and add the flax and sunflower seeds, or does that kind of bread to require an entirely different recipe?
Thanks!
My husband has declared your recipe a winner. I am 24 hours from baking my second boule. That loaf stayed fresh and delicious for about a week. I am really impressed.
But I have a question. I would like to add some sweetness. Is this possible?
When I made Maggie Glezer’s sourdough challah (using your fine sourdough starter) the instructions were to make up the starter in one bowl, raise over night. Then mix the eggs, water, salt, honey and flour in a separate bowl. Then you put the starter on top of the dough, fold and knead, fold and knead, until the two were incorporated. Then it rose for two hours, got shaped, and rose for five more.
I have been wondering if adding the sweetness by kneading the two doughs together, slowed the use of the sugar by the yeast. I would not raise the wholegrain dough so long, or it would lose its European texture, but I do wonder if this would be a way to introduce just a little sweetness into the bread. Any thoughts?
Heh, good answer. However, my husband loves the flavour, and the texture is great with the brisket he just smoked in his Big Green Egg, so I’m happy and will continue making this bread, adding rye in tiny increments until we either develop a taste for it, or find the exact amount we like. Of course, it could be that the rye flour I used was not great, too. Anyway, the loaf is staying fresh, and we are loving every bite. I will take a loaf of it the next time we visit my brother, who loves European style breads, and is bitter because he can’t find them.
Hi Sheila.
The answer to all your questions is “possibly”, and it could be many other things as well. In other words, there are way too many variables for me to tell what is going on here.
Hi Eric, your pineapple starter sits in my fridge, coming out for feeding and use. I have been asked to make sourdough challah for Christmas (my DIL loves challah and liked my loaf, made with your starter).
I just made my second whole grain sourdough, this time in a corning ware pie pan, and using a roast pan lid to cover it. It still did not raise enough, and the crumb is too fine with tiny holes. Did I knead too much?, too little? Did my starter need more feedings? Did I put it in the oven too soon. Could it be any or all of those? The top tore just a bit when I was shaping it (according to your video). My cuts were not deep enough, but it only broke just a tiny bit, near the bottom on opposite sides.
I did not use the rye flour in this one, and we really like the taste a whole lot better, so I will continue to make it, until I get one I like.
I would appreciate any suggestions.
WOW ERIC!! Thank you, thank you so much! I ordered my LaCloche on the 3rd. and it came all safe and sound this afternoon (6th). I am thrilled. Now that’s what I call service! My whole wheat/pineapple juice starter has doubled since I fed it this morning, so I’m going to use it now and make this Poilane recipe you have here. Thanks again for the wonderful service, and this terrific website. Maggie
I tried another route by changing to a different starter and a different flour blend. I ended up with another flat but really tasty bread. I controlled the retarding temperature by keeping the dough in the garage for 8 hours. I monitored the temp and it was around 55 F. I then let it sit in the oven with just the light turned on for about 8 hours.
I had carefully calculated the hydration to be 80%. The dough was so slack that I put it in the bottom of the La Cloche for the final rise. I heated only the bell.
I baked it for 30 minutes at 500 F. and then uncovered for 12 minutes. There was only minor oven spring.
I am going to back off the 80% hydration and see if that was the problem.
This was my formula
150 g multi-grain flour ( Made my putting 7 grain cereal in food processor)
175 g All Purpose flour
175 g Harvest King flour
2 tsp salt
50 g “1847″ starter (100% hydration)
395 g water ( taking in to account the 25 g water in the starter
Wow, thanks Stephanie. I think I’ll print out your comments and tape them to the edge of my computer monitor.
The goat cheese margarita pizzas sound amazing. I just started buying fresh goat cheese from a local farmer. She’s French.
Please email me your photos and I’ll post them with your comments.
Eric
Dear Eric: Thank you for Breadtopia and your helpful videos, information, and supplies. I found your website after attending a local bread workshop and wanting to begin making my own sourdough bread again after a lapse of many years. My expectation however, was to challenge myself to make a wonderful complex starter that might yield a superior whole grain loaf, reminiscent the bread we bought weekly from a boulanger at the marche in Aix En Provence when we lived there in the 90’s. Due t to your excellent website and kind manner, and alot of patience and determination, I can gratefully report much success. I have three starters that I am happily experimenting with. I made the No Knead sourdough bread with several flour combinations and happy comments from my family. . The sourdough pizzas (goat cheese margaritas) have finally given my husband the flat tangy crusts he prefers, and today’s Whole Grain Sourdough is unbelievable! It is so very close to what we would buy in France. I used the long cloche to bake it in, and I baked it at 485 for 30 minutes, took the cover off and baked it for just 5 minutes more. It was done perfectly! I would send you a picture of the beautiful results if I could figure out how to attach it to this comment space. I know I will have questions as I go along, but thank you for giving this gift of breadmaking back into our lives. Namaste, Stephanie
Yippeee….just ordered my LaCloche and some other goodies,and have two starters goin. One I made with dark rye flour and beer, and the other with white whole wheat flour and pineapple juice. The little darlins’ are showing progress this morning! Now the hardest part is waiting for my baker to get here!
2 1/2 hours is a very long final proof. So it might have over proofed. Also, if the dough is very wet it will pancake out and you end up with something more like foccacia. Could have been both things too. Maybe a different starter would make a difference. Keep us posted.
After about 2 1/2 hours of final proof the dough was billowy and very sticky. When I tried the finger test the hole did not remain. I was concerned about over proofing so I put it in the Le Cloche, quickly scored it and closed the oven Baked it 25 min at 485 degrees, uncovered for another 11 minutes to final internal temp of 208 degrees.
The bread spread out to the full diameter of the Le Cloche base and was only about 3″ high at the center. Did not look any thing like your bread.
I have some other starters and will start to use one of them to see if the starter is the source of the problems.
How can I post a picture when I send in a note? The picture tells a better story than a verbal description.
Thanks again.
Others have reported the same thing with the dough not rising in the fridge and I can only think it must just be because the fridge is colder than mine. Trouble is, I’ve never measured the temp so I can’t tell what works or if that’s even the cause or if it’s the starter, or both maybe. It’s hard to isolate the variables sometimes.
I mixed the dough in my new model Bosch for about 3 min on speed 1 and 4 on speed 2. I checked by the window pane method and stopped when it stretched nicely. The doguh was fairly wet with temperature or 74 degrees.
I put it in the refer and after about 8 hours there was no movement. My refer temp was 42 degrees. I took the dough out and put it on the counter. It is cold here at night and the heat is set to come on at 58 degrees. SO the dough was about 58-60 degrees over night.
This morning the was a fair amount of rise, but nothing like the rise you show in the video. The dough was very workable. I folded it and rested 15 minutes and then formed a boule. The dough was a bit tacky and was very easy to shape.
My question is this: Is the 42 degrees in the refer too cold for this type of dough?
Thanks for your help
Hi Christine,
A well floured towel lined bowl is fine.
You can certainly try anything you want for simulating a cloche. You might keep your eyes open for a cast iron Dutch oven at a garage sale or something. They work really well and you might find one for a few dollars.
As for oven temperature, 485 Fahrenheit is about 250 C which is what this recipe calls for. Would that work in your oven?
I am definetly going to try making this bread. I do not have a bread basket for proofing so should a well floured and towel lined bowl be ok? Also, I do not have a lacloche.Could I just use a parchment lined cookie sheet covered with a roasting pan lid? Would you also add any steam to the oven by ways of spraying the top of the dough, sides of the oven, or a pan of water on the bottom for the first few minutes of baking? The baking temp. also seems really high! Anything higher than 350 C would burn my bread in my oven. Could I reduce the temp., but bake for longer?
Thanks,
Christine (Ontario, Canada)
Breadtopia reader, Mary Sue, joined the fan club for this bread. Here’s what she had to say…
Hi Nick, Eric asked me to let you know that I used the King Arthur white whole wheat flour instead of the whole wheat called for in the initial mix. I use it a lot and I think this time it was because I didn’t have enough regular whole wheat on hand. I also like to use spelt flour sometimes – see Eric’s no-knead recipes. Glad you found Breadtopia, Annie
Hello,
New to baking bread. I love this bread. Thanks for the great videos. There are very well done. Ann said she used “white wheat flour” was this in place of the bread flour? or the whole wheat. I really would like to make this a whole grain has well as multi-grain.
Thanks again for the wonderful instruction.
Nick
Thanks for figuring out the percentages, Frankie. Very nice. I’ve added a reference to your post in the recipe notes above for the benefit of others.
I’ve not seen much of an open crumb on this either. I should try a wetter mix next time too.
Eric
Ok…. Bread has been cooked… and it came out great.
I noticed that no steam was required but I injected steam in the oven prior to cook. On a baking stone at 485 degrees… I cooked for 30 min… then 10 minutes at 450 degrees.
Bread was great… proofed for 6 hours but should have let it go a little further… it was still a little springy before cooked, and dense after cooked. looking for more open crumb… so I will try a wetter formula next time.
Very happy. can’t wait to try more recipes.
BTW… here are the percentages that I came up with:
Biga=
Flour 100%
Water 84.75
Starter 50.85
Dough (without Biga Percentages separated)=
bread flour 100%
rye flour 34.00%
spelt Flour 68.00%
Flour Total 505.00
(below calculated off 505 flour)
Water 54.26%
Salt 2.57%
Biga 110.10%
Open to any and all changes and suggestions…
Frankie G
Hi Frankie,
Thanks. Your site is really inspiring. AWESOME stove! I’ve been to your site before through a link from the Yahoo brick oven group no doubt. But didn’t see the video at the bottom. AWESOME video!
(check it out folks: http://www.deltabluesfestival.net/pizza_oven.htm)
It never even occurred to me to include the baker’s percentages on these recipes. They didn’t come with the recipe I received. I’d love to say I’ll figure it out and post it, but given my schedule lately I’m afraid I’d never get to it.
Look forward to hearing of your results.
Hey Eric,
What a great and non-pretentious site. What a joy. My daughter keeps asking… "are you watching the bread man again! My bread is proofing in the basket as we speak… waiting to enter my home oven in about 3-4 hours. It’s a test run before I go into my brick oven in the backyard (see website). I was wondering… do you have the Percentages on this recipe? It gets a little confusing for me with 4 different flours to calculate the percentages…
I will respond when the bread is out of the oven…
Frankie G
Hi Ann,
It’s so nice to hear your story with its happy ending. Thanks for the update, Ann.
Eric
Eric, I just have to tell you about the second loaf of this wonderful bread that I made. I used white whole wheat flour but everything else was the same and I proofed the loaf in the banneton lined with parchment paper. Then I was able to slash and gently lower the loaf into my stainless steel dutch oven. It did spread slightly but not as much as using the stone. The loaf was beautiful! I mailed it to San Diego on Tuesday and my friends received it today and it got rave reviews. I had suggested they might want to cut it into quarters and freeze some but they don’t think it will last that long. It cost nearly $12 to mail so it will only be for special occasions, but it was well worth it to make them happy. Who needs Poilane? Ann
Sounds great. I’ll bet the crumb is just fine. I like the flavor of the crust at the bottom when it’s dark like that.
Enjoy.
Hi Eric, the bread is out of the oven and smells great. I found that it was indeed like a rock before bedtime so I left it on the counter as my house is very cool these days. It had risen to the top of the mixing bowl by this morning and was really easy to shape into a boule. I think I may have overproofed it in the banneton – placed it on the preheated stone and covered it with a big stainless mixing bowl. It spread out more than your loaf and the bottom is very dark – but, the top crust is great and the scoring perfect if I do say so! So now I have to wait before I can check the crumb, always hard to do. I will definitely be making this loaf again, Annie
Hi Annie.
I’m glad you’re trying this recipe. Regarding your cold fridge, I hope you find that the dough rises a good amount while in there. If not, you’ll need to give it extra time tomorrow morning. If it hasn’t risen as much as you think it should have, it should continue to rise while sitting out at room temp.
It seems to me that most of the time, and especially with breads that are mostly whole grain, the flavor is better the second day but then starts to drop off from there. Not sure how Poilane could think day 3 was optimum. Please let me know how it turns out. I have my fingers crossed!
Fall’s coming fast here too. I love it.
Hi Eric, I have the dough sitting in the refrigerator and I found it was exactly as you said, slightly tacky. I know that my frig. is pretty cold so I hope I won’t have a problem with rock hard dough tomorrow. I have a question for you; I want to mail a loaf from here in WA to a friend in San Diego, and I am hoping that your whole grain loaf improves after a day or two like the Poilane is supposed to. Do you have an opinion? I know you thought the Poilane might have been better eaten the same day. it is definitely Fall here after a pretty cool summer. I think we got 6 small ripe tomatoes! I planted several plants in my son’s veggie garden and we have lots of lovely green ones, but fried green tomatoes aren’t exactly healthy food. Cheers, Annie
Hi Tim,
Good catch on my conversion goof, I’ve corrected it. Thanks.
Regarding increasing the starter for more sour, I think you’re actually more likely to get more sour by decreasing the starter so it prolongs the dough fermentation time. The time it takes to rise. Although I’m not sure how well that would work either. Of course experimenting as you are is the way to go. And taking notes.
Eric,
I just rewatched the video and confirmed that you meant 274g. You even mention 1.25c (i.e., ~10oz). So, my assumption that you meant 7.75oz was incorrect. I also forgot that I had doubled the amount of starter (I wanted it more sour) which would account for me reducing the amount of water. Sorry for the false alarm.
I’ve made this loaf 3 times and am currently part way through my 4th. Each loaf has tasted better so I guess I’m getting the hang of it. I have friends that are ‘whole wheat’ gurus and they think it is great.
Thanks again,
Tim
Eric,
Great website, great recipe. However, when I made it I thought the dough was a litle too wet so I reduced the water. Then I noticed that you say to add 274g (7.75oz) of water to the dough. I think there is a numerical error here because 7.75oz is 220g and 274g is 9.6oz. I used the ‘g’ units when I made the bread. Based on my notion that the dough was a little too wet with 274g added to the dough, I’d guess the correct measurement is 7.75oz = 220g. Do you agree?
Thanks,
Tim
This bread is wonderful! I just tasted the results, moist and delicious! One problem I had though is that the dough did not rise in my fridge, it was also hard as a rock after being in the fridge. It rose beautifully at room temp though. So, I guess my fridge setting is just too cold, although I even had it as far from the freezer as possible. So, those of you out there with cold fridges, beware!
Excellent bread though, I will make this one again and again. I love the grain combination.
Thanks again Eric!
Kalindi