How to Bake Whole Grain Sourdough Bread

In the last sourdough post, I shared a recipe for your first loaf of sourdough bread. You’ll notice it didn’t include whole grain flour. That’s because I think starting with whole grain flour is too aspirational for most of us. But if you’re like me, you probably started baking sourdough bread for health reasons. Eventually, most of us want to learn how to make whole-grain sourdough bread. Once you have mastered the basics of sourdough bread, it’s time to take a stab at whole-grain sourdough.

How to make a Sourdough Recipe Whole-Grain

There are three simple conversions I make when converting to whole grain:

1. Swap out some of the all-purpose or bread flour for whole grain flour
   • I would start by swapping out 1/3 of the flour in a recipe for whole-grain flour (be sure you add a little extra water, too–see below). If it works and you want to keep going, swap out 2/3 of the flour. I stop at 2 parts whole grain flour to 1 part bread flour. I find 100% whole-grain sourdough to just be too dense.
2. Add 1/4 cup water for every 1/3 flour you swap for whole grain.
   • Every good recipe for whole-grain sourdough bread I have tried has felt almost muddy before the first rise (like when I mix soil and water for soil-blocking). Unlike refined flours, whole-grain flour includes the bran and germ (that’s what makes it so good and good for you). That bran and germ absorb more water than all-purpose flour or bread flour, so it needs a little extra water to keep hydration levels set. If you replace 1/3 of bread flour or all-purpose flour with whole grain flour, add an extra 1/4 cup of water. If you replace 2/3 of the flour with whole grain flour, add 1/2 cup.
3. Add something sweet
   • You don’t have to do this, but I love adding molasses to whole-grain bread. Since I’m using whole-grains and fermenting the bread, I feel like I can take it. Last year, Clay and his friends made their own molasses. I’ve been adding it to everything this winter. You can add honey or maple syrup instead. Just a tablespoon is all it takes to add smoothness and warmth to your loaf.

How to make a Sourdough Recipe Whole-Grain

Below I’ve illustrated how I swapped out ingredients from the basic sourdough recipe below to make two different whole-grain recipes.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Ingredients

• 1/4 cup or 60 grams bubbly, active starter (if you accidentally pour more in–like I always do–don’t worry. Keep it under 100 grams and you’re good)
• 20 grams or 1 T sorghum molasses (added)
• 375 grams or 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water (added about 1/4 cup)
• 500 grams or 4 1/4 cups bread flour
• 165 grams or heaping 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 335 grams or just under 3 cups bread flour or a combination of bread flour and all-purpose flour
• 9 grams or 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

When I make this bread, I follow all the same steps from my first loaf of bread. But that extra water will make this dough very wet at first. So I’m going to allow the full hour for the first rise. I learned this trick from Emilia Raffa’s Artisan Sourdough Made Simple Everyday Sourdough Recipe.

The dough remains pretty sticky throughout the process. So don’t be stingy with the flour on your hands or on the periphery of the bread when you go to shape after the first and second rise. Everything else is the same.

Tried and Tested Recipes from other Bakers

You might want to start with some recipes that other people have tested and tried when you start baking whole-grain sourdough. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Emilia Raffia’s Light Whole Wheat Sourdough Recipe
• Little Spoon Farm Honey Wheat Sourdough Recipe
• Farmhouse on Boone 100% Whole Wheat (if you dare)