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Patience.
Patience is key when baking sourdough bread.
You have to wait for your starter to mature. You have to wait for the dough to rise. Sometimes you have to wait longer than the recipe says and beg a little. Sometimes you even have to wait to make loaf number one into croutons and then try again!
If you are mentally and starterly ready to bake bread, here’s my friend Sarah’s recipe for Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread. She is truly the sourdough guru. I will give you some sloppy tips today, but if you really want to tend a sourdough, you must check out her Definitive Guide to Sourdough.
NOTE: For videos of over 20 different sourdough recipes in an eCourse format, visit GNOWFGLIN’s eCourses (I’m in a few of them!).
On Keeping Your Starter Happy
I think sourdough starters are kind of like…toddlers. I never really know what they’re going to do, but I keep feeding them and watching them.
Basic Sourdough Feeding Tips
- Feed your starter every day if it’s at room temperature or higher, with any grain and sometimes water.
- Stir well, scraping all the way down to the bottom of the jar/pot/bowl.
- Keep your starter warm by leaving it on the stovetop when you cook. I generally get great bubble action when I do this, which sometimes results in this.
- Store your starter in the fridge if you don’t bake often. You still need to feed it once a week if it’s in there long term. I usually let it sit out to ferment at room temp when I feed it, then refrigerate again.
- Be sure to feed your starter every time you take some out for baking. How much? Most recipes say to replace what you took out – like if you use a cup of starter, mix in a cup of flour and a cup of water. Depending on your plans for your starter, you can add more or less and be just fine. As long as you have some starter left to continue your culture, nearly anything goes. Katz of Wild Fermentation claims that the starter clinging to the sides of the jar is enough to keep it going.
- Some recipes say to “discard” half your starter every time you feed it, so that’s where the lingo in this week’s recipes comes from. I don’t. I just feed and feed and feed – so if I’m getting too close to the top of my jar, I better use some! You can just use any starter for this week’s recipes. Once you take some out and give it a bigger feeding, it will be even more ready for bread baking, in my experience.
Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat sourdough starter
2 cups whole milk (or even water)
1/4 cup mild honey
2 large eggs
6 cups (divided) whole wheat flour, plus extra for kneading
2 teaspoons sea salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (or coconut oil)
Method:
The night before you are going to bake bread, make a sponge by mixing the starter with the milk and 3 cups of flour. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight, or better yet, in the oven with the light on. I always turn the oven on to 350 degrees for one minute exactly when I’m trying to get my sourdough yeast to be most active. (I use a KitchenAid mixer to accomplish my bread – I could NOT do it without that tool! However, Sarah does, so visit her if you don’t have a KitchenAid with a dough hook.)
Lots of rising action here already, even in the sponge. If I don’t see this, I might need to offer extra time on the rising for the loaves.
The next morning, stir the sponge before beginning. Then, add in the honey and eggs, stirring until incorporated. Add the remaining flour, salt and butter and use your dough hook to fully mix, then knead for 5-7 minutes, adding more flour as necessary. Here’s where we radically depart from conventional yeast bread. Don’t add too much flour. That’s how you get a doorstop loaf, aka “straight to crouton,” or worse yet, a brick, aka “straight to breadcrumbs.” I add just barely enough to get the dough pulling away from the sides ever so slightly. It looks like this:
Does that look like any self-respecting bread dough? No way. That is why I couldn’t do this with my hands! When trying to figure out if you’ve kneaded enough or added enough flour, keep in mind that developing gluten, the substance in grains that enables a rise, is your goal. “Developed” gluten is sticky and allows you to stretch the bread dough. Elasticity would be a word to keep in mind. This bread dough, for example, does not have developed gluten. I didn’t get that part. We’re still eating the croutons from November!
Cover the dough with a towel and put it back in the oven with the light on, 350 degrees for exactly one minute and then off. Sourdough takes longer to rise than commercial yeast, so expect anywhere from two to four hours, depending on the strength of the starter and the heat in your kitchen. I almost always leave it for four to six, or longer if necessary! Have patience. I knead the dough at breakfast and shoot to get it in the loaf pans around 3:00 to bake for dinner.
Butter two 9×5-inch loaf pans. (Want to win my favorites? I feel that they are integral to my consistent, successful sourdough rise!)
Once the dough has doubled in size, pour it into the loaf pans. I’m serious. Pour it. Again, for the normal directions, check out Sarah’s version where she tells you how to make a nice loaf. I pour.
Cover the pans again and put them in the oven – you know the drill by now – with the light on, 350 for a minute and off. This is a great time to baby your starter, too, so keep it in that nice warm oven. When the dough has risen at least to the top of the pans or a half-inch above, which takes an hour and a half to three hours, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. (Yes, take the loaves out first, please.)
When my starter was less mature or is less active, I could leave my loaves forever (it seemed) without consequence. Some days the rising action is just working so well that I actually have to keep an eye on things or risk overrising the dough! If this happens to you, just bake with a cookie sheet underneath to catch the dough that will fall down. The bread is still good, if odd-shaped!
Slash loaves*, then immediately bake until they are honey brown and sound hollow when tapped on the top, 35-40 minutes. Be careful not to overbake this bread or it will be dry. Carefully remove the loaves from the pans and let cool completely on wire racks before slicing. See Sarah’s version for the fancy crusty crust method and adaptation for rolls.
*What is slashing loaves? This took me a while to figure out, but it’s basically the chef’s way of telling the bread where to expand, like here:
instead of here: 
You can use a sharp serrated knife and make a quick sawing motion or a small sharp knife to cut about 1/2 inch in. This sticky dough is a big difficult to slash –you have to convince it to stay.
Cook’s notes:
- I added a half cup starter to this recipe because I was worried I wouldn’t get it to rise. Now that I’ve had success, I’m afraid to take it back out, but doing so would probably reduce the overall sourness of the finished product and not really affect the rise. I also added a cup of flour to the sponge, taking it from the next day’s dough. My intent was simply to get more flour soaking overnight for more total phytate reduction.
- I use half and half traditional (red) whole wheat and white whole wheat, red for the gluten content and white for the lighter flavor. Sometimes I also use part spelt or rye flour (remember that rye is highest in phytase, so a great flour to use with sourdough). The recipe is very versatile!
- In my research on the health benefits of sourdough bread, I came across a source that said that any sponge that includes milk would inhibit the fermentation process. I tried this recipe with water 100% instead of the milk, and it was equally as good! The milk and eggs both will serve to make the final loaf softer, so if you’re nervous about good results, go ahead and use the milk. Once you’re confident with the bread, give water a try. It’s more frugal, too! (I have not tried it without the eggs.)
- I also forget to set the butter on the counter sometimes and have replaced it with coconut oil in a pinch with fine results.
Storage:
To keep the fresh-baked crusty and crunchy crust, just store the entire loaf out in the air. Once cut, you can put the heel back on the end to keep it fresh, or just give up on crunchy crusts and put it all in a bag or other airtight storage. I always at least let the loaves sit out overnight on the rack.
Sarah’s recipe states that the bread keeps for a week in the fridge, but in my experience, you can’t hardly convince this stuff to mold. I’ve read elsewhere that because sourdough is a fermented food, it does have the added longevity you would expect from a ferment. You don’t have to refrigerate it for quite some time, but you could freeze it for the future if you like. If you freeze it, give it a day after baking before storing to increase the nutrient density even further, believe it or not.
How does it taste?
We love this bread! It’s not a perfect sandwich bread, but I think it makes good grilled cheese, and my kids will eat it as sandwiches. It slices so evenly that my mother-in-law couldn’t believe it wasn’t storebought. We love it best toasted with butter and honey – I think my kids could eat a slice at every meal and snack and be thrilled. We like it so much I’m almost afraid to branch out, although my husband does think this multigrain sourdough bread is even better. If I have a cup of leftover oatmeal, I’ll make that one, but it’s a compromise because it has a few cups of white flour.
Other Sourdough Posts elsewhere:
- Sourdough Home – layers of information, including a starter primer and 100% whole wheat recipe.
- Breadtopia also has a whole grain sourdough recipe and is often recommended by readers, along with their no-knead bread method.
- Keeper of the Home’s troubleshooting – like me, Stephanie advocates a longer rise time if you don’t get what you want. Just keep waiting and don’t bake until you have reached a good-looking loaf! Her sourdough bread recipe is really simple.
- Here too is the Nourishing Gourmet’s Everyday Sourdough Bread.
- Bake at 350 has the most drool-worthy pictures of her bread. If only white flour was better for me!
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There’s nothing like good homemade bread!
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Your bread looks fantastic. I have been working on perfecting my whole wheat bread. I think this recipe is a keeper.
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This recipe looks good! Thanks so much for sharing. Now I’m off to get some bread started…
Blessings – Mrs. H
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I’ve adapted a yeasted sourdough recipe to all sourdough. Instead of making a sponge with half the flour (which I find leaves me with pourable loaves instead of ones I can shape), I mix all the ingredients (no sweetener, milk or eggs in the recipe). Then I let it rise for several hours on the counter and put it in the fridge when I go to bed. Next morning the dough has at least doubled if not tripled and is ready to shape into loaves and bake. That way all the flour gets soaked and I don’t even have to pull out any ingredients the next morning. I’ve been making it half white whole wheat, half white. My coop order comes in this week with more whole wheat pastry flour. I plan to use that in it next.
Also, I never discard any starter but I don’t get overrun by it either. I feed it small amounts each time I use it and let it sit at room temp for a while. Then I put it back into the fridge. Even if I plan to use it 2 days later, it goes back in.
Thanks for all the recipes this week!
Cori´s last blog ..lacto ferments – link of the day
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Katie Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
Cori,
Katie
Excellent advice, thank you!
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This is the only sourdough recipe I’ve really gotten to work for me too. I also increased the amount of flour in the sponge so that more of it would get soaked (great minds think alike
).
I also use a kitchen aid mixer for the mixing and kneading, however, I often have trouble with the dough climbing up the dough hook. Does this happen to you? In reading my KA manual it said this happens if there is not enough flour (and maybe more so with WW recipes? I don’t remember…) I have found that I must add almost exactly six cups of unsifted flour (total) to keep the bread dough from climbing up the dough hook. And I am still constantly monitoring it as it also seems that this recipe is about the maximum amount of dough my KA can handle and the dough gets some high “arms” up and almost over the top of the bowl.
So glad to know the recipe works with water, as it has happened that I am out of milk on bread baking day.
I am also happy to learn that I am not the only one who didn’t “get” what it meant to “slash the loaves.” It took me a while to figure out that it’s meant keep the loaves more symmetrical and therefore cutting it down the middle was the best place to slash. (Then a little light bulb went on and I relized that’s what store bought bread looks like!)
Thanks for the tip on freezing since I’ve been freezing extra and I don’t know if I waited a day or not, but I will from now on!
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Cori Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I’ve never tried it in my mixer. I have girls who like to help in the kitchen so we always make it by hand. Once it gets mostly mixed we dump it on the lightly floured counter to knead it with wet hands.
Cori´s last blog ..lacto ferments – link of the day
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Katie Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Sarah,
Katie
Thanks again for all your wonderful recipes this week, by the way. I had a big problem with pizza dough climbing my dough hook a few weeks back; make me really mad! This dough doesn’t usually get too high; but threatens to at times. I definitely add all 6 cups in the recipe, plus usually 1/3-1 cup more. My grandma had a method for avoiding the climbing – it might have been oiling the dough hook. I think I’ll email her to find out!
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Sarah W Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 10:51 am
You’re most welcome. Thanks for letting me share!
As for the pizza dough, I usually just use the paddle attachment to combine the dough. I don’t really knead it. But I like to use the mixer b/c it is hard for me to stir it with my hand!
Any tips for climbing dough are appreciated!
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Katie Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Sarah,
Katie
Grandma says just spray Pam on the dough hook before you begin – I will try wiping olive oil on it all the way up myself and see if it works!
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Oh yeah, just wanted to let you know that reducing the amount of starter actually increases the sourness of the bread b/c it will increase the fermentation time.
I also reccommend sourdoughhome.com to any sourdough novices out there. I found his explanations clear and the easiest to understand of all the sourdough “how to” sites I read.
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I love it!! I can’t WAIT until we’re done with GAPS so I can start making some sourdough bread. I tried playing with it over a year ago and it was a disaster, I just wasn’t prepared. I’m loving this series for that reason. For now though, I’ll have to be satisfied with my other fermented foods.
Kate´s last blog ..Living for Joy
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That’s a great sourdough sandwich loaf, I’ll have to try it – my girls love sourdough. I’ve had great luck just tipping the bread on end with the cut side down on the bread board to keep the cut part fresh. (The ends are quickly claimed around here!)
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as usual i thoroughly enjoyed this post! hey girl! see my blog for a little something
Tami Lewis´s last blog ..Honored!
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I am sooo glad I did! I am soooo wanting to enter the world of sourdough! Gonna check out that post!
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Katie,
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I am delighted to report that I have successfully baked edible sourdough bread using your instructions!
Blessings,
Karen H
Mrs. Hewett´s last blog ..Sourdough: Take two – part deux
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And if my sourdough starter has been sitting in a jar in the fridge… neglected for over a month… (oh, the shame!)… do I need to start over?
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Sarah W Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
I was able to bring my starter back to life after MONTHS of neglect. I think they are hard to really kill. I’d try rehabing before starting all over.
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Katie Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Amy,
Hmmm…try feeding it asap and leave it in a warm spot. Maybe give it a big meal and tell it you’re very, very sorry… Apparently you can freeze or dehydrate it to save for instance like your neglect. 
Katie
That sounds like my kombucha! I’m sure I’ve killed it; it scares me.
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Kate Reply:
May 15th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
I left my starter at room temp and forgot to feed it for a few days…but it forgave me.
They seem to do okay. It had started to not even smell sour but rebounded after one feeding and I’ve tried harder to pay attention to it now!
I did, however, kill my water kefir grains recently. Oops.
Katie — I’m halfway through perfecting kombucha right now! Doing some experiments but the most recent batch was very good!
Kate´s last blog ..Journey to Real Food: Introduction
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Katie Reply:
May 17th, 2010 at 1:40 am
Kate,
Katie
Awesome! I glance sideways at the kombucha I was supposed to try to make in December and wonder if I should just throw it out now…
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I was just watching Julia Child’s cooking show on PBS and she had a guest cook who was a master baker who’s speciality was sourdough breads. She uses 1 lb. of purple grapes wrapped in cheesecloth and submerses it into the flour water mixture after she has pounded it a little with a rolling pin to release some of the flavors. She leaves it in for about 7-8 days and then she makes wonderful sourdough bread and then she feeds the dough again. She said that the reason for the grapes is that it helps in speeding the fermenting process of sourdough. I have yet to try this because this show just aired this week and I do not have grapes. I will try this this week and post it on my blog. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
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Katie Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Wow! I dropped about 4 grapes into my starter at the beginning – that’s just incredible to use so many. Almost wine?
Katie
Thanks for sharing!
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Sarah W Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
NT has a bread recipe (sourdough?) that calls for unwashed organic grapes. So if you try the grapes method, I’d definitely go with organic! It is my understanding that they should be unwashed b/c of the bacteria/yeast that will be on the surface of the skin, and that is what helps the fermentation process start.
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I’m so glad that you love my recipe! Adding ingredients with fat or sugar, specifically the butter or coconut oil, eggs and milk, will make a softer bread than ones with only water – so keep that in mind when making the bread! It absolutely can be made with water, but it might not be as soft of a bread.
Thanks for including me in your sourdough week!
Best,
Sarah
Sarah´s last blog ..Whole Wheat Brown Sugar Chocolate and Almond Biscotti
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Finer Things Friday: Post-Nap Snuggle // Mar 18, 2010 at 4:29 pm
[...] 1. Phoebe @ GettingFreedom(Putting Fears Aside) 2. Sugar & Spice and Frugal Advice- Creating Meaningful Family Traditions 3. Janna- Spring Fever Beautifully Illustrated 4. HoosierHomemade{Shamrock Almond Cookies} 5. Family Balance Sheet (Six Signs of Spring) 6. Allison @ Alli ‘n Son (Make Believe Puppy) 7. AnnMarie@Household6Diva (Morning coffee) 8. Anna@Feminine Adventures (If you were a millionaire) 9. Myra @ My Blessed Life (Saving $$ On Kids Clothes!) 10. Hannah @ Mulberry Spot (First things) 11. Homemaking Joyfully (rescued by the babysitter!) 12. Jennie @ A Welcoming Heart (Rycraft Cookie Stamps) 13. Impress Your Kids {Discovering New Books} 14. Alison @ Hospitality Haven (Baked Teriyaki Chicken) 15. It Feels Like Chaos (awesome) 16. The Prudent Homemaker ~ Growing Flowers for Less 17. Green Enough For Me 18. NOW I LOVE FERMENTED VEGETABLES! Kelly the Kitchen Kop 19. Hallee the Homemaker – Helping Hearts Helping Hands 20. Audra @ Rediscovering Domesticity (Spring!) 21. Allyson @ A Heart for Home :: Endless Gifts 22. Allyson @ A Heart for Home :: Adorable Crocheted Hats {GIVEAWAY} 23. Kitchen Stewardship (Homemade Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough SUCCESS!) [...]
YeastSpotting March 19, 2010 | Wild Yeast // Mar 19, 2010 at 8:05 am
[...] Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread [...]
Great post! I also just feed and feed my starter. Like you, it works just fine and I think the flavor is more complex than it would be otherwise.
Your bread looks delish, I’ll have to bake some!!
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My loaves are cooking on the counter. I swapped 1/2 cup of flour (I use a hard ww and dark rye mixture) for 1/2 cup gluten to improve the elasticity.
The only thing I didn’t like about this loaf so far was that I lost a bunch over the edge. I didn’t get any rise during baking and slashing the loaves deflated them a bit. I wonder if I can get deeper loaf pans.
Leanne´s last blog ..Chores and Rewards
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Katie Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Leanne,
Sounds like maybe you needed a little bit more flour – I had a bunch go over the edge with some multigrain sourdough, and I think it was just tooooo goopy. It still needs to have enough strength to stand up on its own a bit. 1/2 cup gluten sounds like a lot! Since you didn’t get quite the results you were looking for (gluten helps the rise), maybe lower or eliminate that.
Katie
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Fantastic post, Katie! I am about to start my own venture in sourdough, so this was very helpful.
Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen´s last blog ..Real Food Irish Feast for St. Patrick’s Day…Better Late Than Never!
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OK I’m thinking about maaaybe jumping on the sd bandwagon, but I was wondering if you have ever made sourdough in the bread machine?
Sorry to kvetch here, but I work full time, run a photography business on the side, so I just can’t justify spending the time to make homemade bread by hand right now…I’m too addicted to my bread machine!!!! (which by the way, LOVE your 100% soaked whole grain bread for the bread machine recipe)
Kelli M´s last blog ..Dawn and Shane – Married
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Katie Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 5:16 am
Kelli,
Katie
The long rise time wouldn’t work in a machine, BUT if you can just use it to knead the dough, that would help a lot. Other than pouring the dough into pans, there’s not really more work than setting up a bread machine. ?? Sorry I didn’t have good news on that one!
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Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I hav been working with sourdough for a few months and have had mixed success, but this was easy and turned out great on the first try. It was the best bread I have ever made!
I wrote about it here: http://www.jerbecca.com/blog/?tag=/food
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Katie Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Rebecca,
Read and LOVED your post! What fun! So glad I was part of the success, but Sarah of Heartland Renaissance gets all the credit.
Katie
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I started my sponge just now for this. I have to say, when I was making the sponge, I stirred together the 1.5 c. starter, 2 c. milk and 2 c. flour and was seeing lots of bubbles — then I added in another c. flour and not seeing as many. I think next time (after reading your notes) I might leave out that extra c. flour to get more rising action going in the sponge. But I’m also using sprouted flour, actually, so reducing phytates is not important to me.
Frankly it doesn’t matter to me if it turns out or not, though. Croutons are on my list of “things to make” anyway, and I’m trying to help my starter mature more (it got a big feeding and put in the oven with the sponge) so having to do this again tomorrow with minor changes wouldn’t make me sad.
Kate´s last blog ..Journey to Real Food: Introduction
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Kate Reply:
May 16th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
In case you’re wondering how it turned out, it didn’t rise at all when it was sitting out (5 hours in the bowl, 2 hours in the pans) but rose nicely in the oven. It’s dense, but not “doorstop” by any means. Next time I’ll use water and only 2 c. flour in the starter and wait longer and I bet it will turn out! I got impatient because I really did just want it for croutons, lol.
Kate´s last blog ..Journey to Real Food: Introduction
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Katie Reply:
May 17th, 2010 at 1:47 am
Kate,
You are too funny! Sometimes I have to wait alllll day long for rising to happen. Last time I baked at 10 p.m.! Glad you don’t have a doorstop – Katie
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Creekwood Chronicles - Sourdough: Take two – part deux // May 18, 2010 at 9:42 am
[...] week, so I felt that perhaps I could try my hand at making sourdough bread again. I found a new recipe from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship and did a couple of things differently than [...]