100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Hearth Bread

This was my second try at using a recipe that called for a sourdough starter. I was determined to use the "purist” version to test how good my sourdough starter is. Unfortunately, this recipe was not a great test for me.

I didn’t have any bannetons and the recipe says you can use the back of sheet pan to proof, so I did. Don’t do this unless you want a really flat loaf because without something to form around, the dough will just be pretty flat. The resulting loaf was about 1.5 inches thick, which is about what the picture in the book shows. I am not really familiar with what a standard sourdough loaf should be like, but I like a much thicker loaf. It could also be that my sourdough starter was not fully active enough to rise appropriately because I achieved very good results with the 100% Whole Wheat Hearth bread. For that recipe, I used a bowl lined with a floured towel and active dry yeast and I got a loaf that was about 4 inches thick, which is much better for sandwiches.

I emailed Peter and I would emphasize when making your starter for recipe to wait for it to double in size instead of 6 to 8 hours because if the mother starter you are using is very old (not refreshed in a few weeks) it will take longer to double in size and this is an important step. Mine took almost 12 hours to double.

The bread was very tasty though. The combination of the whole wheat flour and the sourdough starter make for a very well rounded bread. I also made ½ this recipe into rolls and they were very good for sandwiches and as hamburger buns.

I've had lots of bread baking failures. But of all the many recipes that I've tried in this particular book, every one was successful.

Until now. I'm sure it is my fault and not the recipe. Sourdough baking is new to me. I can make 100% whole wheat bread with yeast and I can make sourdough bread with white flour but I can not make 100% whole wheat sourdough bread.

At least not yet. I'm not giving up.

I'm sure there is some way to get the results I'm searching for. One of my problems is by the time I get the loaf baked to the center, the bottom is burnt. This dough felt wonderful. It was soft and pliable and a joy to work with, but once baked, it was hardly edible.

I did a little bit of reading on the forum dedicated to bakers using Peter Reinhart's book and think that part of my problem may be that my sourdough starter is young and may not be potent enough. I may need to give it some time to mature. My sourdough starter is languishing in the bottom of the fridge. It appears to still have some life in it and I plan to tackle the challenge of whole wheat sourdough bread in the near future.