Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread (with Freshly Milled Flour)

Search no more for the perfect 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread using all freshly milled flour! This Artisan loaf is closest to the European bread we know as a boule, loaded with whole grains! 

A sourdough starter is the best way to soak up the wholesome grains in bread-making.

Originally, I pre-soaked the whole wheat flour with water overnight and then used a small amount of starter the following day. I found that soaking it with more sourdough starter enabled a quick Artisan loaf that could be baked on the same day. 

Today, the perfect loaf is about health and nutrition, which is why my journey with bread mostly involves using sourdough combined with freshly milled flour. 

This Beginner’s Sourdough bread is lightly golden in color because of the light-colored grains I use (hard white wheat). For a hearty and robust sourdough boule, use hard red wheat. 

Freshly milled flour is the whole wheat kernels ground at home using a grain mill to make whole wheat flour. This milling method has become second nature and a big part of my bread baking.

Whole-grain breads are a staple at our farmhouse, and I’m pretty diligent about restocking my weekly sourdough breads using whole grains. Watch my Video here. My top Sourdough Breads are constantly repeated, including this Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe and this Boule. 

 

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe:

Making a round loaf of crusty bread at home is easy. A sourdough boule is the perfect beginner’s loaf of bread because of its shortest list of ingredients and simple, hands-off method. It is one of the first breads I made as a homemade sourdough baker. 

To break it down into simple steps, all you need to do is buy the wheat, grind the kernels, wet the dough with a sourdough starter, and add the other ingredients. Do this over and over again, and you will probably memorize the recipe! 

It’s just swapping out the ingredients, like commercial yeast over wild yeast (starter), mixing versus folding, high-protein flour versus white flour. Any home baker can implement these simple methods, and before you know it, you’ll be a maker of bread like a pro! 

This whole wheat sourdough recipe is perfect for beginners and uses a handful of simple ingredients.

Benefits of Sourdough: 

Sourdough is a natural leaven used to make bread at home. A sourdough starter culture is full of good bacteria and enzymes that break down the wheat flour, making it easier to digest and more nutritious. During fermentation, nutrients become more bio-available to the body. 

To begin, make sure your starter is fed with a mixture of flour and water to ensure it leavens properly. This is sometimes called the pre-ferment and can take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours. This wheat sourdough bread is a ‘no knead’ bread-making method. The proofing and rising time will take longer than a baker’s yeast loaf, so count on at least 5 hours of bulk fermentation. 

Wheat Varieties: 

I use hard white wheat grain, which is a happy medium between the high-gluten Hard Red Wheat and low-gluten varieties like soft white wheat or Spelt. Hard white wheat is also mild in flavor and makes a lightly colored loaf similar to bread made from white flour. Feel free to mix and match grains in small amounts, as you need the higher gluten percentage from hard wheat varieties to make a structured loaf.

A good rule of thumb is 1 part of any low-gluten grain to 3 parts of hard wheat, such as 1 cup of rye flour and 3 cups of hard white flour. 

Do you Need to Use Vital Wheat Gluten?

You can skip the small amount of vital wheat gluten in this sourdough whole-wheat bread. However, adding vital wheat gluten to the dough provides better structure. This allows the dough to bake into what looks and tastes like bread made from regular white flour. It calls for a small amount, which, in my opinion, is better than using cups of white flour. I recommend using a blend of hard red wheat to make up for the extra gluten if omitted. 

My Grain Mill and Why a High-Speed Grain Mill is Key:

 An electric grain mill grinder is powered by a fast-speed motor, creating fine-textured bread flour in seconds. As a passionate bread baker, I needed something compact that performed well day after day. I love and own the WonderMill grain mill.

Once the wheat is ground, it is milled into a very fine powder, which allows it to form fairly strong gluten bonds. For bread dough, a strong gluten network is critical for allowing the dough to stretch without ripping, so using fine flour is key and makes the best whole-grain sourdough bread! 

Tools That Work:

Sourdough bread baking requires minimal equipment and simple ingredients of wheat flour, salt, and water. You do not need fancy equipment.

Although I prefer to bake in a cast-iron Dutch oven pot for a crusty loaf, my mother bakes her Artisan loaves in an Aluminum pot with an oven-safe lid.

The aluminum is much lighter and creates the steam needed, and parchment paper works as a barrier to prevent the bread from cooking directly in the pot. I’m sure there are many hacks to create steam in your oven, so be creative. 

I’ve also learned that you do not need a banneton basket. In fact, after shaping, I store my loaf in a glass bowl on parchment paper. For longer fermentation be sure to dust the paper with rice flour so that it doesn’t stick to the paper, wheat flour tends to absorb it into the dough. 

I also love to keep my dough in Antique pottery. It adds a home-baking vibe when performing stretch and folds and looks pretty on the counter when the dough is bulk fermenting.  

Another essential tool in sourdough baking with whole grains is a kitchen scale. This ensures consistent results as whole wheat flour absorbs liquid differently. I use one from the dollar store. 

For step-by-step photos, see my recipe card down below. 

How To Make a Whole Wheat Sourdough Boule:

1. In a large bowl, combine the water, active sourdough starter (vital wheat gluten if using), and freshly milled wheat flour using your hands. The dough will be sticky but will be more workable after it sits and hydrates (this is called the Autolyse). 
2. After 20 minutes, add the salt and mix the dough well with your hands. Cover and let it sit for 30 minutes to fully hydrate. The dough should have absorbed the liquid and be a little thicker in consistency. You do not want the dough to be too sticky or dense because the stretch and folds will be more challenging to perform later. I’ve also found that the weather outside can change the consistency of the dough; on a rainy day, I felt like I needed more flour. 
3. Kneading the dough is not required for this Boule recipe, as the stretch and folds work out the gluten. Pull one side of the dough over the other side, turn the bowl, and repeat this process for the other two sides of the dough. Do a total of 3-4 stretch-and-folds.
4. Bulk Ferment the dough covered in a bowl for at least 5 hours. It should have doubled in size, and this time can vary depending on how warm your room is. 
5. Shape your dough by inverting it onto a silicone mat (this helps not to use excess flour). Pat into a rectangle and then fold the sides in like a letter. From the opposite side, start rolling the dough up and gently whirl the dough, forming a ball by pressing it against the surface. This tension helps shape the bread into a tight ball. 
6. Place the bread on parchment paper dusted with rice flour and place it into a bowl about the size of the loaf so it doesn’t spread out and fall flat. Allow it to rest for up to one hour. 
7. Preheat the oven to 450°F with the cast-iron dutch in it. 
8. Place the loaf with the parchment paper into the cast-iron Dutch and cover with the lid. Bake for 35 minutes covered, then uncover and bake for 12 minutes. Allow the loaf to cool in the pot for 5 minutes, then remove onto a cooling rack to cool completely.   

My Baking Schedule As a Busy Mom: 

To bake whole wheat sourdough Artisan bread on the same day, I typically feed my starter early in the morning and mix the dough at noon. By evening, the bread is ready to be shaped and baked. To ensure successful results, it is key to use a very bubbly, active sourdough starter. Like proofing yeast, it is important to start with an active starter. 

If you are not ready to bake on the same day you make the dough, the beauty of cold fermentation is that you can shape it and refrigerate it overnight.

After shaping, place the loaf seam-up onto parchment paper dusted with rice flour and put it into a bowl similar in size to the loaf. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated for up to 36 hours. The more cold-fermented it is, the more sour and tangy it will taste. 

Then remove it from the fridge, invert it, rub the top with flour, and score the top. Place it back onto the parchment paper and bake. 

Storing Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread:

Sourdough wheat bread can be stored at room temperature for up to five days in a bread bag or Ziploc bag. Ideally, I will freeze the loaf after it cools on the same day I bake it so that it tastes fresh. Fermented whole-grain bread lasts longer than regular yeast bread, as the fermentation improves the keeping qualities. For this reason, sourdough products can keep fresh for a longer time than other breads. Storing sourdough bread in the fridge can dry out the bread.

Ways To Eat Leftover Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread:

• Make bread crumbs or croutons from day-old sourdough bread. 
• Leftover bread works excellently as a toast to scrambled eggs or as French toast bread. 
• Open-faced sandwich melts are a good way to revive 2-day-old bread.  
• Spread garlic butter over slices of sourdough bread and toast it in the oven as a side to serve to pasta. 
• We enjoy hearty slices of Artisan bread with soup, spread with a horseradish spread.