Rustic Sprouted Wheat Sourdough Bread

Name: rustic Sprouted Wheat Sourdough Bread
Prep time: 135 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 180 min
Ingredients: 2 cups All purpose flour; 3/4 cup Bread flour; 3/4 cup sprouted wheat flour; 1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast; 1 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 cup sourdough starter; 1 cup warm water

Rustic Sprouted Wheat Sourdough Bread has a crisp, chewy crust and a soft moist crumb. It makes a delicious side dish and great deli sandwiches!

I'm sure we could enjoy this bread with some leftover roast turkey and cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving. It would make a really nice flavor combination.

How to make sprouted wheat sourdough bread:

After a brief blending of the dry ingredients, I add the sourdough starter all at once. My starter is about the consistency of pancake batter and I've usually fed it either the night before or a few hours before starting a bread recipe.

Start the mixer running on low after adding the starter and slowly drizzle in the warm water up to one cup. If the dough has not come together add one tablespoon of warm water at a time, allowing time for the added water to fully mix in, until the dough comes away from the sides of the mixing bowl as illustrated above.

Once your dough has come together, continue to mix for 6-8 more minutes on low. The dough should be very sticky.

Add the dry ingredients to a stand mixer.

Mix for 5 seconds with a dough hook or stir with a spoon to blend.

Add the sourdough starter and start the mixer on low speed.

Slowly begin adding the warm water with the mixer running on low speed.

Mix until the dough comes together. Start with one cup of water then add 1 tablespoon at a time if necessary.

The dough should be very sticky and you should see light coming through it where it is streched thin as in this picture.

Scrape the dough into a bowl with 2 teaspoons of olive oil and carefully fold it into a ball with a spatula until all sides are lightly coated with the oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled. (60-90 minutes)

After the dough has risen, move the dough onto a floured board, knead 4-5 times and reform into a ball. Place the ball of dough into a well floured banneton or alternatively, into a bowl lined with a thin cotton towel that has been well floured.

Cover with the banneton cover or a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with oil and allow the dough to rise once more in a warm place until doubled (30-45 minutes)

Begin heating a Dutch oven with the lid on inside of your oven to 450 degrees.

Add a few teaspoons of good oil to a large bowl.

Scrape the dough into the bowl and fold it while turning the bowl to form a ball that's coated with oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes.

After the dough has doubled in size, scrape it out onto a floured board to knead.

Try to use as little flour as possible while folding and turning the dough 4 times.

Form a ball and place it seam side up in the banneton.

Cover the bread and let rise in a warm spot for 30-45 minutes.

When fully risen, it will look like this. If you poke it with a finger gently, you will leave a dent in the bread that doesn't immediately spring back.

When the dough has risen, gently roll the dough out of the banneton onto a piece of parchment paper that has been sprinkled with polenta, cornmeal or semolina flour and score as desired.

This dough is exceptionally moist so it will begin to spread as soon as it's turned out onto the flat parchment paper. This means I work quite quickly to get the bread from the banneton and into the oven.

It will also begin to crack in the weakest surface areas showing you where the bread will naturally be expanding while baking. I follow the lead of the bread with this loaf and try to enhance the pattern that is naturally appearing on the bread.

I remove the Dutch Oven from the oven before removing the bread from the banneton so that it's ready and waiting to receive the newly formed loaf as soon as it's scored.