Integral Sourdough Bread
If you want to know how to make your own bread starter and you want to know how to make an Integral Sourdough Bread, you came to the right place! I will explain to you how to make your own starter and I will give you an integral sourdough bread recipe.
Wild yeast or commercial yeast
We all know that most of the leavened bread recipes use either fresh or dry yeast to help the dough rise. However, traditional sourdough fermentation relies on “wild” yeast and lactic acid bacteria that are naturally present in the air and in the flour to leaven the bread. Wild yeast is more resistant to acidic conditions than any other commercial yeast. This is what allows it to work together with lactic acid-producing bacteria to help the dough rise.
Where can you find lactic acid
Lactic acid bacteria can be found in several other fermented foods, including yogurt, kefir, sour milk products, koumiss, soy sauce, pickled vegetables, and sauerkraut.
What is a starter
The mix of wild yeast, lactic acid bacteria, flour and water used to make sourdough bread is called a “starter.” I will explain how to make your own starter further in this post. During the bread-making process, the starter ferments the sugars in the dough, helping the bread rise. Because most of the sugar is consumed by the yeast and bacteria, the dough gets that specific kind of “sour” taste. Even though sourdough bread takes much longer to ferment and rise than other types of bread, it is much better for your health, easier to digest, gives you very good bacteria for your guts, and has a very pleasant texture.
What is the difference between integral flour and whole wheat flour
Whole wheat flour is made from hulled red wheat grain. It is processed to remove some of the bran and germ. Integral flour has all the germ and the bran from the red wheat. It was not processed and it provides much more fiber and other nutrients than any other type of flour.
What do you need to make your own starter
You will need two 1 liter jars. Using two jars makes it easier to feed the starter in a clean jar. Before you prepare the starter, I suggest to clean the jars very carefully. You can even rinse the jars with boiled water to make sure there is no soap residue or any contaminants left inside.
How long does it take to make a bread starter
It will take about 15 minutes of your time each day for 7 days to make the bread starter. After that, you will have to feed it only once a week, and you can keep it for many months just by following this procedure.
How to make a whole wheat bread starter
Day 1: Put the bread flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 110 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Then close the lid lightly and leave the jar on the counter away from direct sunlight.
Day 2: Take out 75 grams of the starter and put it into the other jar. Discard the rest. Add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 110 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Then close the lid lightly and leave the jar on the counter as before.
Day 3: Take out 75 grams of the starter and put it into the other jar. Discard the rest. Add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 110 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Again, close the lid and leave the jar on the counter. Repeat this step for day 4, day 5 and day 6.
Day 7: Take out 50 grams of the starter and put it into the other jar. You will use 270 g for your bread making. Add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 110 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Then close the lid properly and put the jar into the fridge. Let it rest for a week before you feed it again. Day 7 is the day you can make your bread!
How to feed your bread starter
Once a week, let’s say on Saturday night, take out the jar of starter from the fridge, place it on the counter for the night. The next morning, take out 270 g of starter to make your bread. Now add the rest of the starter into a clean jar. Now for the feeding, just add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) and 100 ml of water, mix, close the lid and place it back into the fridge until next week. That’s it!
How to make integral bread with whole wheat sourdough starter
Add 270 g of starter into a large mixing bowl. Add 350 ml of warm water (not hot) and mix carefully.
When the starter has dissolved in the water, add the two types of flour, the sea salt and mix with your stand mixer for about 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, you will see that the dough starts to form a ball in the mixer. When the dough has completely detached from the sides of the bowl, remove it from the mixing bowl, put it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in a dark warm place for about 2 hours. After 2 hours, the dough should get much bigger, almost double in size.
Shaping and preparing the dough for proofing
For this step you will need a little bit of flour, proofing baskets, a blade or sharp knife and a bread cutter. First thing, sprinkle some flour onto your working area and place the dough. Now cut the dough into two balls with the bread cutter.
When the dough is cut, you need to form the two balls for proofing. Take one piece of the dough, stretch it and fold it onto the middle. Look at the pictures below.
The edge of the fold should land in the middle of the dough like so.
After that take the opposite half and fold on top of the fold, like so.
Now take the two folds together and fold towards you.
Again make sure the edge of the fold lands in the middle.
After that take the opposite half and fold it on top of the fold. Look at the two pictures below.
Here is the result of this folding method. See picture below.
Now take each ball and with your hands shape the dough to make the ball tighter. To achieve this result, push the ball away from you with your hands and bring it back towards you. The dough will have a rolling movement on the board. By doing so, the dough will roll from top to down naturally. Turn the dough 1/4 turn and repeat these movements until you tightened all sides of the ball.
Now it is time take a proofing basket, sprinkle some flour at the bottom and place the newly shaped ball upside down in it.
Do these steps for both loaves of bread. Cover the proofing baskets with a cotton cloth, and let them rest for another 2 hours.
Baking the integral bread with whole wheat sourdough starter
After 2 hours of proofing, place two Dutch ovens with their lids on into the oven and crank the heat to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.
Preheat them for about 45 minutes. Now (carefully!), take the Dutch ovens and place the proofed dough into them. Now the folded side of the dough will be at the bottom of the Dutch oven, and the stretched side will face up. Make some scars on top of the dough with a blade. Close the lid and put them into the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and crispy.
Complete Guide to Integral Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
Bread Starter Ingredients
- 350 g white flour
- 350 g whole wheat flour
- 770 ml water
Integral Sourdough Bread Ingredients
- 270 g bread starter
- 350 ml lukewarm water
- 10 g sea salt
- 150 g integral flour (or whole wheat)
- 450 g white flour
- 5 g olive oil (just for oiling the bowl)
Instructions
Bread Starter
- Day 1: Put the bread flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 110 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Then close the lid lightly and leave the jar on the counter away from direct sunlight.
- Day 2: Take out 75 grams of the starter and put it into the other jar. Discard the rest. Add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 110 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Then close the lid lightly and leave the jar on the counter away from direct sunlight.
- Day 3: Take out 75 grams of the starter and put it into the other jar. Discard the rest. Add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 110 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Then close the lid and leave the jar on the counter as before. Repeat this step for day 4, day 5 and day 6.
- Day 7: Take out 50 grams of the starter and put it into the other jar. You will use 270 g for making your bread. Add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) + 100 ml of water into the jar and mix very well. Then close the lid properly put the jar into the fridge. Let it rest for a week before feeding again. Day 7 is the day you can make your bread!
- To feed your starter, once a week, let’s say on Saturday night, take out the jar of the starter from the fridge, and leave it on the counter for the night. The next morning, take out 270 g of starter to make your bread. Now put the rest of the starter into a clean jar. Now for the feeding, just add the flour (50 g white flour and 50 g whole wheat flour) and 100 g of water, mix, close the lid and place the jar back into the fridge until next week. That’s it!
Integral Sourdough Bread
- Put 270 g of starter into a large mixing bowl. Add 350 ml of warm water (not hot) and mix carefully.
- When the starter has dissolved in the water, add the two types of flour, the sea salt and mix with your stand mixer for about 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, you will see that the dough starts to form a ball in the mixer. When the dough has completely detached from the sides of the bowl, remove it from the mixing bowl, put it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in a dark warm place for about 2 hours. After 2 hours, the dough should get much bigger, almost double in size.
- The next step is shaping and preparing the dough for proofing. For this step you will need a little bit of flour, proofing baskets, a blade or sharp knife and a bread cutter. First, sprinkle some flour onto your working area and place the dough. Then cut the dough into two balls with the bread cutter.
- When the dough is cut, you need to form two dough balls for proofing. Take one piece of the dough, stretch it and fold one side into the middle.
- The fold's edge should land in the middle like so.
- After that, take the other side and fold it on top of the other fold like so.
- Now take the two folds together and fold towards you.
- Again fold only to the middle of the dough.
- After that take the other side and fold on top of the previous fold. Look at the two pictures below.
- This will be the result of this folding method (see the picture).
- Now take each ball and with your hands and shape the dough to make the ball tighter. To achieve this result, push the ball away from you with your hands and bring it back towards you. The dough will have a rolling movement on the board. By doing so the dough will roll from top to down naturally. Turn the dough 1/4 turn and repeat until you have done these movements on all sides of the ball.
- Now it is time take a proofing basket, sprinkle some flour at the bottom.
- Place the newly shaped ball upside down in it (the stretched side facing down).
- Repeat these steps with the second loaf. Cover the proofing baskets with a cotton cloth and let them rest for another 2 hours. After 2 hours of proofing, place two Dutch ovens with their lids on into the oven and crank the heat to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Preheat them for about 45 minutes. Now, carefully take the Dutch ovens out and place the proofed dough into them. Once in the Dutch oven, the stretched side of the dough will be facing up. Make some scars on top of the dough with a blade. Close the lid, reduce the temperature to 450 degrees, put the Dutch ovens back in and bake for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes or until the crust is golden-brown and crispy.
Video
Notes
Sourdough bread is definitely my favourite, but never tried to make my own before. Thanks loads for the recipe and all the tips, Melanie – will try give it a go!
My pleasure, try to make your own starter you will love it! You can make buns, pancakes and bread from it! Have fun.
I appreciate the comprehensive information you have included in your post 🙂 I have been wanting to make my own starter for a long time – I will definitely be getting onto this soon!
Thank you:) Try it it is amazing what you can do with your own starter!
This looks amazing! I used to make bread. I can’t have gluten anymore. Have you tried making breads with gluten free flours? I bake with them but I haven’t tried breads.
Thank you Cindy, No I haven’t try baking with gluten free flours. Sourdough is much easier to digest than regular bread, I like rustic grains and whole or integral flour. We have the chance to get our flour from a flour mill. It is an amazing flour, we will never find this type of flour in general store. Look out there there is a lot of bread recipe using gluten-free flour. Check out Ricardo website he just made one not too long ago.