California 100% Whole Grain Sourdough Bread

Name: California 100% Whole Grain Sourdough Bread
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Sourdough Starter; Flour; Water; Salt

Claudia Carter @cook_21120876

I work with wheat a lot and bake and cook often. However, there was something that scared me about making 100% whole grain sourdough bread. Whole grain flours are different, because they love water and recipes need more water. At the end, you do end up working with dough that is more wet than your normal flours. I have tried this recipe and I lost that fear. I encourage you to try it. Don't aim for perfection, but rather, aim to learn and to enjoy the process, and have fun.

Claudia Carter @cook_21120876

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Ingredients

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Steps

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Day 1
Find a plastic or glass container to build, feed, and keep your starter.
Mix:
• 3 tbsp of starter (Sourdough starter, or build your own with 4 tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of water – mix and store in closed container for 12-24 hours at room temperature or until you see bubbles - then use it for this recipe)
• 3 tbsp of water
• 3 tbsp of flour
Rest: for 12 hours
The starter will become active and form bubbles, and it will smell like sourdough due to the fermentation process.
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Day 2
From the previous step of day 1, you are going to take only 3 tbsp of the mixture, which is your starter.
Step 1 - Mix:
• 3 tbsp of starter (from day 1 starter you build)
• 3 tbsp of water
• 3 tbsp of flour
Rest: for 5 hours
Step 2 - Mix:
• 3 tbsp of step 1 starter.
• 1 ¼ cup of flour
• 1 cup of water
Just mix all the ingredients and put in a closed container and let it rest at room temperature.
Rest: 12 hours (overnight will be best)
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Day 3
This is the day that you will be making your bread (yay!). I promise that at the end, the work and patience will be all worth it. After the larger starter you build before and sit for 12 hours, you are going to do the following:
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Step 1 – Mix (just to incorporate and distribute all the ingredients – do not overmix):
• 2 2/8 cups of starter (almost all the starter you prepared the day before)
• 8 cups of whole grain flour
• 6 1/4 cups of water (ADD ONE cup at a time and if you use white flour, you will need to adjust the water).
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2 ½ tbsp of salt
Rest: 45 minutes (Do not make a dough, this is just to mix the ingredients together. Rest in a closed container at room temperature) It is going to look chunky like the photo:
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Step 2 – Stretch and Fold
Watch the video on YouTube titled “The Stretch and Fold technique from Peter Reinhart”.
Stretch and Fold only four times the dough (for each time you do it).
Put the dough back to your closed container.
Rest: 30 minutes
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Step 3 – Stretch and Fold
Follow the same produce from before
Rest: 30 minutes
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Step 4 – Stretch and Fold
Follow the same produce from before
Rest: 30 minutes
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Step 5 – Divide and shape the dough, then rest right before baking
• Divide the dough into 2 dough pieces. This recipe will give you two loaves of bread. You can use a rectangular bake pan for this.
• Shape dough. Watch video on YouTube “Bread 101 – basic white bread shaping and baking loaf”. This will give you an idea on how to shape and pan the dough.
• Let the dough rest inside the pan for 1 or 2 hours, or until it has reached the top of the bake pan.
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Step 6 – Bake
Bake the bread at 475 F for 45 minutes, or until dark brown on top. Let the bread cool down before cutting it. Enjoy.
You could add steam to your oven by adding 1 cup of hot water to your lower rack pan and removing it after 10 minutes.
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Enjoy.