Free Willy 2 Is Ready to Bake — Whole Wheat Sourdough Prep Day

Y’all. Free Willy 2 is ready. After everything we’ve been through on this sourdough journey — Willynilly, Willy and Nilly, saying goodbye to both of them, starting over with Free Willy 2, and the gift of Pearl from my friend Sara — my whole wheat starter is finally strong enough to bake with. And today is prep day.

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If you’re just tuning in: I started this sourdough journey from scratch back in early March because my husband Jason is on a Mediterranean diet and wanted homemade whole grain bread. Free Willy 2 is his starter — 100% whole wheat, fed and loved specifically so Jason can have a real whole wheat sourdough loaf. Pearl handles all the all-purpose baking. They each have a job and today Free Willy 2 is doing his.

I watched him all afternoon waiting for his peak. And then — he literally popped the lid off the jar. That’s how you know he’s ready. I may have squealed a little. I’m not sorry.

This is a 2-day process. Today is mix day — we combine the ingredients, rest the dough, do six stretch and fold rounds, shape the boule, and put it in the fridge overnight. Tomorrow we bake. Tomorrow Jason gets his first loaf of whole wheat sourdough bread and I am just a little bit excited about it.

The full recipe with all the details — ingredients, timing, baking instructions, and tips — will go up tomorrow with the bake and reveal post. But here’s what’s in this loaf: 100g of Free Willy 2 at peak, 500g whole wheat flour, 375g water divided, and 10g salt. Four ingredients. That’s it.

One tool I cannot say enough good things about — my Skinny Spurtle for Sourdough Starter (Shop on Amazon). I use it to mix the starter, scrape down the sides of the jar, and work with the dough in the early stages. It’s narrow enough to reach the bottom of the Weck jar and it makes the whole process so much cleaner. You can find it on my Shop My Kitchen page!

Six stretch and fold rounds sounds like a lot — and it is more than Pearl’s sandwich bread required. But whole wheat flour is denser and heavier than all-purpose, and all those folds are what develops the gluten structure and keeps the crumb light and airy instead of a dense brick. By the sixth fold the dough had gotten noticeably stretchier and more elastic every single time. That’s exactly what you want to see.

After the last fold, the dough rested on the counter for 20 minutes, then went into a rice-flour-dusted banneton and straight into the fridge. Seam side up — I double checked the directions on that one. Tomorrow morning it comes out of the fridge and goes straight into a screaming hot Dutch oven. Come back for the bake and reveal!

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Free Willy 2 Whole Wheat Sourdough — About the Sourdough Journey

The Sourdough Journey is Stephanie’s ongoing series documenting her adventures in sourdough — from her very first attempt at making a starter from scratch, through the dramatic highs and lows of Willy and Nilly, and now into a brand new chapter with two fresh starters and a feisty gifted starter from her friend Sara. One starter is whole wheat for her husband Jason’s Mediterranean diet. The other is an all-purpose starter ready to bake bread, pizza, crackers, and everything in between. The daily check-ins are behind us — now the real baking begins. Follow along at stephaniecooksforacrowd.com and come see what comes out of Stephanie’s oven next!