Ingredients
- 100 g whole wheat sourdough starter or levain
- 500 g King Arthur 100% whole wheat flour
- 375 g water divided (room temperature, about 68°F)
- 10 g salt
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- Two nights before: Make the levain. Take 1 to 2 tablespoons of starter from the fridge and place in a bowl. Mix with 50 grams of room temperature water and 50 grams of flour (sifted bread flour, whole grain, spelt, or a combo — the only rule is a 1:1 flour-to-water ratio). Cover the bowl with a plate and leave on the counter to ferment overnight, about 8 to 12 hours.
- One day before: Combine the levain with 350 grams of the water in a large bowl. Add the flour to the water mixture and, using your hands or a Danish dough whisk, mix to combine until shaggy.
- Cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rest at room temperature for 40 minutes.
- After the 40-minute rest, add the salt and the remaining 25 grams of water. Mix well until combined, then cover with the tea towel and let the mixture sit for 30 minutes.
- Do the first fold: Get your hands damp and reach under the dough on the opposite side of the bowl from you. Pull the dough up and over toward you. Repeat so each side folds in toward the center — think of it as wrapping a package. Scoop your hands under the ball of dough and flip it over completely. This is one fold.
- Complete 6 more folds total, one every 30 minutes, for 3 hours total.
- Shaping: Turn the dough out of the bowl and let it rest on the counter for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your banneton by dusting it with flour, or line a medium mixing bowl with a clean tea towel and dust liberally with flour (a 50-50 wheat flour and rice flour combo is great for dusting).
- Shape your dough, building as much surface tension as possible without tearing the outside. Once shaped, place the loaf into the lined and floured banneton or bowl, seam side up. Gently flour the top of the dough before covering with the edges of the tea towel. Set in the fridge overnight.
- Baking day: Place your Dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 500°F (or as hot as your oven will go, no higher than 500°F). After the oven hits temperature, let the Dutch oven continue to preheat for another 30 minutes.
- Once the Dutch oven is fully preheated, take the dough out of the fridge. Gently invert it onto a piece of parchment paper large enough to lift the bread into and out of the Dutch oven. Score the bread with a sharp knife or bread lame.
- Using oven mitts, carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven, take off the lid, and lift the dough into the pot using the parchment paper.
- Place the lid back on the Dutch oven, return it to the oven, and reduce the heat to 450°F. Bake covered for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the lid (be careful of steam) and bake another 20 minutes uncovered.
- Remove the pot from the oven and lift the loaf out using the edges of the parchment paper. Let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
If the loaf is too hot to extract safely after baking, let it cool in the Dutch oven — do not risk burning yourself.
This recipe is built around 100% whole wheat flour. King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour is what I use every time. You can use a different brand, but the rise and crumb will not be the same.
Recipe adapted from the Baked Collective.
Weigh every ingredient in grams — sourdough hydration ratios are too precise for volume measurements. Feed your starter the night before so it is bubbly and active when you mix the dough. Use a Danish dough whisk for the initial mix — it breaks the starter into the water in seconds and folds in the flour without gumming up. Stretch and folds are gentle, not aggressive. Damp hands, slow motion, 30 minutes apart. Preheat the Dutch oven for a full 30 minutes at 500°F after the oven hits temperature — this is what gives you oven spring.
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