Kruchten Recipes

Whole Wheat Country Bread

This recipe was inspired by the Tartine Bread (Chad Roberston, in SFO), as described in Michael Pollan’s book Cooked (2013), appendix 3: “Whole wheat country loaf”. The main differences are:

  • Pollan has a 92% hydration level, which I found is way too liquid for me; mine is about 77%
  • I bake my loaves on a stone, with steam for the first 10 minutes, not in a Dutch oven.

Ingredients

For the leaven (in French: levain):

  • 150 g of sourdough starter culture
  • 200 g white wheat flour
  • 200 g water

Then for the soaker:

  • 600 g of whole wheat flour
  • 150 g of whole rye flour
  • 700 g of water

Then for the main build:

  • 200 g of leaven (above)
  • 1450 g of soaked whole flour (above)
  • 250 g of white flour
  • 23 g of salt (approx 4 tsp)
  • 50 g of water
  • 5 g of yeast (1 tsp)

Instructions

The night before:

  1. Prepare a leaven with 100 to 150 g of your best culture, mixed with 200 g of white flour and 200 g of water. Cover and let rest in warm area (20°C)
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  2. Soak 600g of whole wheat flour and 150 g of whole rye flour with 700 g of water. This process, called autolysis, will soften the bran, break down the hardest cells and develop the flavours. Let both rest overnight (approx. 12 hours).

Then the next day:

  1. Test the leaven; it should float on water, like this:
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  2. Dissolve a tsp (5 g) of yeast in 50 g of lukewarm water.
  3. Assemble: 200 g of leaven (levain), the 1,450 g of soaked flour, 250 g of white flour, and the yeast.
  4. Mix thouroughly; let rest of 30 minutes.
  5. Sprinkle the salt and mix again thouroughly. Cover with a plastic film.
  6. Let it ferment and rise for 3 to 4 hours at 25°C (I use the oven with the light on)
  7. Every 30 to 40 minutes, stretch and fold the dough 3 or 4 times. Use a wet hand, slip it under the mass of dough, stretch it up, and fold; turn the bowl, etc.
  8. On a generously floured surface, cut the dough in 3 and form 3 globes.
  9. Let them rest of 20 minutes.
  10. Shape the loaves; round or sighly elongated.
  11. Put each loaf in a bowl lined with a linen towel generously floured.
  12. Let them proof in a warm spot for 2 to 3 hours at 25°C (oven with light on, again).
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  13. Drop the loaves on parchment paper. Score with a razor blade.
  14. Bake them for 40 minutes at 500°F (260°C) with steam for the first 10 minutes.
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Notes

No, Alice, do not throw cold water on a 500°F (260°C) hot Pyrex dish.
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