This week I am again trying a recipe that I have converted from yeasted to sourdough. It is based on King Arthur’s Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread (I have no affiliation with them). I am using 70 grams of 100% hydration starter to replace 1 teaspoon of instant yeast. I decided to use the starter just before it was refreshed for the day. This has always been a favorite sandwich and toasting bread of ours but it’s a long time since I’ve made it.
I’ve mixed the dough and it came out way stiffer than it should have. Soft dough = soft bread. I added an extra 20 grams of water and kneaded it in and now the dough feels much better. Still a little stiffer than I would like, but I don’t want to go too far. For flour I am using King Arthur Organic All Purpose and King Arthur White Whole Wheat. Since I made the switch to the organic all purpose flour earlier this week for my starter I noticed the starter was a little stiffer. I am guessing that the organic is absorbing more water than the regular all purpose. Also, the rolled oats could absorb a different amount of water from batch to batch.
The Formula
| Ingredient | Amount | Bakers % |
| Boiling Water * | 454 g | 70% |
| Rolled Oats | 99 g | 15% |
| Brown Sugar | 106 g | 16% |
| Honey | 21 g | 3.2% |
| Butter | 57 g | 8.7% |
| Cinnamon | 6.8 g | 1% |
| Salt | 13 g | 2% |
| White Whole Wheat Flour | 170 g | 26% |
| All Purpose Flour | 482 g | 74% |
| Total Flour | 652 g | 100% |
| Starter | 70 g | 11% |
“*” Added additional 20 grams room temp water after mixing
My Process
- Weigh out ingredients.
- Bring water to boil.
- In a large bowl add rolled oats, brown sugar, butter, and honey. Pour over boiling water and stir.
- Let cool 30 minutes.
- Mix together the flours, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
- Slowly add and mix flour mixture into cooled water mixture.
- Knead into smooth satiny dough.
- Transfer dough to a greased, covered container.
- Bulk ferment dough 10 to 12 hours or until dough has become puffy and less sticky to the touch.
- Remove dough from container and divide into two equal pieces.
- Pre-shape dough and let rest on surface for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Final shape dough and place in greased 4-1/4 X 8-1/2 bread pans.
- Cover dough loosely with greased plastic wrap.
- Place covered bread pans in refrigerator to proof overnight.
- The next morning remove from the fridge and let sit on the counter until dough is domed 1” above the top of the pan. (Took 7 hours, only got to top of pan. Dough was still cold to touch even after spending 3 hours in proofer at 75 F.)
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Put both loaves in oven. Bake 25 minutes, cover with aluminum foil to prevent over browning.
- Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool on a rack before slicing.
Loaves ended up with good oven spring. Height of loaves was good but I need to improve on making uniform loaves when forming and putting in the pans.
The flavor is great just like I remembered, though a bit sweeter than I remembered. Texture and crumb are also very nice.
So, what will I change when I make this again? First and foremost the process. I took forever, seemingly, for the dough to warm up after taking it out of the fridge. If I make the dough early in the day like I did this time then I will retard the dough in the fridge during bulk fermentation. The dough will come out of the fridge before bed to finish bulk fermentation on the counter overnight. The morning it will be divided, shaped and proofed, all at room temperature.
Second, I am going to scale up the recipe in hopes of filling the bread pans out better. I will also increase the water slightly more than this time possibly an additional 10 to 15 grams or a total of 35 grams more than the recipe calls for.
This is a good whole wheat bread for sandwiches, paninis and toasting. It will be in my regular bread making rotation.