Simple Wholewheat French Flour Sourdough Bread

Do you want to make a beautiful loaf of wholewheat Sourdough bread using French flour? No compromises here, this loaf looks and tastes amazing! Here is my go-to recipe for Simple Wholewheat French Flour Sourdough Bread, using as little equipment as possible and flour that is easily available to me here in France. 

Sourdough is a relatively recent interest of mine. I started making my first starter around 2 ½ years ago, with the idea that it would be amazing to make bread completely from scratch. Since then, I have come to learn of the immense health benefits of sourdough bread and I have discovered that the taste is just incomparable. For me, making bread is relaxing, it enters into the rhythm of the day, and nothing beats the feeling of pulling a beautiful loaf out of the oven in the morning just in time for breakfast.

If you are here reading this recipe, chances are that you have seen the amazingly beautiful loaves that are floating around Instagram. Although a loaf of bread doesn’t have to look good to be tasty and delicious, I have to say that I take particular satisfaction in a loaf with good oven spring, a nice ‘ear’ and maybe some pretty scoring. However, it took me a long time to achieve the results I desired. A lot of it is trial and error, but a big factor is the difference between French flour, which is what I have access to, and American bread flour, which is what most of the bread influencers out there are using. Keep reading, though, it is possible!

Difference Between American and French Flour

The main difference between American and French flour is the protein (gluten) content. During the fermenting and stretching process of making sourdough, the gluten is developed and creates pockets in the bread in which air is trapped, thereby enabling the bread to rise. The higher the gluten content of the flour, the more your bread will rise. The gluten in French flour also appears to be weaker than in American flour, so even if the protein content is only slightly lower, the flour will not perform as well in terms of rise. The lower gluten content of French flour also affects the flour’s ability to absorb water, resulting often in a very sticky, unmanageable dough.

Making Sourdough Bread with French Flour

The way I have overcome this difficulty is by reducing the amount of water I add to the dough. I think the ratio used in this recipe works perfectly. The dough is manageable, the bread rises well, I have a good oven spring and the crumb remains light and airy.

The main lesson here is, when using French flour, don’t try to follow American or even British sourdough recipes to the letter, they just will not work in the same way.

Let’s not think this is a bad thing, though! French flour is renowned for being more flavoursome and for giving a better colour to the finished product. Looking at the ingredients in my flour, I can only see wheat, whereas an American or British bread flour will often contain added gluten, bran, added vitamins and preservatives. As someone who is looking to live as naturally as possible and to cook whole foods as much as possible, I will choose French flour every time!

So let’s get down to it, how do you make Simple French Flour Wholewheat Sourdough?

Equipment

Large bowl

Digital scales

Dough hook (optional)

Banneton

Baking tray

Shallow saucepan

Lame (razor blade for scoring dough)

Large bowl

The best kind of bowl for making sourdough bread is a heavy porcelaine one that will not lift up with the dough when you are doing the folds. It needs to be large enough for the dough to almost double during fermentation.

Digital scales

These give very accurate measurements and take away a lot of the guesswork of bread baking. They are a useful asset for any cook who enjoys baking of any kind.

Dough hook

This is useful for mixing the dough and I find it makes less mess than using my fingers. It is totally optional however.

Banneton

This is what the bread will rest in for the second, cold, fermentation and it is what will give the bread its final shape. They can be either round or oval (batard). I have used a bowl lined with a tea towel in the past, that can work too.

Baking Tray

Your normal baking tray will be perfect. I currently use a non-stick one.

Shallow Saucepan

I will explain in more detail below, but this is for creating steam during the cooking process.

Lame 

This bread-maker’s lame is for scoring the bread, an important part of getting a well-risen loaf.

Ingredients For Simple Wholewheat French Flour Sourdough Bread

120g Bubbly and active sourdough starter

500g Organic Wholewheat French Flour (T110)

350g Warm Water

10g Salt

Sourdough Starter

If you have not got a sourdough starter yet, don’t worry, it’s easy, it just takes a few days to get it up and bubbling! Check out this blog post from The Clever Carrot: https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2019/03/beginner-sourdough-starter-recipe/

I feed my starter the night before baking (I usually assemble my dough in the morning). I feed at a 1:2:2 ration, meaning 30g of starter, 60g water and 60g flour. This makes for a very strong starter which is going to give a good rise to your loaf.

Organic Wholewheat French Flour

This is called T110 and I love it for its flavour as it is not too strong (the darker wholewheat flour would be T150). 

Make sure that your flour is organic and 100% wheat with no additives. I used the organic home-brand of a well known supermarket, it costs 1,50€/kg and works perfectly. 

Warm Water

In terms of temperature, I am not very precise, although it should certainly not be hot. If you use cold water, this will slow the fermentation process, which may be a good thing in the summer months when your room temperature is high.

I usually just use tap water, but I have heard it said that you get better results if you use filtered water. Let me know in the comments what you think if you’ve tried it!

I am, however, very precise as to the quantity, putting too much water in your dough will make it sticky and difficult to manage. Believe me, I have made this mistake many times. For the T110 flour I use, which has 11% protein content, 350g water is the perfect amount.

Salt

10g may seem like a lot of salt, but it is totally necessary. You will end up with very bland bread if you reduce the amount of salt.

I use table/kosher fine salt.

Simple Wholewheat French Flour Sourdough Bread Process

The night before:

Feed your starter 1:2:2 (for example 30g starter, 60g flour, 60g warm water). Leave to rise in a warm spot until you are ready to bake the next morning.

The next morning:

Mix your dough

This is a simple recipe, so I add all of the ingredients in one go. I always put the starter and the water in the bowl first and add the flour and salt on top, this makes mixing easier. 

Use your hands to mix the dough, or a dough hook. Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer with the dough hook.

You should end up with a shaggy dough like this. Don’t worry, it is totally normal! Cover the bowl (I use a plate but a tea towel works too) and rest for 30 mins.

Stretch and fold

Wet your hands (this is crucial!) and lift up part of the dough from the edge placing it in the middle of the bowl. Repeat this action round the bowl until you feel resistance from the dough. 

See this video for a demonstration of stretch and fold:

Cover your bowl and leave to rest for 30 mins.

Coil folds

We are now going to do 3 series of coil folds every 30 mins. The process will be the same each time. With wet hands, lift up your dough in the centre, and create a coil by folding the centre over the edge of the dough. Turn your bowl 180° and repeat. Turn your bowl 90° and repeat and then 180° and repeat one last time.

You should end up with a nicely shaped coil of dough in the middle of your bowl.

Here is a video to help you see what I mean:

You will notice the texture of your dough change every time you do your coil folds. The dough will become easier to manage, less sticky and have a more spongey texture. At the end of your 3rd lot of coil folds you will probably already see some bubbles appearing on the surface of your dough.

Bulk fermentation

Now, you cover and leave your dough to rise until it has increased by approximately ⅔.

I cannot give you an exact timing for this as it depends on the humidity and temperature in your kitchen. This will vary from kitchen to kitchen, from season to season and will also depend on whether or not you are cooking other things while the dough is rising. For instance, boiling pasta or potatoes will create humidity in the room and potentially speed up the fermentation of the dough.

You will know that the dough is ready when there are lots of bubbles under the surface, when its texture is spongey, and when it comes away from the sides of the bowl easily.

Shaping

This is difficult to explain, it is better to observe the process, so I am including some videos on shaping which I hope will be helpful to you. 

My main tricks to good shaping are using wet hands, a slightly wet countertop (or lightly floured), and creating as much tension as possible by moving the dough on the counter.

Second fermentation

Once you have shaped your dough, place it in your banneton with the seam side facing up. I use a linen-lined oval banneton that I flour with either corn flour or wheat flour. Round bannetons will also work for this recipe, or even a bowl lined with a tea towel!

Put your banneton of dough in the fridge for around 8 hours or overnight until you are ready to bake. I do not cover it, I find that the dough holds its shape better this way.

Baking

Preheat your oven to 240° with a shallow saucepan in the bottom. Boil a kettle of water.

When the oven has reached temperature, take your dough out of the fridge and tip it out onto the baking sheet. It should hold its shape nicely.

With your bakers lame, score the bread, slightly off centre, with the lame held at about 45°. This will ensure optimum oven spring and a nice pronounced ear.

You can of course do decorative scoring here too, but that is a subject for another post!

Place your bread in the centre of the oven and carefully pour boiling water from the kettle into the saucepan that has been heating in the bottom of the oven. We want to create as much steam as possible to help the bread rise.

Close the oven door and turn the temperature down to 230°. Bake for 20mins.

After 20mins carefully remove the saucepan of water and continue baking for 10mins.

Remove your beautiful loaf from the oven and leave to cool for at least 45 mins before slicing.

What to Serve With Simple Wholewheat French Flour Sourdough Bread ?

Enjoy your wonderful loaf of Simple Wholewheat French Flour Sourdough Bread toasted with jam for breakfast, as a sandwich for lunch, as an accompaniment to some delicious homemade soup… The possibilities are endless! 

If you make this recipe, let me know in the comments! I love to hear from you 🙂

Looking for more sourdough recipes using French flour? Take a look at these:

https://candleinthekitchen.com/category/sourdough