Whole Grain (wheat) Sourdough

[whodunit]

I have a pretty good starter going which consists of whole grain wheat flour.

I have a recipe that I have tried using unbleached flour and it turned out pretty good. It maybe didn't rise as much as I'd like but was edible.

I tried the same recipe using whole grain wheat flour. I get a good first rise, but the recipe then calls for me to punch it down and knead some, before forming into a loaf and allowing it to rise again before baking. At this point, it flattens and becomes really dense (and sometimes crumbly) to the point I don't even bother eating it.

What am I doing wrong?

[fancyfowl]

got me! I use a handful of cracked grains, about a large handful of whole wheat flour and mostly white. No recipe. I let it sit out for at least 1 full day, punch down 1 or two times then let it rise and bake. maybe you dont use enuff white bread flour???

[butterflycayton]

I am just starting to learn about sourdough bread :D and have found this great website. www.sourdoughhome.com maybe they have an answer.

[Anon001]

The only type of bread, biscuit, pancakes, etc I make is with sourdough. I've been usig it since about... um... 1995? I tried whole wheat a couple times years back and I know the recipe I had required me to do something different but I can't remember what it was. Also, it seems like that second rise took forever... much longer than with white flour. Also, at one time I was buying "bread" flour in bulk from the Amish. But, I haven't done that in a very long time.

Another thing, it does take much longer for sourdough bread to rise than when using the yeasts.... Oh.. I do remember one thing. Once when I used the whole wheat it seems like I added one packet of yeast to my sourdough bread to make it rise. Dang that's been awhile..

I just use white flour... now I know why. lol

Paul

[Clouded]

If you're using whole wheat in a recipie that originally uses white then there's your trouble. White and whole wheat have different consistancies, so ammounts of flour required vary.

I know that there are a ton of recipies out there for whole wheat sourdough bread. My first starter recipie was one I got from breadtopia.com using pineapple juice and whole wheat in the starter.

[Anon001]

I'm too much of a traditionalis, I guess. I use nothing in my starter but flour and water and that is all that has ever been in it. lol

The whole grain flour will "soak up" more liquid than white flour causing a bread to be dryer. Also, some of the whole grain flours won't have as much protein or gluten. However, if you get a high protein whole wheat flour, it should rise fine.

I would suspect you didn't have enough liquid for you whole wheat and you may not have kneaded it long enough.