I have made this bread a number of times now. It is fabulous. It comes (slightly altered) from Tartine Bread, which is an amazing and invaluable book. Some of the greatest whole wheat bread and it has a lovely open crumb. The best thing is that this bread is pretty much foolproof if you follow the directions. I have written these directions in a slightly unusual manner so make sure that you read over them before you make the bread for the first time. I also added some optional ingredients to make the bread more of a multigrain. Alternate versions can be found on the Fresh Loaf.
This version of the bread makes one loaf with none of the leaven left over. This assumes you have a jar of starter. If you want to make enough starter to have one left over, then double the starter so that you add 100g flour and 100g water.
Note: the total dough is about 82% so it is a bit wet and sticky (although it is whole wheat, so it will feel more like a 78% dough).
Ingredients
100g Leaven (see instructions)
375g +25g water (75 degrees F)
150g unbleached all-purpose flour
350g whole wheat flour
10g salt
1/6 cup toasted flax seeds (optional)
1/6 cup toasted sunflower seeds (optional)
1/6 cup steel-cut oats (optional)
2 tablespoons wheat germ (optional)
The Leaven ("young" starter)
Take 1 tablespoon of mature starter and put it in a small bowl.
Add 50g water (about 75degrees F) to the starter.
Then add 50g whole wheat flour and mix them into the water and starter until it comes together as a dough.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or similar and let sit until it passes the float test. This should take about 12 hours. When it is ready, it should smell very sweet-- like overripe fruit.
There will probably be 10-20 grams left over. You can add these in or use them to mix a new starter.
The Final Dough
Mix 100g of starter (this should be all of it) with the 350g water.
Then add the 500g of flour and mix until the dough comes together.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap or equivalent and let rest (autolyse) for 45-50 minutes.
After the autolyse, add the salt and the last 25g of water in a little bit at a time, using the water to help the salt dissolve and incorporate into the dough. Make sure that you pinch the dough around the salt and incorporate it throughout the dough.
Move the dough into a heavy glass or plastic bowl, preferably a deep on with a fairly small diameter on the opening in order to keep the heat in.
Toast some flax seeds and sunflower seeds and let them cool (optional).
Soak the steel cut oats and the wheat germ in about 25 g of water (optional)
Directions
Stretch the dough and bring it in toward the center like this. Be careful not to degas the dough too much. Do this all the way around the dough to make sure that you develop the dough evenly.
Place the dough in a place between 78 and 82 degrees F. You can improvise a proofbox by placing a pot of boiling water in an unheated oven beside the dough.
After 30 minutes, stretch and fold the seeds, oats, and germ into the dough. Incorporate them a few into each fold.
Repeat the stretch and fold this procedure every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours. In general, the wheat rises faster and only needs 3 hours. As the dough rises, be more careful not to degas the dough. The dough should become very billowy on top.
When the bulk rise is complete, turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
Fold the dough in half so that the outer surface is lightly floured (although you want to incorporate as little flour as possible into the dough).
Fold the dough like an envelope. Fold the bottom up 1/3 over the dough. Then fold the left side in 1/3 and the right side over it. Fold the top all the way over the bottom and pinch it slightly into the bottom.
Turn the dough seam side down and let it sit under an overturned bowl for 20 minutes.
After the 20 minute bench rest, do the final shaping. I usually shape my dough into a boule. To do this, follow the same pattern as the pre-shape, and then gather the corners together to tighten the surface tension and pinch them together.
Put the boule seam side up in a floured branneton or a bowl lined with a floured cloth. Use both wheat and rice flour because the rice flour soaks up more water and prevents the dough from sticking.
Let the dough sit for half an hour and then put it in the refrigerator for 10-16 hours.
To bake the dough, 30 minutes before baking take the dough out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven with either a stone and a oven-safe pot or a combo cooker.
When the oven is heated, turn the dough onto a peel and score it. Put it onot the stone or into the combo cooker and put the broth pot or lit over it.
Bake for 20 minute sand then remove the lid. Bake for another 20-25 minutes until the outside is an amber color and the interior temperature reads 212 degrees F.
Wait at least 30 minutes before cutting.
Enjoy!