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Breads · Slow bread

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

A patient, two-day loaf — naturally leavened, blistered and deep-golden, with an open crumb and a proper crackling crust.

C Shared by Cobus ✓ Home-tested in Cobus's kitchen
Makes
1 loaf
Bake
40 min
Cold proof
8–12 h
Oven
240°C
The story behind it
Cobus
Cobus
Slow, naturally-leavened baking

Good sourdough asks for nothing but flour, water, salt and patience. This is the two-day loaf I keep coming back to — a wild-yeast starter doing the slow work overnight, an open crumb and a blistered, crackling crust, and not a gram of commercial yeast in sight.

A rustic whole wheat sourdough loaf with a deep-golden, crackling scored crust on a wooden board
Ingredients

Flour & Salt

  • 300 gWhite bread flour
  • 100 gFreshly milled whole grain wheat
  • 8 gFine sea salt

Water & Culture

  • 230–300 gWater (room temperature)
  • 100 gActive sourdough starter
Method
At a glance
1Mix & autolyse
→
2Bulk + folds
→
3Shape
→
4Cold proof
→
5Bake & cool
20 min–3 hDay 1 · Mix & rest
3–4 hBulk ferment + folds
8–12 hCold proof · fridge
40 min +Day 2 · Bake & cool
A two-day loaf — the long cold proof happens overnight in the fridge and is entirely hands-off. Start Day 1 in the afternoon to bake fresh the next morning.

  1. Mix & autolyse

    Combine the flours and starter. Gradually add the water until a soft dough forms. Cover and rest in a warm place (around 25°C) for anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours.

    Day 1~25°C

  2. Add salt & mix

    Add the salt and mix thoroughly. Fold and lift the dough for 3–4 minutes until it's smoother and less sticky. If it's too slack, rest 10 minutes and continue mixing.

  3. Bulk fermentation

    Every 30–60 minutes, perform a set of stretch & folds: stretch one side upward, fold it over the centre, then rotate and repeat on all four sides. Complete at least 3 rounds. The dough should tighten and rise 20–50%. Rest 20–30 minutes after the final fold.

    3–4 hrs · 3+ fold rounds

  4. Shape

    Flatten the dough gently, then fold bottom up, left across, right across, and top down to seal. Flip seam-side down and pull gently to build surface tension. Place seam-side up into a floured banneton or towel-lined bowl.

  5. Cold proof

    Cover and refrigerate for 8–12 hours, overnight.

    8–12 hrs · fridge

  6. Bake

    Preheat the oven to 240°C. Remove the dough from the fridge while the oven heats. Turn it out onto a tray or into a Dutch oven and score the top. Add steam — spray water into the oven or place water in a hot tray — and bake for 40 minutes, until deep golden brown.

    Day 2240°C · 40 min

  7. Cool

    Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing — this lets the crumb finish setting.

Tip: Baking in a preheated Dutch oven with the lid on for the first 20 minutes traps the dough's own steam for a dramatic rise and a crackly crust — then uncover for the final 20 minutes to deepen the colour.
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