100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

A simple 4-ingredient 100% whole wheat sourdough bread, made with purely whole grain flour. It's a delicious, flavourful, and wholesome loaf! Using all whole wheat flour makes for a nutty, ultra-flavourful loaf, and one that can really hold up to any toppings you can throw at it. Strong cheese, spicy jams, cured meats - anything that might overwhelm a white-flour loaf.

We first shared this recipe in 2023. It’s been updated with more helpful information and improvements to the recipe instructions.

Recipe Rundown: Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

Prep Time
15 minutes

Bake Time
45 minutes

Resting Time
18 hours

Servings
1 loaf

Difficulty
Intermediate

Calories
157 kcal*

Primary Ingredients
Sourdough starter, whole wheat flour, water, and salt.

*Calories are an estimation.

How This Recipe Works

Every sourdough baker should have a good whole wheat sourdough bread recipe in their repertoire, and this is mine. It makes a tasty, hearty loaf and is one of my standard recipes to make as part of my weekly rotation.

I trained and worked in artisan bakeries in Victoria for a decade before I started sharing recipes, and this method of a cold ferment in the fridge after shaping is one that I learned during that time. It's similar to the Tartine method and while it's not necessarily something you might often see on other recipe blogs, it's a great bakery method that we use for almost all of our sourdough bread recipes here on the Baked Collective. You'll see that it's used here, too.

I developed and wrote this recipe, and have been making it for years with various types of whole wheat flour. It's a lower hydration loaf, keeping in mind that whole grain flour absorbs more water than white flour, which makes it easier to work with but doesn't sacrifice the oven spring.

One reader, Alex, commented: "Fantastic recipe! Been looking for a whole wheat recipe but everything I tried was high hydration and beyond my meager skills. Followed these to a T and now it's in my go to for weekly bread. Thanks!"

Another reader, Zori, said: "First time I managed to bake the perfect sourdough following this recipe step by step. I've added some seeds to add a bit of fibre and texture as well. Yum!"

Ingredients You'll Need and Why

Basic sourdough is made with just flour, water, salt, and starter. The only difference here is the use of all whole wheat flour, and a slightly altered method to account for that. These are our notes from recipe testing and you can find the full recipe card below with complete measurements and instructions.

• Whole wheat flour: this can be store-bought flour or ground in your home mill if you have one. If you don't feel confident with all whole wheat flour, you can certainly sub in some all-purpose or bread flour to the mix. We love red fife wheat flour here, for a really excellent flavour, but any kind of whole wheat will work. Replace up to 250 grams of the flour with white or bread flour for an easier-to-work-with loaf.
• Sourdough starter: active starter that's well established and ready to use for full loaves. If your starter is less than two weeks old we generally recommend using it for discard recipes instead, and then baking loaves once it's a little older.
• Water: if you know the water in your area is heavily chlorinated or not great quality from the tap, use filtered water to bake bread. Otherwise tap water is fine.
• Salt: don't skip, reduce, or increase the salt amount, and use fine-grain sea salt or table salt (not coarse salt). This goes for any of our sourdough recipes. Any time you're baking bread, keep in mind that salt is key to gluten development and adjusting it will impact the recipe.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

How to Make Whole Wheat Sourdough

This dough will probably seem too stiff at first, especially if you're used to working with higher hydration white flour loaves. It's normal and how the dough should feel. You'll find that it relaxes as the dough hydrates, especially during the autolyse period, and will rise nicely if fermented correctly.

Step 1: mix the water, starter or levain, and flour. Set aside to autolyse, or rest, to let the flour hydrate. This makes a big difference, especially with whole grain loaves, and can't be skipped for this recipe. You'll probably need to mix with your hands to ensure the dough is evenly mixed.

Step 2: mix the salt and remaining water in with the dough and let it rest again. This is a little more resting than we usually include in our sourdough recipes and that's due to it being a whole wheat sourdough without any all-purpose or bread flour in the mix.

Step 3: do six rounds of stretches and folds, one every 30 minutes. We recommend sticking with stretches and folds for this recipe, instead of kneading, to let the dough hydrate between each round of stretches.

Step 4: shape the dough into a boule. There is no separate bulk ferment for this recipe before shaping, which is the bakery method we usually use. It is important to let the dough rest again before shaping to avoid tearing.

Step 5: place the dough seam-side up in a lined and lightly floured banneton. If you don't have a banneton, use a round bowl instead. See our guide on essential sourdough tools.

Step 6: refrigerate the dough overnight. It should approximately double in size. Important: if the dough has not doubled and doesn't look as pictured here, you must let it rise for a longer time before baking. Proving times needed for sourdough vary depending on a number of factors and you should use your senses to make sure a loaf is ready before baking.

Step 7: turn the dough out onto parchment paper and carefully place into a preheated dutch oven. For the most even rise and tidiest loaf, score before baking. If you don't have a knife sharp enough or don't feel confident scoring, you can skip this step and let the bread open where it likes.

Step 8: bake the loaf for 45 minutes, covered and then uncovered, and cool fully before slicing. We haven't tested this recipe with an open bake but you can bake in a loaf tin if preferred. If you know your loaves are usually a little too dark on the bottom, place the dutch oven on a thick baking sheet in the oven or move it up one rack.

Expert Tips for the Best Bread

• Let it rest: as with any sourdough bread, it must cool completely before slicing to avoid gumminess. With whole grain recipes, this is even more important, and we encourage leaving the loaf for at least 12 hours before slicing. If you slice too early you will have a less pleasant texture.
• Don't skip the autolyse: leaving the dough to rest before adding the salt is an autolyse. This allows the whole grains to soak up some of the water and makes for a dough that's much easier to work with. It's especially helpful when working with whole wheat sourdough.
• Bake it without a dutch oven: you can bake whole wheat sourdough in a bread tin if you prefer. Follow this recipe, but use the shaping and rising directions for our sourdough pan loaf, if you don't have a dutch oven or prefer a square slice.
• Don't expect a very light bread: this loaf isn't as light and airy as an all white flour sourdough bread, due to the bran content cutting the gluten strands. If you like a slightly denser loaf, with a tighter crumb (great for sandwiches!) this is your bread.
• Don't be discouraged: this recipe isn't more difficult or advanced compared to a purely bread flour sourdough, but it will result in a different loaf. There won't be as a great of an oven spring and the bread won't be as tall - these are typical for whole grain loaves and definitely not a bad thing.
• Add mix-ins: try adding some nuts or dried fruits to the mix after you've made the loaf once or twice. Cranberries, raisins, walnuts, or anything like that is great with the more complex flavour in this recipe! You can reference our other sourdough bread recipes with inclusions for notes on amounts needed.

More Sourdough Bread Recipes

If you make this Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread recipe or any other sourdough bread recipes on the Baked Collective, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more baking, follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.