How To Make Artisan Sourdough With Fresh Milled Flour Recipe

Have you begun your journey into the world of fresh milled flour, but haven’t been ready to tackle sourdough yet? I’m here for you. This three ingredient sourdough recipe made with fresh milled whole grains will give you the confidence you need.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and Bluebird Grains associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Why Bake Sourdough With Whole Grains?

When you bake with whole grains, you’re utilizing all parts of the wheat berry: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. When you bake with sifted or all-purpose flour, you’re only using a portion of the wheat berry: the endosperm. The endosperm, although still nutritious, doesn’t contain the nutrients that aid in the digestion of grains that its smaller counterparts do.

According to a Harvard study, “the bran is the fiber-rich outer layer that supplies B vitamins, iron, copper, zinc, magnesium, antioxidants, and phytochemicals.”

The same study indicates that “the germ is the core of the seed where growth occurs; it is rich in healthy fats, vitamin E, B vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. The endosperm is the interior layer that holds carbohydrates, protein, and small amounts of some B vitamins and minerals.”

When you consume whole wheat bread, you are ensuring that you are getting all the benefits that the wheat berry has to offer.

Why Bake Sourdough With Fresh Milled Flour?

Most of the flour that we find on the shelves at the store are stocked with white, starchy all-purpose flour. This flour has been stripped of the bran and germ (and thus, it’s nutrients), bleached with carcinogenic chemicals, and then “enriched” (i.e. filled with synthetic vitamins).

Store bought may flour sit on the shelf for months at time, up to a year. However, when you mill your own grains or buy from a mill, you are ensuring that your flour is at optimum quality and nutrient density. When a wheat berry is crushed open, it immediately starts to oxidize (think of how a banana turns brown). The bioavailability of nutrients begins to decrease over time and you are left with “dead” flour.

However, when you use fresh milled flour, you are essentially consuming a superfood, one that is jam-packed with goodness.

Where Can I Find Fresh Milled Flour?

You have two options: you can either source your own wheat berries and mill them with a home mill or you can order from a mill.

Milling Your Own Flour

If you choose to mill your own wheat berries, you will need a mill. For questions on how to choose the best grain mill for your needs, see this post.

When milling your wheat berries to bake sourdough bread with, I suggest a medium to medium-fine setting. You don’t want your flour to be too coarse, yet you won’t need a very fine flour.

Typically, a cup of wheat berries produces on average 1.5 to 2 cups of flour.

Ordering Flour From A Mill

If you are not ready to purchase a home mill yet, you can order from a flour mill. It’s important that you choose one that puts organic practices to use and puts quality first. This is why I love Bluebird Grains Farm. Not only are they a certified organic grain producer and processor, but they care about regenerative agriculture while reducing their impact on the environment.

Bluebird Grains organic Pasayten hard white flour is what I use in this sourdough recipe. If you shop, use code chiliwist10 for 10% off your order.

Note: Please email or leave a comment below if you experience problems with this code. Or, call Bluebird customer service. They are wonderful and so helpful!

Another factor to consider when choosing where to source your flour is whether they mill to order. This is what Bluebird Grains Farm prioritizes for their customers. Meaning, when they receive your order they mill the berries then and there. This ensures maximum freshness when you receive your flour.

If you’re looking for wheat berries, Bluebird has the highest quality (and best tasting) grains I’ve tried. My favorite is their organic Einkorn berries.

If you still have questions about fresh milled flour and are just getting your foot in the door, check out How To Get Started With Fresh Milled Flour.

Ingredients For Whole Grain Sourdough Artisan Boule with Fresh Milled Flour Recipe

• 100 grams of active bubbly starter
• 450 grams of filtered room temperature water
• 500 grams of fresh milled Bluebird Grains hard white Pasayten flour (use code chiliwist10 for a discount)
• 9 grams of fine sea salt
• 6 medium ice cubes

Optional Equipment

Dutch Oven – a perfect baking vessel for sourdough when you don’t have a professional steam injecting oven. Not only does it distribute heat evenly, but it allows for steam.

Danish Dough Whisk – my favorite tool for mixing dough of any kind.

Bench Scraper – great for shaping, dividing and transferring dough, keeping fingers clean.

Whole Grain Sourdough Artisan Boule with Fresh Milled Flour Recipe

FEED YOUR STARTER

The first thing you’ll need to do is feed your starter anywhere between 4-12 hours before you bake. This amount of time will depend greatly on many factors. These include how active and healthy your starter is, the temperature and humidity of your environment, etc. See this post on how to maintain your starter.

MIX YOUR SOURDOUGH

Once your starter is happy and bubbly and around doubled in size, start by pouring water into your bowl. Your starter should float, but don’t stress if some of it sunk. Whole wheat acts a bit differently.

Mix up your dough with a danish dough whisk until a milky, bubbly liquid is formed. Next, it’s time to add your flour.

Add your flour and mix with your danish dough whisk, scraping the sides until a shaggy dough is formed. Make sure not to leave any wheat granules at the bottom or sides of your bowl. We want it all incorporated.

AUTOLYSE AND SALT

Cover with a shower cap and let it sit for about an hour for autolyse.

Next, sprinkle your salt evenly on the surface of your dough. Use wet fingers to pinch it in. Make sure you don’t feel any salt granules left in the dough before you move on.

SLAP AND FOLDS

Once finished, take your dough and with wet hands perform 5-7 slap and folds. Fun, right? Can anyone say therapeutic?

Next, cover your dough with a shower cap and wait 30 minutes.

Perform another set of slap and folds and feel the dough change in your hands as you strengthen the gluten bonds and elasticity of your dough.

Cover and wait another 30 minutes and then, with wet fingers, perform one set of coil folds. At this point, you should’ve performed two sets of slap and folds and your final coil fold. Now, it’s time for bulk fermentation.

BULK FERMENTATION

Lift your dough and spray your bowl with a light coating of olive oil if you’d like. This is an optional step. Then, set your dough back inside the bowl. Cover your bowl again and let your dough bulk ferment for 6-18 hours. This time will vary based on the temperature of your environment. If it’s summer, I find my dough to bulk ferment much quicker than if it’s winter time. This bulk fermentation is the first rise of your dough.

You’ll know when your dough is ready when it has risen around 75%. It can be hard to tell when you’re a beginner, but the more you bake sourdough, the more experienced you’ll become. Remember, it is always better to overproof rather than underproof.

The best way to determine when your dough has sufficiently risen is to observe when it has rounded edges, is slightly domed in the center and has formed small bubbles along the surface. These will be at the top and around the edges. Additionally, your dough will be nice and jiggly.

Now, when your dough has reached these indicators, you have the option to either shape your dough, transfer to a banneton basket and place in the fridge for a “cold retard” or if you prefer, you can place your dough while still in its bowl into the fridge to chill for a few hours and then shape and bake straight away.

This step can be confusing, but I’ll try and simplify: when I started baking with whole grains, I found that the step of shaping, placing into the fridge, and then baking wasn’t strictly necessary. I want to emphasize the phrase “when baking with whole grains” because I do find the added steps of shaping and placing into a banneton and then into the fridge before baking when using any other type of flour to be absolutely necessary.

So, if you want to try the method of skipping the banneton, go ahead and place your dough (while its still in its bowl) into the fridge to chill for a cold retard and the move on to shaping.

COLD RETARD

The cold retard slows down or “retards” the fermentation process. It typically allows your dough to develop more flavor from the lactic acid that is rapidly produced toward the end of your bulk fermentation. This is considered the second rise of your dough or “final proof”.

Place your dough inside the fridge and cover your bowl with a shower cap. Leave for anywhere from 4-12 hours, depending on how long you want to ferment it for. I suggest not going over 36 hours as the lactic acid starts to break down gluten to the point where you won’t get the rise you want.

Before moving onto the next step, preheat your dutch oven to 500 degrees F with the lid on.

PRE- SHAPE

Use your fingers to tug at the edges of your dough, if needed, to encourage your dough onto a clean bare surface. Wet your bench knife and wet your non-dominant hand.

Use your bench knife to scrape under your dough at one side and pull gently toward the center, using your non-dominant hand to press and hold the dough while you pull another side up and toward the center.

Then, rotate your dough counter-clockwise as you pull in the sides gently and toward the center to form a round shape. Move your dough across your surface to build up tension. Don’t push out the gas bubbles like you would with a typical yeasted bread. Remember, sourdough likes to be handled gently (except for our initial dough strengthening slap and folds, of course).

It should also be noted that whatever shape you decide to form your dough into for the final shaping, the pre shaping will always be a round (boule) shape.

BENCH REST (optional)

Once your dough is in a nice, rounded shape, you can go ahead and let is sit on the counter for an optional 20 minute “bench rest”. The bench rest, though I don’t find strictly necessary, can be helpful for your dough to relax and expand a bit, allowing your final shaping to be more effective at creating the tension that your dough needs for “oven spring,” or the initial rise in the oven.

However, if you don’t have the extra time for this, go ahead and skip to the next step.

FINAL SHAPING

Now it’s time for the final shaping. On a lightly floured surface, carefully spread your dough into a rectangle, making sure not to push the gas bubbles out.

Handle gently and don’t stretch out too thin as this will cause your dough to tear. Gently tug the top of your rectangle with both hands and pull your dough down about half way, sort of like you’re wrapping a present.

Then, take the the bottom side of the dough and do the same thing, taking the edges and tucking in the middle so that you have a newly formed rectangle. Then, with your bench scraper, lift underneath to rotate your rectangle 90 degrees so that the bottom open end faces you.

Use lightly floured fingers to gently roll up your dough into a roll. Pinch in the seams at either end when it’s completely rolled up. Then, using gentle motions with the edge of your dominant hand near your pinky, roll your dough around in a forward and counter-clockwise motion (or clockwise if your a lefty). Simultaneously, use your other hand to tuck the dough in with your fingers as you pull the dough toward you to build tension.

You want to push and pull in rounded motions to achieve a rounded smooth surface. This can be tricky to master so just practice, practice, practice. Do not get discouraged. See this video for a better visual.

PREPARE TO BAKE

Now, using your bench knife, transfer your loaf directly from counter to parchment paper. If you’d like to make scoring easier, you can then place it onto a cookie sheet and place into the freezer for 8-10 minutes. This is not strictly necessary, though.

SCORE YOUR LOAF

Score a simple design on your loaf by cutting about 1/2 inch deep down the center and at a 35-45 degree angle to try and achieve an “ear”. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the ear you want. It’s not totally necessary and in all honesty, makes the bread a bit harder to slice anyway in my opinion.

However, scoring is necessary. This is because as the gas bubbles in your dough expand and rise in the oven, they want to escape somewhere and when you score, you are controlling where they escape. If you fail to score, you most likely will experience unwanted bulges and blowouts in your loaf. Scoring also helps your loaf to maintain its shape and give it the oven spring you want for a nice airy loaf of sourdough.

BAKE YOUR LOAF

Once your dutch oven is preheated, use oven mitts to take the lid off and place 6 ice cubes as evenly as possible on the bottom. Next, transfer your loaf of sourdough into the dutch oven, taking care not to burn yourself. I usually do this part without oven mitts, but use your discretion.

These are my favorite oven mitts to use.

Quickly, place the lid back on and set a timer for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes are up, take the lid off of your dutch oven and lower the oven temperature to 475 F. Bake for another 20 minutes with the lid off.

SLICING

I know it’s tempting to slice into your bread right away, but don’t do it! Wait at least 30 minutes to cut with a serrated bread knife. The reason is because your bread is still technically baking as it comes out to cool.

When you cut into it, be sure to cut slowly so as not to crush the bread. Slice a few pieces, top with raw butter and honey and enjoy!