Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Discard Bread

5 from 18 votes

Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Discard Bread

The best whole wheat sandwich bread with a sweet taste of honey, a subtle nutty flavor from the whole wheat and a little tang from the sourdough discard. This bread is sure to be a new favorite!

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

Rise Time2

Total Time3

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Servings: slices (1 loaf)

Author: Amy Coyne

Equipment

Ingredients

310 grams warm water 90-95ºF, about 1 1/4 cups
84 grams honey about 1/4 cup
14 grams instant yeast about 1 Tablespoon
100 grams sourdough discard 100% hydration, see recipe notes, about 1/2 cup
500 grams whole wheat flour 12.5% protein content, about 3 2/3 cup
15 grams vital wheat gluten about 1 1/2 Tablespoons
6 grams salt about 1 teaspoon

Instructions

Mix: To the bowl of a stand mixer add warm water, honey and instant yeast. Watch for the instant yeast to activate. It will begin to cling together and you will notice a sweet "yeasty" smell.
Add in the sourdough discard, salt, whole wheat flour and vital wheat gluten. Mix until completely combined and the dough feels tacky (not super sticky) and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. I like to reserve about 1/2 a cup of the whole wheat flour and add it in as the dough kneads together, making sure that I'm not adding too much flour to the dough.
Knead for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour a Tablespoon at a time if needed, being careful not to over-flour the dough. Find out more about readiness of the dough here.
First Rise: Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or until just about doubled in size. The temperature of your dough and ambient temperature will determine how quickly the dough rises.
Shaping: Once risen, turn the dough out onto the countertop. Pat the dough into a small rectangle about the size of a 9 by 5 loaf pan (use your pan as a guide). Starting closest to you, roll the dough up tightly, pressing in at the seam with every roll. After it forms a cylinder, pinch the seam closed.
Second Rise: Spray the bread pan if it's not non-stick and place the dough into the bread pan. Cover with a shower cap or kitchen towel. Let the dough rise again, for about an hour until just about doubled in size. Once doubled, take your finger and press it gently into the side of the dough. If the dough springs back just a little but leaves a small indentation, it's ready to bake.
Bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake loaf in preheated oven for 38-40 minutes. Brush top of warm bread with butter. Let the bread cool completely before slicing the bread with a bread knife. Enjoy!

Notes

Whole Wheat Flour: The type of whole wheat flour you use will have a large impact on the flavor of this bread. Choose a 12.5% protein content, hard whole wheat flour that you like the flavor of.

Instant Yeast: This recipe uses instant yeast to leaven the bread. I like the SAF instant yeast.

Sourdough Discard: I use 100% hydration sourdough discard. If you are using a different hydration you may need to increase or decrease the amount of flour in this recipe. The older the discard, the more sour notes the bread will have. You can also substitute fresh, bubbly, sourdough starter.

Vital Wheat Gluten: Vital wheat gluten softens the crumb of the bread and gives the dough a better rise. You can read more about it here. If you want to make this bread without vital wheat gluten, leave it out and increase the amount of flour a couple Tablespoons.

Nutrition