I love sourdough bread with a touch of whole wheat. It adds a lovely depth of flavor and additional nutrition that you don’t get from bread flour alone.

This recipe is super basic – we’ve cut out many of the fancy steps like autolyse, fermentolyse, and pre-shaping, and we’re mixing it all by hand.

I want this to be a quick, go-to artisan bread recipe that feels approachable and not like a big project that requires lots of time and attention.

Whole Wheat = Faster Proofing

When adding whole wheat to an artisan sourdough bread recipe, you do need to be more mindful of proofing times.

The nutrition in the whole wheat flour feeds the starter and speeds up fermentation. If you’re used to a specific timeline based on an all-bread-flour recipe, expect things to move a bit faster.

I probably wouldn’t do an overnight fermentation on a recipe like this – I’m fairly sure it’d be overproofed by morning unless kept in a very cool place.

Why You’ll Love This 20% Whole Wheat Artisan Sourdough Bread

• Incredible flavor: Just enough whole wheat for a nutty, earthy, roasty flavor without losing that light, fluffy crumb I love in a classic artisan loaf.
• Better for you: Whole wheat brings extra fiber, minerals, and flavor – so it’s delicious and a little more wholesome.
• Easy recipe: I cut out some of the extra, optional steps to keep this recipe simple and easy.
• Perfect chance to try new flours: swapping 20% of the bread flour for whole wheat gives you the opportunity to test out new brands, options from local flour mills, or even some of your own freshly milled flour. You’ll get the lovely flavors and complexity without worrying that it’ll weigh down your loaf.

Baker’s Timeline

This is the exact timeline I used in my 74°F (23°C) kitchen. Timing will vary depending on your unique environment, starter strength, brand of flours, etc. But this is a general guideline to help you plan.

Night before: 9pm	Feed starter
Morning: 8am	Mix dough/slap & fold
9am	Stretch & fold/slap & fold
10am	Stretch & fold
10:30am	Stretch & fold
1:30pm	Shape and refrigerate
Any time the next day	Score & bake

Ingredients in 20% Whole Wheat Artisan Sourdough Bread

• Bread flour: The backbone of the loaf. High-protein bread flour gives your dough strength and helps create that light, open crumb. I’ve been loving Central Milling High Mountain bread flour (13.5% protein) and Ballerina Farms farm flour (affiliate link; 14% protein), but any high-protein bread flour will do!
• Whole wheat flour: Adds a nutty, earthy flavor, a richer color, and a little extra chew. The Organic Whole Grain Expresso Bread Flour from Cairnspring Mills (affiliate code TSG15 for a discount) is absolutely incredible. I’ve also made a loaf like this with the Heritage Whole Wheat Bread Blend from Sunrise Flour Mills (20% off when clicking my affiliate link) – so good!
• Water: I just use room temperature water from my tap. We have well water. If you have city water with chlorine added, use bottled spring water.
• Active sourdough starter: It should be bubbly and at its peak when you mix it in for the best rise and flavor.
• Sea salt: Brings out all the flavor in the dough and helps keep fermentation on track. Avoid salt with anti-caking agents on the ingredient list. Redmond’s salt is a great option – you can get 15% off on their site with affiliate code TSG15.

Step-by-Step Instructions for 20% Whole Wheat Artisan Sourdough Bread

Step 1: Feed Your Starter the Night Before

The night before, or about 10–12 hours before you plan to mix your dough, feed your starter at a 1:5:5 ratio.

Mix 13 g starter, 65 g room-temperature water, and 65 g flour together in a clean jar. This will leave you with 23 g of extra starter to keep your starter going after this bake.

Lightly cover the jar and let it sit on the counter at room temperature overnight. By morning, it should be bubbly and at its peak.

If you need your starter ready faster, use a 1:1:1 ratio instead (45 g starter, 45 g water, 45 g flour). This usually peaks in 4–6 hours, depending on your kitchen temperature.

Check out my Sourdough Starter Feeding Ratio Calculators if you want to adjust your feeding schedules and nail your timelines every time.

Step 2: Mix the Dough

In a glass mixing bowl, stir together 350 g water and 120 g active sourdough starter with your hand or a Danish dough whisk until the starter looks mostly dissolved.

Add 400 g bread flour, 100 g whole wheat flour, and 10 g sea salt. Mix until all the flour is hydrated—about 3–4 minutes—and you’ve got a shaggy, sticky dough. 

Step 3: Dough Strengthening

Now, it’s time to strengthen our dough!

I found that three rounds, each separated by a 30-minute rest, strengthened my dough sufficiently. If you feel you need to add an extra, definitely go ahead and do that! We are looking for a strong, smooth dough that holds its shape.

I did:

1. Stretch and folds and slap and folds (rest 30 minutes)
2. Stretch and folds (rest 30 minutes)
3. Stretch and folds (cover and let finish bulk fermentation)

Start by wetting your hands so the dough doesn’t stick. Do one full set of stretch and folds: grab the top edge, stretch it up until you feel some resistance, and fold it down over itself.

Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat, working your way around until all four corners have been folded in.

Next, turn the dough out onto the counter and give it a quick round of slap and folds—about 1–2 minutes. 

Pick it up, slap the bottom half onto the counter, and fold the top over. Turn, repeat, and keep going until the surface looks smoother and the dough holds its shape a little better.

Technical note: The technical way to slap and fold is actually slap, stretch, and fold. But I find that stretching this dough before folding it over causes tearing. Reserve that extra step for a higher hydration dough!

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature until bulk fermentation is complete. 

Step 4: Monitor the Bulk Fermentation

In my 74°F (23°C) kitchen, bulk fermentation took about 5.5 hours total (it starts when you first mix the dough).

Here is what I look for before moving on to shaping:

• Bigger and puffier – risen in volume and looks puffy like a cloud
• Jiggly like Jell-O when you give the bowl a gentle shake
• Bubbles visible just under the surface and along the sides and bottom of the bowl
• Pillowy and airy when you gently tap the top

Once you see these signs, you’re ready to move on to shaping.

Step 5: Shape the Dough

Lightly flour your counter and gently turn the dough out, being careful not to deflate it too much or pop the bubbles. 

Sidebar: You might be wondering why I instruct you to roll out the bubbles in this sandwich loaf, but now I’m saying to be gentle with them here. We’re making two different types of bread with different goals. A sandwich loaf needs a tight, even crumb that can hold up to whatever you’re putting on it. But this artisan loaf? We want a more open crumb with a light, airy texture. Leaving the bubbles in the dough will also help achieve a taller loaf with better oven spring. Different bread, different approach.

Stretch it out into a loose rectangle without pulling too hard.

Imagine it divided into three vertical sections, and fold the right third over the center third, then fold the left third over that.

Then, starting at the top, roll the dough down toward you into a log, keeping the roll snug. 

When you reach the end, pinch the ends closed with your fingers, and place the dough seam-side up in a well-floured banneton. 

Stitch the seam together and lightly dust the top with rice flour (affiliate link), and cover. 

Another sidebar: I typically do the caddy clasp shaping technique, popularized by Wayne Caddy. It’s very simple – just clasp the dough together like a book and stick it in the banneton! The reason I’m not doing that here is that this dough was on the looser side, so it needed a little more help to achieve good structure and surface tension. Don’t be afraid to switch up your final shaping technique to match what your dough needs.

If your dough feels like it could use a little extra rise before the cold proof, let it sit on the counter for an extra 30–40 minutes (optional). 

Then, place it in the fridge overnight for a cold proof.

Step 6: Bake the Bread

The next day, preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C) convection with your Dutch oven inside. You want the inside of that pot really hot for the best oven spring, so once the oven beeps, let it keep heating for another 10 minutes.

Turn your dough out of the banneton onto a piece of parchment paper or a silicone sling, seam-side down. Score the top with a bread lame or sharp razor.

Parchment paper tip: If you use parchment like I do here (instead of a bread sling), consider scrunching it up a few times! This softens the parchment and prevents it from digging into your dough, which can cause creasing during baking. You can also run the crumpled parchment under water and ring it out before using – this injects a little extra steam in the Dutch oven during baking, leading to more blisters on the crust.

Carefully lift the dough (parchment and all) into the hot Dutch oven, cover with the lid, and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes, or until the crust is a deep golden brown and the internal temperature is 205–210°F (96–99°C).

Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and let it cool completely before slicing. (I know… it’s torture to wait, but cutting too soon will give you a gummy crumb, and we didn’t do all this work for gummy bread.)

FAQs

Conclusion

Simple and packed with wheaty flavor, this 20% whole wheat sourdough bread is the kind that earns a permanent spot in your baking rotation.

If you give it a try, let me know how it turned out in the comments! I’d also love to hear what flour brands and types you used.

Other staple sourdough bread recipes to have on hand:

• Classic artisan loaf
• Same-day loaf
• Overnight loaf