I love giving my sourdough discard a second life by turning it into hybrid bread. This method keeps the bread delightfully mild, with none of the sharp tanginess typical of pure sourdough.

As I discussed in my 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe, baking with whole wheat flour requires a different strategy. Whole wheat has significantly less gluten than other flours, meaning it needs more flour to achieve the same volume. This type of bread doesn’t rise as much as white bread, and it demands higher hydration since the bran and germ absorb more water.

In this particular recipe, I used a blend of 72% whole wheat flour and 28% bread flour, the latter coming directly from my sourdough discard. The combination creates a beautifully balanced loaf with great texture and flavor.

If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any other post, please leave me a comment in the “LEAVE A COMMENT” link and I will reply you as soon as possible. Do tag me on Instagram @Bakewithpaws if you attempt on this recipe.

How To Make Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread using Hybrid Sourdough Discard Method

Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

Yudane:

70g whole wheat flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour)

80g boiling water

Main Dough:

200g sourdough discard *

190g whole wheat flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour)

1 tsp (3g) instant yeast

15g caster or brown sugar

1 tsp salt

45g milk, reserve 10g first, add in later if too dry. I used all 45g

50g egg, whisked (from 1 medium size egg)

35g butter, room temperature

Egg Wash (Optional)

1 egg + 1 Tbsp water, whisked

Utensil:

450g Loaf pan with lid (20 X 10 X 10 cm) or (8" X 4" X 4")

* I store my sourdough discard in the freezer to prevent it from turning runny and lose its gluten. I transfer it from freezer to refrigerator one night before baking. This way the discard will not be runny and will still have a lot of gluten strength when I use it.

METHOD:

Yudane Dough:

Add whole wheat flour in a bowl, pour the boiling water and mix well with spatula or spoon until no dry flour.
Cling film and leave on the counter for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. I prepared the night before.
Use directly from the fridge.

Kneading:

Put all ingredients (except butter), including all the yudane (slightly tear the dough) into a bowl of stand mixer.
Slightly combine the mixture by hand with the paddle or hook attachment before turning on the machine so that the flour will not splash out. Using the paddle attachment, mix for 2 minutes or until the dough comes together and elastic.
I usually rest the dough for 5 minutes before adding the butter.
Change to hook attachment if you use paddle attachment earlier, add butter and continue knead for about 7 - 10 minutes or until reach a reasonable window pane stage. The whole kneading process, I stopped few times to scrape down the dough from the hook to be sure it is evenly kneaded and also to prevent the motor from overheating.

1st Proofing:

Let the dough rise in a warm place (room temperature @ 28C -29C) for about 60 minutes until double in size. I usually left the dough in the same mixing bowl and cover with cling film.

Shaping:

Transfer the dough to a clean floured or slightly oiled surface then divide into 3 equal portions (about 228g per portion). Please use a kitchen scale if you want to be exact.
Form each portion to a ball. Rest for 5 minutes.
Flatten with rolling pin.
Fold right to centre and fold left overlap it. Roll out with rolling pin into long rectangle shape. Roll up the dough like Swiss Roll until a small log is formed.
Place all dough in the prepared loaf pan.

Final Proofing:

Let it rise at warm place (room temperature around 28C - 29C) for another 45 - 60 minutes or until it reaches about 1 cm - 1.5 cm below the rim of the pan.

Baking:

Preheat oven at 180C -190C (top & bottom heat) or 170C (fan-forced) for 10 - 15 minutes.
Brush with egg wash (optional) and bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. You may cover the bread with aluminium foil for the last 10 minutes if the top browning too quickly.
Remove bread from oven and let them cool on rack completely before slicing.

Yudane Dough

Main Dough

GENERAL NOTES:

SOURDOUGH STARTER

Please click this link for "How To Make Sourdough Starter" and "Sourdough Maintenance"

A healthy starter is very crucial as advised by Baking with Gina. It is advisable to feed your starter regularly if you want your bread to rise nicely and to use the starter (levain) at its peak. A starter that is fed regularly will be more active in general. If the mother starter is not strong, the bread dough will not rise a lot even though the starter is used at its peak.

GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT & WINDOWPANE TEST

Gluten forms when flour comes in contact with water. Hydration of the flour causes the sticky and stretchy protein to form, giving structure to the bread. This makes your bread trap air and rise.

Gluten in dough can be developed by autolyse, resting, kneading or folding.

The windowpane test is used to determine whether the dough has been sufficiently kneaded. By gently pulling the dough (or you may pinch off some dough) and trying to stretch it into a thin membrane. If you are able to stretch the dough paper thin and translucent without tearing, then the gluten is fully developed. However, if you can stretch it without tearing but the membrane is not transparent, then the gluten is not yet fully developed.

However, from my experience not all the recipe can achieve a thin and translucent window pane stage easily. For example low hydration and low fat dough. For such recipes, a reasonable window pane is good enough and it can be left to rest. Gluten will continue to develop while resting. Exercising restraint to not over-knead the dough prevents the gluten from being overworked and broken. Some of you may have experienced the dough breaking during the second proofing. It is because the dough is over kneaded.

The total kneading time for me is usually 15 minutes at low speeds except brioche dough with high fat percentage or dough using liquid fat which usually takes a little longer (maybe 18-20 mins).

From my experience, I found that high hydration dough with high percentage of fat will be easy to stretch and achieve a paper thin windowpane stage.

KNEADING TIME

For kneading, please regard the timing provided as an indication only. It is only meant as a guide. Timing may differ depending on the brand of flour and electric mixer used. The protein content may vary from one brand of flour to another.

FLOUR

The right flour plays a very important role in bread making. To achieve fluffy, soft and light bread, I used Japan High Gluten Flour in most of my bread baking. The protein content is around 12 - 13%.

HYDRATION

The liquid measurement given is also a guide. It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go. This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency. This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.

PROOFING

Please note that the proofing timing may also vary depending on your climate, environment, flour and your starter.

If you are unable to judge by just looking at the dough, you can do the finger poke test:

Proofing:

Lightly press the side of the proved dough with your finger. If it bounces back immediately without any indentation, it means the dough is under proved and needs more time before baking.
If the indentation stays and it doesn’t bounce back, it means it has been over proved.
If the indentation slowly bounces back and leave a small indentation, it is ready to bake.
There will be a final burst of rising once the bread is placed to bake in the oven and it is called oven spring.

WRINKLE TOP OR SHRINKING

If your bread collapses or gets wrinkled on top after removing from oven, it could be because your dough over proved during the second proofing. Please proof until the tip of the dough just reaches the rim of the pan, around 80% - 90% in size.

BAKING TEMPERATURE AND TIME

Do also note that the baking temperature and timing provided are what works for my oven and should also be regarded as a guide only. Every oven behaves a little differently, so please adjust accordingly for your oven.