Here\u2019s an easy sourdough recipe that\u2019s half whole wheat flour, half bread flour, and almost 100% guaranteed to give you nice oven spring and score bloom. A lower hydration formula, good gluten development, scoring twice, and high-low temp baking strategy all contribute to making this recipe turn out beautiful, tasty bread even if you\u2019re a beginner.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n Lower hydration dough is often recommended for beginners because it is easier to handle, but many experienced bakers also enjoy working with it. The relative firmness of a dryer dough tends to result in less splay when baking and more oven spring or upward score bloom. While the crumb of a lower hydration bread is usually tighter, when the gluten development and fermentation are optimized, you can get a lovely airy bread.<\/p>\n Low hydration is usually defined as 70% or less water (weight) relative to the weight of the flour in the recipe. This definition assumes the use of strong-ish white flour and doesn\u2019t carry over particularly well to other flours. For example, einkorn and spelt flours take on very little water and can feel very wet at 70% hydration, while a dough made with only whole grain hard red spring wheat can feel quite dry at 83% hydration. In the case of this recipe, which is half whole grain turkey red flour and half strong bread flour, the dough feels manageable at 74% hydration. (The flour and water from the sourdough starter are included in that calculation.)<\/p>\n The recipe below also optimizes gluten development<\/strong> with two-stage mixing in a stand mixer. If you don\u2019t have a stand mixer, you can mix once by hand, followed by several rounds of stretching and folding. Likewise, the score bloom is accentuated by a second score <\/strong>made seven minutes into the bake. You can learn more about the impact of this second cut here: Experiment: Scoring Dough Once versus Twice<\/a>. Finally the strategy of baking<\/strong> the dough for 12 minutes at 500\u00b0F, followed by 30-45 minutes at 375\u00b0F as described in @homebreadbaker\u2019s recipe for Slow Lazy Sourdough Bread<\/a>, optimizes upward spring while allowing for a thinner crust many find appealing.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/breadtopia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250602_124134ab-Copy.jpg\")
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