(1-recipe) Journey to perfect a 100% WW Sourdough Pullman Loaf

The wife has tasked me to come up with a sandwich bread recipe our family can bake at least once a weak to completely replace our regularly purchased box store sandwich bread.

Requirements

• Soft and light
• 100% whole wheat
• Recipe must be easily repeatable and easy to execute.
• Recipe must be designed for a covered pullman loaf pan.
  (https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/pain-de-mie-pan-pullman-loaf-pan-13)
• My 12 year old daughter must be able to bake the bread from start to finish
• Sourdough leavening only.
• From start to finish, the bread must be completable in 1 day.
• Process must exist to enable the baker to know with reasonable certainty that the loaf is perfectly proofed.
• Dough needs to contain a few softened chewy seeds, grain berries, etc. for texture and flavor. 

Plan

I am going to start with a txfarmer's recipe (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21575/sourdough-100-whole-wheat-oatmeal-sandwich-bread-whole-grain-breads-can-be-soft-too) and modify from there. I imagine it is going to take me somewhere between 5 to 10 bake days to hammer out the base recipe. To help perfect the proofing, I am going to use an aliquot jar.

At first, I am going to leave out any interesting seeds, nuts, and berries until the base recipe is sorted out.

My goal at first will be to get an optimal texture, hydration level, and rise.

To keep the process as simple as possible, I am going to at least at first, try to get away without any folding of the dough during the bulk rise.

First Attempt

Ingredients

• 30g (6%) sourdough starter (50:50 hard red)
• 50g rolled outs
• 30g (6%) honey
• 10g (2%) non-iodized salt
• 30g (6%) virgin olive oil
• 450g (90% if you include rolled oats) well water
• 450g hard white wheat (sifted to remove bran)
• sifted bran to be used as topping

Process

• 0:00: In large mixing bowl, add: 450g of boiling water, 50g rolled oats, 30g honey, 10g salt. Mix and let sit for 10 minutes.
• 0:10: Mix in 30g olive oil
• 0:11: Without kneading, mix the 450g of hard white wheat to combine into a shaggy mess. Let autolyze for 10 minutes
• 0:21: Smear 30g starter over the top of the dough mess. Use mixer or hand to knead at medium speed for 5 minutes.
• 0:26: Transfer dough to proofing container with lid. Siphon off 50g of dough to aliquot jar.
• Estimate a 2 hour rise time, but will move to next step when aliquot jar shows 2x rise.
• 2:26: Preshape dough into ball, let sit for 10 min.
• 2:36: Shape dough into log and place into prepared pullpan pan, cover with plastic wrap.
• Estimate a 1.5 hour rise time, but will move to next step when aliquot jar shows 3.5x rise.
• 3:36: Preheat oven 375dF
• 4:06: Assuming aliquot jar shows 3.5x rise, sprinkle bran on top of loaf, put lid on pullman and stick in oven for 45 minutes.
• 4:56: Pull from oven, transfer loaf to rack. Let rest until cool, probably 1 hour.
• 5:56: Slice using slicer then put loaf in plastic bread bag to keep it soft.

I am going to get my butt off the couch and try this out. I hope it all goes well.