Trouble Getting 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough to Rise

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dadrivr on 23 Mar 2025 at 13:53
Flat sourdough loaves

This is my first post, so I greatly appreciate any constructive guidance. I’ve been having trouble getting my 100% whole wheat sourdough loaves to rise. I tried the 100% whole wheat recipe from Bittman Bread a few times but the rise was minimal. I just tried the High-Hydration Whole Wheat Sourdough recipe from King Arthur Flour, but the results were similar. I’m attaching pictures of my recent attempt with the King Arthur Flour recipe.

Why is the bread not rising? Is it under/over-proofed? What am I doing wrong, and what can I do differently?

Some context:

  • I’ve had my 100% whole-wheat starter for a few months now. I started by feeding it at a 1:1:1 ratio, but recently I’ve been feeding it at 1:5:5. I stick it in the fridge for (up to a week) and begin feeding it a few days before needing to use it.
  • I’m using a convection oven. Not sure that matters, but noting it just in case.
  • My kitchen tends to run on the cooler side (~65 F), so I got a dough proofer (the folding one from Brod and Taylor) and have been keeping the starter and dough in there, with the temperature set at 75 F. It takes around 8 hours for my starter to double in size in the dough proofer (when fed at a 1:5:5 ratio).
  • As suggested by a rep on the King Arthur Flour baker’s hotline, I added 2 tsp diastatic malt powder to the final dough mix.
  • The Dutch ovens (6.75 Qt oval; 6 Qt round) I’m using are a good bit bigger than the dough, which allows them to spread out a lot before “rising.” I don’t know if that’s part of the issue. Nevertheless, I haven’t had the rising issue as much when using the KAF No-Kneed Sourdough recipe, which uses all-purpose flour.
  • Bulk fermentation took a bit longer than the suggested duration to achieve a 1.5x rise. Step 16 of the recipe reads “After the third fold, cover the dough and let it ferment for about 2 hours. At this point the domed top of your dough should have risen roughly 1 1/2 times (or slightly more) above its starting height. If not, your original culture may have been sluggish; or cooler room temperatures may require additional time to reach the desired mark. Don’t hesitate to add an extra 1 to 2 hours of fermentation if necessary.” I had to add an extra 1.5 hours (in addition to the specified 2 hours) to get the dough to rise 1.5 times during bulk fermentation.
  • The crumb is a bit gummy.

Thanks in advance!

view of crumbside viewoverhead view

No jokes. ( I can see the smoke coming from your ears)

Regarding 100%. It is my opinion that a reasonable amount of high protein high extraction flour will,

  1. Not effect the healthy quality of a whole grain bread.
  2. Will result oz. For oz. A much more enjoyable to eat finished product.
  3. Will be the easiest, shortest, best avenue to a well risen loaf. 

That being said, it is my contention that 100% whole grain has only one value. The sense of personal achievement gained by mastery of whole grain baking. Flavor, and texture not withstanding. 

Kind regards,

Will F.

The crumb on your loaves looks fine for 100% whole wheat. If you wish your loaves to be higher, I suggest that you look for dutch ovens (or similar) with a smaller diameter and higher sides. As far as the crumb being gummy, you could try either baking longer or allowing the loaves to cool longer before slicing. 

Bittman proofs and bakes in a 2-quart Dutch oven. In that size vessel, the loaf cannot spread.

The crumb looks very good.  Your loaves spread out to fill the Dutch Oven, and so they ended up rather low. However, they don't seem to have collapsed. So you need to do something to prevent the spread after the dough is turned out of its proofing container. Getting a good rise from whole grain flours can be challenging, but the bread looks pretty good. Gummy crumb can be caused by not baking long enough or baking at too high a temperature. It could possibly be caused by underfermenting  but your dough doesn't look underfermented. The diastatic malt could also contribute to gumminess and I would consider using less next time.

There are several possibilities:

  1. Use a lower hydration.  No matter what the recipe says, different flours absorb water differently and you will have to make adjustments. A lower hydration will make for a stiffer dough which is more likely to hold its shape. Only a few percentage points lower could make all the difference.
  2. The dough needed to have more stretch-and-fold sessions to develop its elasticity more.  Too much can work against a good rise but too little can lead to spreading out.
  3. The loaves weren't shaped well enough to prevent the spreading. There are various shaping techniques to counteract spreading. Videos of handling high-hydration dough might give you ideas. "Stitching" is one of them. If I think a loaf won't hold its shape well enough during shaping, I usually either stretch and fold it more during shaping, or I fold and roll it up one or two extra times.  This will make the loaf more elastic. The longer the proof, the more you have to counteract a tendency to spread.

Others may make additional suggestions but the above should give you a good starting point.  Basically, you seem to be on the verge of making really good-looking loaves and you only need to learn how to make a few tweaks. Experience will teach you. Remember, recipes no matter how well written should be thought of as guides or starting points.

TomP

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. You've given me a number of good things to try. I'll try these and will see how it goes. Thanks again!

That is, If you want to target the airiness of commercial sandwich bread. I have been using xylanase, glucose oxidase and lipase, in addition to ascorbic acid. They make a massive difference in volume, as much as 50%! 

Look for them in online malls. A hundred grams of each will last you decades and are worth it.
 

I started making sourdough with Bittman Bread and made several delicious frisbees much like your results.  What finally changed sourdough for me was "The Rye Baker" by Stanley Ginsburg and the Brod & Taylor proofer (which you are already using).  

After a couple of tries following Ginsburg's instructions (in the document below) I got a nice rye culture going.  I had not needed a proofer when I was making yeasted breads, but the sourdough breads were more sensitive and the proofer has made a huge difference. 

I bake the Workday 100% Whole Wheat from "Bread" 3rd edition every other week.  My wife likes it with walnuts, and I wanted to try a higher hydration (sanctioned by Hamelman in the formula notes in the book), so the recent ones in the photos have 15% walnuts @ 85% hydration.  Sometimes for reasons I don't understand I don't get the usual volume.

Here are some photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wWvjS5aPgXyNsubz6 - mostly 85% hydration with 15% walnuts

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mCi6YTwF7G3JJ7ur5 - older photos following the book base formula

 

You might try some additional folds to build gluten during fermentation.  For the 85% hydration version:

  • Mix the dough in the KitchenAid mixer per formula directions
  • Also do the stretch and folds in the book for manual mixing after the mechanical mixing
  • At 30 minutes in, more stretch and folds in the bowl
  • At 90 minutes in, coil folds in the bowl
  • At 3 hrs in, a lamination fold which is when I fold in the walnuts

 

I used to bake in a Dutch oven but found that I got equally good or better results with the bread on a baking stone and a 2nd stone on a rack above the bread https://photos.app.goo.gl/DKHmHBmZha7LrXAF7 and a steam pan below. I also spritz the bread when it goes into the oven, and again after 5 minutes in (I'm pretty sure that our oven vents the steam from the pan pretty quickly).  At 15 minutes in, I remove the steam pan and usually reduce the baking temp per the formula. 

 

This document has a link to the original formula and my notes on raising the hydration

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F9_WtuDY5QgAXz8nKgQi6OLm_3lU6vc-8SCtTIXC9Qo/edit?usp=sharing

 

You all are acting as if you have to have complete control over the process; take yourselves out of the picture for a moment: it is all about the whole wheat bread  -  specifically, the flour.

Am I missing something or did you not say where you are sourcing the flour?  What is the first step in baking bread?  Buying flour.

It is very likely that your flour is not fresh enough.  When it comes to getting a good rise in a whole wheat bread, flour freshness is key.  I am speaking here from embarrasing personal experience, trying to run a bakery in the 1970s.  Even hours can make a difference.  The man who took over my bakery brought in a flour mill and milled his own whole wheat, mixed it immediately and the rise he got on his loaves was like a public shaming.

You would have to have quite the dedication to baking whole wheat to justify the expense of a flour mill.  Perhaps you can find a miller within a day's drive of you, plan a midweek mini-vacation, convince them to sell you a retail amount of flour and see the difference a few days can make.

Coffee aficianados grind their own beans and would not consider brewing pre-ground coffee, for obvious reasons (qv. home-barista.com, coffeegeek.com).  Why are home bakers so oblivious to this?

There is a lot of discussion right here on the site about flour mills.

BB