gistfile1.txt

1 kilo whole wheat flour
700 g water
2 tbsp sugar/honey
1/2 cup starter
3 tsp salt

Measure out and mix the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. You
probably want to mix the dry ingredients together, then dissolve the
starter in the water, then pour the starter-water mixture in, as is
often done when making sourdough bread. Notice that the hydration
ratio is pretty high, about 70%. Well, that’s because whole wheat is a
pretty thirsty flour. You might need to abandon whatever you’re using
to mix and use your hands to get all the flour hydrated. Partway
through the mixing, the dough will look pretty weird. You might want
to add a little more water, but just stick with it for a couple
minutes and see how it turns out before doing so.

Knead for a minute or two. My dough had a kind of tacky consistency,
but wasn’t really sticky the way most high-hydration doughs are.

Cover the bowl with another container or with plastic. After 30
minutes, dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and stretch
and fold a few times. Do this again twice for a total of 3
stretch-and-fold sessions at 30 minute intervals for a total of 90
minutes between mixing and the last stretch-and-fold.

The dough will become substantially more structured. As usual, you
want to use “gentle but decisive” movements with your hands when
working with the dough.

Let the dough sit out at room temperature in the covered mixing bowl
overnight. In the morning, stick it in the refrigerator. Leave the
dough covered in the refrigerator all day.

That evening (about 24 hours after you first mixed the ingredients),
pull the dough out and shape each loaf into a boule. Let rise in a
proofing basket or a towel lined with cornmeal, wheat bran, semolina
flour, or whatever you like.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough will be ready
when it’s risen a goodly amount and/or when it holds an indentation
when you press it with your finger, the same way the dough is ready
with Jim Lahey’s basic no knead recipe, about an hour and a half or
so.

Score the loaves just before baking. You might want to go kind of
deep, because my loaves have torn like hell despite giving them a
goodly 1/4” scoring with my lame.

Bake the loaves simultaneously or one at a time in a clay baker or
dutch oven with the lids on for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and
bake for an additional 10-20 minutes until the bread is done and it
reaches the desired color.

Makes 2 loaves. Enjoy.

The choice to refrigerate and extend bulk fermentation is optional. A single bulk fermentation of 6-12 hours should suffice.

The dough will feel and look weird when you initially mix it until you knead it for a minute or two. Literally just 10 to 15 solid folding actions will make it look like bread dough. It will have a tacky, but not overly sticky feel to it.

Also, the spacing between the stretch and folds at the beginning doesn't have to be exactly 30 minutes, judging from similar recipes I've seen where they go as short as 15 minutes between, but 30 minutes is what I do.

I don't know why I wrote this recipe with the assumption that you'd need two whole loaves at once. Obviously just cut the ingredient amounts in half for one loaf.