When I first read my Trim Healthy Mama Book, I was excited to see that there was a sour dough bread recipe in the book, meaning that sour dough bread is approved for the plan. We have a smaller family so we didn’t need that large of a recipe so I had to come up with a simple sour dough recipe that would fit our family. I asked questions in the Facebook group and one of the sisters kindly responded to me about how to make this type of bread with 100% whole wheat instead of rye and spelt as out lined in the book on page 420.
I’ve made sour dough breads for many years but had never let them ferment as long as the book stated that they needed to. That is the key to making this bread fit within the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle. It is so nice to be able to have a cost effective bread option that doesn’t cost $5.00 a loaf and can be made with inexpensive flour that is available at any grocery store.
You want to use 100% whole wheat flour for this simple sour dough bread or a mixture of 100% whole wheat and spelt. This simple sour dough doesn’t rise as high as store bought white breads but it gets pretty close.
The first thing we have to do is to make a whole wheat starter, you always want to make a starter from the flour you will be using in the bread . This is a perpetual starter, meaning that it continues to grow and produce enough starter to make bread weekly.
Due to our family size this starter will make a very small batch of starter and only 1 loaf of bread.
If you find that you need more loaves you may want to refer to the recipe on page 420 of the Trim Healthy Mama book and adjust it accordingly.
- Calories: 1715
- Fat: 31g
- Saturated fat: 4g
- Unsaturated fat: 25g
- Carbohydrates: 290g
- Sugar: 1g
- Sodium: 17mg
- Fiber: 10g
- Protein: 61g
- 1 clean and sterilized quart jar/bowl
- ¼ cup 100% whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup filtered/purified water
- ¼ cup 100% whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup filtered/purified water
- 1 cup of freshly fed starter
- 2½ cups 100% whole wheat flour
- 2½ TBS vital wheat gluten (optional)
- 1 cup filtered/purified warm water
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- Place ¼ cup purified water and ¼ cup 100% whole wheat flour into the jar, mix until combined.
- Loosley cover with a coffee filter and rubber band or jar band.
- Place in a warm spot on counter.
- Stir starter with a wooden/plastic spoon.
- Add ¼ cup purified/filtered water and ¼ cup 100% whole wheat flour to jar. Stir to combine, it's okay if there are a few small lumps.
- Recover with coffee filter and allow to sit.
- Place1 cup of freshly fed starter into your mixing bowl.
- Add 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 cup of 100% whole wheat flour and 1 cup of water to bowl. Mix
- Allow this to rest for 5 minutes.
- Add additional flour with vital wheat gluten and mix until combined.
- Place additional 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a clean bowl, turn dough ball to coat lightly.
- Cover and allow to rise for 2½ hours or double in size.
- Deflate dough and re shape into a ball and place back into the bowl. Cover again and let rise aprox 1 hour or double in size again.
- Carefully remove dough from bowl and shape into a loaf, place into loaf pan and allow to rise an additional 30 minutes.
- Slash top of loaf with a sharp knife and bake at 350^ for 60 minutes or until done.
- Allow to cool completely and slice
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Leanne | The Transplanted Southerner says
I’ve always wanted to make sourdough bread, but was very intimidated. Your post seems easy to follow and I love that the recipe is small (we have a large family, but I try things in small batches because we have a picky family LOL) so you don’t get overwhelmed on the first try!
judy says
It seems intimidating at first… I was too, but once I tried it… it’s been a life saver when I needed to make bread, pancakes or even muffins
Brenda says
how long does the starter have to sit before you can use it the first time
judy says
You have to feed it for about 5 days, and then when baking the bread stretch the rising time to about 5 hours so that it has time to ferment.
Carrie says
You need to add this information to the recipe.
Paula says
Can this be made in a bread machine?
Judy says
this one has to ferment, but you could add the starter and the flours to the bread machine 🙂 so yes it can
Donna says
Do you just continue feeding the starter and pull it out when needed to make another loaf?
I’ve been eager to try making sourdough also since my family loves it, but it’s so expensive to buy. But what I’ve read about having to pull some starter out every day before feeding and either tossing it out using it seemed like a lot of bread or waste each day.
Like you said, most start with very large batches, but this seems much simpler & more manageable.
Judy says
I feed my starter daily…. this makes a small starter… I use enough in my weekly baking that it doesn’t over run the kitchen… I have never pulled starter and thrown it away to do a feeding… each feeding builds the amount of starter so that when you do bake with it, it builds volume so that you can use it to bake with again… the older the starter is the developed the taste will be.
donna says
Awesome! Thanks so much. This is so much simpler than what I have read about making sourdough. I’m excited to try it on the next few days. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Judy says
Sourdough can be intimidating until you get the hang of it… just know that in cooler climates the yeast isn’t as prevelant… so if you can start it in the spring or during the summer/early fall it works better.
Donna says
I’m in Houston, so it’s still plenty warm here. We’re excited it’s in the low 80s here 😉
Debbie Schultz says
I had some sourdough starter in fridge and took it out and feed it for a few days! Made the bread and it turned out great! ( I was afraid it wouldn’t rise without yeast) the only thing missing was salt! I will make it again, except I will add Himalayan pink salt! Thank you!
Laura says
So after my first bread baking, does the starter still need to sit on the counter for daily feedings?
I’m sorry you probably relayed this information somewhere but I don’t want to read every question and reply to find out. Thanks. I’m excited to bake my first load tomorrow. It’s day 6 so…5 hours of rising?
Judy says
you can leave it on the counter for daily feedings or place it into the fridge if you need to skip a day or two. and yes 5 hours of rising time.
Terese Main says
When you rest the starter in the fridge, do you still feed it daily?
Judy says
I feed it weekly when it rests and it should be brought to room temp before feeding it.
Rebecca says
The bread turned out great the first time I made it, but the second time it was even better with the addition of about 1 1/2 teaspoons of Himalayan pink salt. Mmmmmm! Salt makes the flavors ten times better!
Katherine N. says
When did you add your salt? I just made this for the first time and thought it definitely needed salt but didn’t know when to add.
Kathy Ulrich says
Thank you for the great instructions! I have been wanting to make and use a sourdough starter completely with einkorn flour. Would I need to make any changes to how you make this?
Judy says
No ma’am it should work just fine
Stacia says
How do you mix this bread to bake it?
Judy says
I normally use a wooden spoon until I can’t use it any more and then I mix and knead with my hands
Stacia says
Should my starter look very watery? The water even separates.
Judy says
yes just stir it back together before you feed it 🙂
Teresa says
Can you use sprouted wheat flour?
Judy says
if you want to yes 🙂
Laura says
So how long do you let the dough sit in the frig to ferment further before making the bread for thm?
Judy says
I let my dough sit out on the counter, this is not a cold fermented dough.
Brittany says
Hi Judy,
I am at 2.5 hours and my dough hasn’t risen at all! Is this normal? Should i just let it sit longer to see if it does? I followed directions well and my starter has been going for 7 days. I’m really hoping that it is ok!
Judy says
I would allow it to sit and make sure it isn’t anywhere that there are drafts… it needs to be warm… if you preheat your oven and set it on the counter next to it that’s when I have the best luck with bread rising… it will also rise more in the oven when baking.
Brittany says
Thank you! My first batch ended up not rising much at all even in the oven. My second batch i didn’t put as much flour in it and it was stickier and rose beautifully! Thank you for making the bread making process so easy to understand! I’m excited to have weekly bread now that’s on Plan!
Judy says
YAY!!!
Karen Ward says
My starter looked, and smelled good. Made my first loaf, today and it just didn’t want to rise! The 3 rises were over about 6+ hours, and I baked it. Still didn’t rise, much. So it turned out, dense, and very pungent. Should I have kneaded rather than stirred? Tried without gluten. Was that a mistake? Used 100 whole wheat flour for starter and bread.
Judy says
Gluten adds a lightness to the bread — 100% whole wheat is going to be dense without the addition of the gluten
Shelly Kamp says
Hello! I saw in your first paragraph you mentioned using 100% whole wheat or a combination of that with spelt. What ratio would you suggest? Half and half or something different? Thank you
Judy says
Hi Shelly, The original recipe calls for 1/2 rye and 1/2 spelt… so I would think that mixing it in that ratio would still give you good results. Just know that if you are going to use the flour in your bread you will want to also use it in the same ratio in the starter. 🙂
Stephanie says
I was so excited to find your post. Have been wanting to try sourdough, but intimidated by the process. Yours looks so simple. I started it 5 days ago. On day 2 & 3 I was seeing quite a few bubbles and some raising. Now, however, it isn’t raising at all. Is this normal, or does it mean I did not catch any yeast? Don’t want to try making the bread if the starter is not good. Thanks so much!
Judy says
if you feed it and let it sit for an hour… see if there are bubbles again…if there are the starter is fine .. if not you will need to make a new starter…as the weather warms there will be more yeast in the air, wild starters are funny in the cooler months, because there isn’t as much yeast in the air… nothing you did wrong 🙂
Stephanie says
Thanks for the response. Not seeing any bubbles now. I think I may wait a few more weeks for warmer weather. Maybe find a warmer spot to keep it also. Don’t want to give up, I miss having bread once in awhile since being on Trim Healthy Mama plan.
Theresa says
My dough is not forming a ball should I add more flour to it?
Judy says
Yes, I normally work in about a 1/2 cup depending on the temps in the house. you do want this to be a sticky dough so that it will rise well
Grace gannon says
I have really wanted to make sourdough for some time. I have tried with Rye and it did not work at all! I was wondering about the amount of time your bread sits before it’s baked. I was under the impression that after mixing in the starter to new flour to make bread you’d need to let the dough sit for at least a few days so that the yeast could eat out the sugars in the newly added flour. Could you shed some light on the souring process and how long is sufficient to make it ‘safe’ to eat on THM?
Judy says
Hi Grace,
The fermenting times are loosely based on the Sourdough recipe that is in the original THM book. This is a much smaller recipe as we had no need for the large number of loaves that the original recipe produced (we are a family of 2). So to be honest I was careful to keep the timing correct to stay on plan as I wrote this and it hasn’t failed me. I hope that helps to clear up the confusion.
Heather says
So for the actual bread recipe…when it calls for the 2.5 cups of flour, is it still on plan even though it’s not sprouted?
Judy says
Allowing the bread to ferment after adding the flour for the listed times does make this on plan.
Heather says
Thank you so much! 😉 Can’t wait until my starter is ready!
Deb says
So I could use all spelt flour instead of half and half with whole wheat or would it not rise much then?
Judy says
if you use all spelt you may need to decrease your water — and no it will not rise as high as whole wheat or the 1/2 & 1/2 mix.
Stephanie says
Would this fall under S, E, or crossover? And could this somehow be made into a pizza crust?
Judy says
this is an E recipe I wouldn’t try to make pizza from it because of the ingredients
Cindy Hannon says
We travel a lot. If I make this starter to bake bread and we go away for a week or two, can I place the starter in the fridge till I return? Then, warm it to room temp, feed again daily? When would it be ready to use again (assuming the other points are okay). I am overseas now, but anxious to get back home to my own kitchen and food!
Judy says
you can store it in the fridge for about 7-10 days before it needs to be fed again…. keeping it there slows the fermentation process. And yes the process you mentioned is exactly how I’ve done it for years so that I don’t get over run with starter 🙂 I’d say it would be ready 3-5 days into your feeding cycle after rewarming to room temp.
Carolyn says
I made this today for the first time, and I took mine out of the oven at 35 minutes. My oven temperature is correct (checked with an oven thermometer). Any ideas on why my bread got done so quickly?
Glenda says
I need to get brave and try this. Looks like a manageable smaller recipe – good for just hubby and me!
Judy says
I’m working on some edits for this ☺
jackie m says
I LOVE bread. How many slices should I cut to make it fit into plan? I can’t count on myself to just figure it out on my own! :> Thanks!
Judy says
This should be about 12 to 14 slices. It’s best to cut this bread cold so that you can get thinner slices.
jackie says
thanks!
Angela says
~ what is the flour that you add with vital wheat gluten? Thank you I also have mine in a sourdough starter crock covered , is that ok? Or should I loosen the cover? ~
Judy says
I normally use 100% whole wheat, but you can use spelt or any other whole grain flour 🙂
Karen says
I was so happy to find this site. Just me and hubby, here, and it’s chilly, so I have my starter on a heating pad, set at “low.” First bread I’m attempting in years! Thank-you! So many questions answered!
Judy says
I know it seems a bit odd to some on the smaller size recipes, but you have to adjust for family size in so many ways when we become empty nesters.
Welcome and please let me know if I can help in anyway.
Suzanne Swift says
I made this today it turned out perfect It was so easy
Judy says
YAY!! 🙂
Karen says
Trying this, again…warmer, and smells and looks better. Added the gluten and pink salt, and now at 2.5 hours, it still doesn’t seem to have risen. It’s on a heating pad. Did I understand that it may take 5 hours for the FIRST rise? Thanks!
Cheryl says
I’m really confused bc I thought the flour you add to the starter had to be spelt or something similar. For the sourdough to be THM approved.
Judy says
Nope regular 100% whole wheat is acceptable so long as it is soured or sprouted 🙂
Janelle says
Hi! I was wondering if the flour that u add on the day u bake it soured enough for it to be on plan for Trim Healthy Mama? Thanks!!
Judy says
yes the flour is fermented long enough for THM 🙂
Jess says
You say that you have to use the same flour in the starter as the recipe your baking, curious as to why this is. I’ve made the starter with rye, from the THM book, but I’m wanting to use whole wheat for the actual bread. Will this be okay? Do I need to adjust anything?
Thanks!
Judy says
It should be fine, I normally just use the same flour in both for ease of use in troubleshooting. with a rye starter it may not rise as high as with a whole wheat starter though 🙂
Hazel says
Hi,
I’m hoping to try this recipe this week, and have a starter going. Would it be possible to let the first rise happen in the fridge for ~10 hours, then pull it out for 2nd and 3rd rise? It would be convenient for me to mix it before work, then finish afterwards. If not, could the dough be refrigerated for a few hours after the first rise then taken out and continued after? Thanks!
Judy says
yes that would be fine 🙂
Cheri says
In the recipe you say to use the same flour in the starter that you use to make the bread. What if you run out/can’t find the same flour? Can you just use what’s available?
Judy says
I would use what you have available, however to be on plan it needs to be a whole grain flour