Name: Sourdough Brown Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 12 h 45 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 cup active sourdough starter; 2 cups whole wheat flour; 2 1/2 cups all-purpose einkorn flour; 1 3/4 cups water; 1/4 cup Gentle Sweet; 1/4 cup molasses; 1/4 cup softened butter; 2 tbsp honey; 2 tbsp cocoa powder; 1 1/2 tsp salt; Rolled Oats (optional)

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This hearty sourdough brown bread recipe is the ultimate easy sourdough recipe. It is a gorgeous loaf that goes great with a dollop of butter or makes the ultimate sandwich bread. Add this to your sourdough repertoire because it is a top-notch bread!

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My favorite thing to do during this time of the year is to organize and be in the kitchen. The winter months just lend themselves to being a more cozy time of the year. There is something special about spending more time in my kitchen and getting my home into an order that feels structured.

My einkorn sourdough starter has undergone a lot of sourdough experimenting over the last few months and has barely had a chance to settle in the fridge before I'm yanking it out for another one of my my schemes. This brown bread was no exception. I had been seeing the recipe floating around in the recipe world and when I realized that it was more of a 'dump and go' recipe, I headed straight for the fridge to get my starter all warmed up.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Equipment
Storage
Top tip
FAQ
Related
Sourdough Brown Bread

Ingredients

This sourdough brown bread is easy to make and it uses common ingredients that you may already have around your home if you do a lot of from scratch baking and cooking.

Sourdough brown bread for ingredient list

Active sourdough starter
Whole wheat flour
All-purpose einkorn flour
Water
Gentle Sweet
Molasses
Softened butter
Honey
Cocoa powder
S alt - We LOVE Redmond Real Salt
Rolled Oats (optional)

See the sourdough brown bread recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

I LOVE the fact that this recipe is a dump-and-go (at first) type of recipe. All the ingredients, except the optional oats, can be placed into a stand mixer, and no matter how you plop them in, you will still come out with a perfect pile of dough!

Add all the ingredients (except for rolled oats) to a stand mixer and mix with a dough hook for 2-3 minutes on low until everything mixes. Increase the speed and work for another 4-5 minutes until the gluten is developed and passes the windowpane test.

Transfer to a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to bulk ferment at room temperature for 8-12 hours.

After the bulk ferment, divide the dough into two equal parts.

Pre-shape by creating a ball with each piece of dough and then shape each piece by stretching the dough into a rectangle about 8" long

Fold one side into the middle and then press down. Repeat on the other side. Squeeze any extra dough into a seem. Flip the dough over so it is seam-side down. At this point, the dough should be about 10" long. Repeat for the other piece of dough. Cover and let rest for about 2-4 hours or until they have approximately doubled in size. This will depend on the temperature.

Place your shaped dough onto a lined baking sheet about 3-4 inches apart. Once the loaves are proofed, preheat the oven to 375. Score three times with horizontal slashes across the top of the dough. Brush the tops of the loaves with water and sprinkle with oats.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool before cutting

Hint: Don't get your bread too wet when you sprinkle on the oats! Just a few drops will be enough to get the oats to properly stick. If you use too much, the scoring will fade a bit.

You can watch me make this recipe in one of my YouTube videos. The chapter is marked in the video at 2:46.

Substitutions

I find that this recipe works best with a combination of einkorn flour and whole wheat regular flour, however, you can substitute various other types of flour and experiment with what works for you. Whole wheat einkorn and all-purpose einkorn do work, but the gluten structure is different and you will have a denser loaf.

Equipment

Silicon Baking Mat (or parchment paper)
Scoring Knife
Stand Mixer
Bread Hook
Glass Bowl
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Rubber Spatula
Bread Knife

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Storage

This bread stores well on the counter for up to 2 weeks. This will depend on the temperature of the house though. I typically put my bread in the refrigerator after about a week. Store in an airtight container.

Top tip

Make sure you use an active sourdough starter for this recipe. Discard will not work as well, or at all. You need to have a bubbly and active sourdough starter. Learn more about sourdough and my process with my sourdough starter here.

FAQ

Is this recipe Trim Healthy Mama Friendly?

This is an E recipe in the THM world. Please bear in mind that sourdough is a hot-button topic in the sourdough world and many people do find that they gain weight or just don't feel the best when regularly consuming sourdough. Einkorn is a great way to reduce that, but it certainly does not work for everyone. Do your research and keep close tabs on your body when starting to use sourdough more often.

Can I use different types of flour?

Yes, but I do not have personal experience with anything but the einkorn and whole wheat flour combination. If you use whole wheat einkorn flour instead of plain whole wheat, you will get a more dense loaf of bread.

Is brown sourdough bread healthy?

As with any debate on sourdough, you will need to do your research. However, I would consider this recipe 'healthy' in my book. With sourdough bread's fiber, potassium, phosphorus, and the benefits of einkorn, this is a nutrient-rich bread.

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Take a picture of your sourdough brown bread creation and tag me over on Instagram, I would love to see how your bread turned out!