For my second loaf I decided to try Francis-Olive’s City Bread recipe. My boyfriend, being a good German, loves hearty, dark breads that can double as doorstops. His ears perked right up when he heard, “whole-wheat flour.” I followed the 2nd recipe on the Tartine Experiment City Bread page.

For the Levain:

1 Tbsp of rye starter

50g water

50g rye flour

Mix ingredients until combined, cover and let sit for 8-12 hours.

For the Dough:

350g all purpose flour

150g whole wheat flour

400g h20

100g rye levain

10g salt

Dissolve the levain in 375g of water, then stir in the flours until the whole thing is a shaggy mass. Cover and autolyze for 1.5 hours.

After the autolyse, stir in the 10g of salt and the 25g of leftover water. Squish through with your hand until all of the water and salt is incorporated, and the dough is a smooth mass. Let it rest for 30 minutes in the bowl.

After 30 minutes rest perform four series of turns every 30 minutes.

The dough has now been fermenting for two hours total. Let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature. Then let it ferment in the fridge for 2 more hours, covered.

After the fridge ferment, turn the dough out onto a floured workspace and shape into a loose round. Cover with a bowl and let rest for 15 minutes.

Shape into a boule and put it in a linen lined, flour dusted bowl. Leave in fridge for at least 8 hours, preferably 12-20 hours.

Preheat oven to 250C for at least 30 minutes with your baking device inside. When the oven is ready, remove dough, turn out onto a piece of backing paper, score, and pop it onto your baking tray. Steam for 30 minutes at 245C.

Turn down oven to 230C and bake until internal temp reaches 95-100C. Let cool for at least 1.5 hours.