My 100% WW sourdough sandwich loaves

Thanks all!  Crumb shots of the smaller loaf:

Now, I am one of those people who don't use recipes.  I guess my 20 years experience of yeast bread making got the best of me.  Plus, I am a full time mom with a part time job so measuring and weighing ingredients to make breads is the last thing in my mind.  I did however, scribble something down as I made these two loaves since these are going to good homes. I would like to keep track of what I am making for others.  Here's my notes:

2 C of WW starter (sponge was made over night but hydration not quite 100%, probably somewhere between 90 and 95% hydration when I used it)  If I used a sponge over 100% hydration I probably would use more WW flour to make up the volume.

3-1/2 C WW flour

2 T sugar

1 tsp salt

3 T vital wheat gluten

1/2 C whey from my yogurt; used it simply because I had some and didn't know what to do with it.

1/2 C plus 1 tablespoon of water (I added one tablespoon of water because the dough was not moist enough)

I mixed everything in my Kitchen Center.  First 2 minutes slow to just stir things together.  Then I gradually added the WW flour while mixer's working.  Total kneading time about 17 minutes.  I know, some said too much kneading should be avoid when using WW flour but it worked for me.

Grased large bowl, covered it and let rise for 4 hours in a cold oven.  Punched down dough, separated into one small and one large loaf.  Small dough was 1 lb. 2 oz and large one was 1 lb. 12 oz.  Put in loaf pans and let rise for another 2 hours in cold oven with a pan of warm water (just warm, not hot.  I don't cover my dough during second rise so I use a pan of warm water to prevent the dough from drying out). Since these are whole wheat I didn't want to overproof them.  Two hours I figured would be enough and still have some oven spring. 

I didn't even take the loaves out of the oven.  Just turned oven to 350F and baked away.  Oven spring took place in the first 10 minutes during warm up.  About 20 minutes into baking, I removed the pan of water because I didn't want the crust to be too thick.  Finished baking small loaf 45 minutes and large loaf 1 hour.  Internal temperature was 190F for both.  The baked weighs for the small loaf exactly 1 lb, the large one 1 lb and 9.5 oz. Crust was a bit thicker than I wished but the crumb was absolutely soft.  I will remove the pan of water a bit sooner next time or cover the loaves with tin foil to prevent too much browning of the tops.

I did brush a little melted butter on tops when they came out just to make them look a bit more attractive.  The butter tends to soften the top crust a bit since I browned them a bit too much in the oven. 

I posted my last answer before rushing to pick up my son from school.  Came home and read my own post and I was terrifed how arrogant it might sound.  I must apologize.  I didn't mean to give impression that I was too good to measure and weight my ingredents.  I meant to say that my 20 years of yeast bread experience spoiled me (because yeasted breads are very forgiving and that I didn't need to follow a recipe to the exact).  Plus I was always busy running between home, work, and my son's school, and that's why I couldn't take time to measure my ingredients properly. 

I am a  newbie to sourdough and I have already learned a lot from all of you.  Being arrogant is the last thing in my mind.  So if my message came across that way, please forgive me.  I yet have a lot to learn from each one of you.  Best regards.

Thanks Pamela and Renee!  I feel relief to know that I didn't give that impression here.  I had never done any sourdough until I joined TFL 6 weeks ago.  In fact, I used SourdoLady's recipe to make my starter and it has been working very well for me.  I fall in love with sourdough and I have decided to do most of my breads sourdough because my goal is to feed my family with the best foods, within my power.  Making sourdough breads is one of the many things that allow me to do just that.

I feel very blessed to be part of this community because in the short 6 weeks I have learned so much just from posting and reading blog etc.  I always love baking breads and I will never stop that. 

Once again, thanks for all your comments.

Jeff, I used regular store bough whole wheat flour for these two.

It does look a bit white... could be my camera.  But I am sure the bag of flour in my kitchen is 100% whole wheat.  My starter is also 100% whole wheat so that's 100% there.

I think it's the flash of my camera; it tends to turn everything paler than it is.  Just curious about your white wheat suggestion, I went to check the bag but it just said "whole wheat flour" so I have no clue.

I wish there were more bakers in my area so we could purchase a large shipment of wheat together.  Unfortunately, bread making is a lost art here.  I have some winter wheat berries in the basement as part of our food storage but I don't get to use them all the time because once I grind the flour I have to use it up rather quickly.  I can't afford to let the flour go rancid.  For convenient and economic reasons I purchase whole wheat flour from a very busy grocery store.  I had the same challenge in keeping the flour fresh so I used to buy one 5-lb bag at a time.  Now that I am making breads for a few families in a close circle, I can use up the flour quick enough to buy 10K at a time. 

Hi FLGal, yes, I stir down the sponge before measuring it.  The hydration level of my sponge varies from day to day.  I find my starter very forgiving and I don't use a strict measuring method for feeding.  If my sponge is too thin I use more flour (when making a dough) to make up the volume; too thick, use less.  I did an experiment once to make a 100% hydration sponge, and its weigh was approximately 8.5 - 9 oz in a cup.  Once again, the weight depends on how active your starter is at the point of measurement.