White Sonora Loaf

This loaf was made from 100% (except for the flour in my starter) fresh ground White Sonora wheat. The berries arrived this week from Breadtopia and the first thing made, because it is classified as soft wheat, was biscuits and they were so tasty that I decided to try a small loaf to see how it performed with natural leavening, a combination of sourdough and yeast water. The dough was extensible but not very elastic as expected with a softer wheat. This may be why the loaf split in places other than where scored or it could be that I underproofed. The bread has an excellent tasting soft crumb and a nice crust. I recommend trying this wheat.

Sorry somehow uploaded two of the same pictures. Here is a crumb shot.

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Interesting. I got what seems like very similar results. This is the same Sonora berries, double-milled as I described here, 100% whole grain.

Very similar crumb to yours. Given how non-elastic (friable) the dough felt, I was expecting a really dense loaf without much oven spring, but was pleasantly surprised.

I was expecting a brick and amazed when the lid came off the DO at how well the loaf sprung. This is actually the kind of crumb that I most like so was really happy with how the wheat baked. The taste of White Sonora is wonderful and the story behind it only enhances the enjoyment.
Stu

@titanpilot2004 and @homebreadbaker, thanks for inspiring me to try this. I baked a 100% whole White Sonora loaf today, and it turned out pretty great. I bought a Mockmill 100 from Breadtopia a couple of weeks ago, and got Red Fife, White Sonora, and Durum berries as part of the deal. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised with the loaf, since everything I read said that White Sonora was not well suited for bread, certainly not in a 100% WW loaf. I didn’t get the oven spring that either of you got (especially Paul) but the end result is not too shabby.

As I’ve done before when using 100% whole wheat, I followed Eric’s 100% whole spelt recipe, but with 380 g of water rather than 350 g. I figured that given its lower gluten content White Sonora might behave a bit like spelt (it doesn’t). The dough was much denser and stiffer than spelt, especially at the end of bulk fermentation. Handling this was challenging; I performed four stretch and folds and the dough ripped a bit the first couple of times. A hole or two opened up again at the end of bulk when I was trying to smush it out into a rectangle during the pre-shape. I was concerned I hadn’t added sufficient water. It seemed especially dense and even dry when I pulled it out this morning after an overnight final proof in the fridge.

I inserted a thermometer at the end of baking, and the probe went in surprisingly easily – too easily, and I worried the interior might be gummy, despite the temp reading 210 F. However the interior is nice – dense and moist in a good way, not at all gummy, and the crust is crispy. The taste is mild and the sourdough tang comes through (my starter has been great lately). The bread is delicious, especially lightly toasted and slathered with butter.

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Here’s the recipe:

530 g freshly milled white Sonora
380 g water
60 g starter (1/4 cup stirred down)
9 g salt
2 T agave syrup

Cool! I’ve wondered about white sonora as the only flour in a bread. Looks great! Good to know about the thirstiness.

Question: how would describe the texture of the bread itself? Is it dry or moist almost tacky to the touch?

While my loaves look like yours I am uncertain as to how the bread itself should feel?

Any insights are welcome, thanks, — Nicodemus