For my latest loaf of sourdough I used a white flour levain added to 50% unbleached all purpose white flour from King Arthur and 50% Bob’s Red Mill 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat. This flour combination made mixing and kneading the dough much easier than working with 100% white flour. I let the Kitchen Aid knead my ingredients for 10 minutes at alternating settings of 2 and 4. At the lower setting, the dough tends to climb up the mixing hook. To make sure the dough kneaded, I increased the mix rate to 4 which pushed the dough down and to the sides of the bowl. I then kneaded the dough by hand into a ball and let it rest for 45 minutes.

I easily kneaded the 50/50 dough into a proofing loaf to fit my banneton. I had good elastic gluten without a lot of stickiness. I placed my loaf in the banneton in my oven to proof at 85F. My loaf doubled in size in about 6 hours. Here’s the result after baking at 464F for 30 minutes.

I tried a few slices in a sandwich for lunch the next day. The soft, spongy nature of the bread from the white flour balanced an earthy quality imparted to it by the whole grain.