How I did it: I was never interested in baking with industrial yeast. I was more intrigued about the art and science of sourdough, than I was interestd in bread. 8) I started by researching the matter in a very useful forum that I will not link here, as most people who would read this can't read Hebrew well enough. 8) I created my sourdough starter (I plan to write a different  entry about it), then tried one of the recipes on the forum. The result was almost inedible. I was frustrated, as everybody on the forum had reported immediate successes! I tried again and again. In time my starter matured, and my knowledge of how to fix problems improved, and my bread got better, but never great. Along the way I found Sourdogh Home (see resources) that helped a lot in promoting my knowledge and understanding. After a while I stopped eating bread because I was experimenting on different diets, so stopped baking, and stopped caring for my poor starter, who died sad and lonely. Lately, I've got my diet sorted out, and it turns out I can eat some bread. So I decided to get back to sourdough. I created a new starter, and started baking again, and am a lot happier with the results! By my second loaf, my bread is already soft, airy, cut easily, and tasty. I will write here my current recipe. It is based on Sourdough Home's 100% Whole-wheat bread, with modifications that I made thourough trial and error. On "lessons and tips" I will try to expand on what to change if you don't like something about your bread. I'm no big expert, but I will list what I know.

I forgot to add: take your starter out, feed it, and let it stand for a night. It will rise and bubble!

3/4 cup starter
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon honey
a little over 1 teaspoon salt
Mix well.
2 and 1/3 cups whole-wheat flour (I like to replace one cup with whole rye flour).
Add the flour cup by cup, each time mixing the flour into the dough until it is integrated, no dry lumps.
When it's not possible to mix by stirring, spill the dough and remaining flour on a work surface and start kneading.
When the dough is integrated, let it rest for a few minutes. It will help the dough integrate so you don't have to add more flour. Knead energetically for 15-20 minutes! No cheating! The dough should be sticky. Sorry. In my experience, nice, dry, easy-to-knead dough makes dense, heavy bread.
Make a nice ball, put a little olive oil on it and leave to rise, covered with a damp cloth, until doubled in size (depends on temperature etc.).
Deflate the dough, knead a little and make a new ball. Leave to rise until doubled in size again - it should take less time.
Deflate, create loaf, leave to rise again. Heat the oven, make a slash in the loaf so it can rise in the heat without disintegrating, and bake dor some half hour in a very hot oven.

Lessons & tips: Before touching the dough for the first time, make sure you have a clean surface to knead on. Later your hands will be dirty.
If your dough is too heavy and dense, use less flour, even if it makes the dough very sticky.
If your dough rises very quickly but is too sour, use less starter. The amount of starter you need may change with the seasons of the year: less when it's hot and vice versa.
If you use less starter until it doesn't rise so well anymore, try balancing the sourdough taste with more honey, or try adding something that adds flavour like nuts, olives... Add them before creating the loaf.
If you are making a bread in a square baking tray, make sure the dought pre-rising is big enough to reach the ends of the tray, so it will have to rise up rather than to the sides. If you're making a round loaf on a flat tray, put some heavy things around the bread so it does not become a flat pizza. (Actually, pittah).

Resources: www.sourdoughhome.com
Don't miss his page on "The window seal test"!

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May 24, 2011, 05:10AM PDT | 2 comments | 9 cheers