Here is the recipe for the SF bread I showed on the other post. You should have a digital scale and thermometer to get accurate weights and finished temp on bread. Note that there are ox as well as grams given for each item. You need to have your wild yeast already going well before you do this recipe . Then you make the starter and cont. with the dough. PLease ask any quesitons. c ( the yeast at the end of the recipe is opt. I did not need it. The starter is plenty of leavening. ) Sourdough Starter (SF Sourdough Bread) ### (### ounces) (### grams) xxx ### Golf ball size 3 oz. 85g "mother"starter (the "mother" starter can be cold from the refrigerator or at room temperature) 9 oz 255g Unbleached bread flour . 6 oz. 170g Water (room temperature 18 oz. Total 1. Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (or mix by hand). Mix on slow speed for one minute and then increase to medium for about 30 seconds. The dough (which we will call "starter" from this point on) should feel like regular French bread dough, tacky or slightly sticky. Adjust flour or water, if needed. 2. Transfer the starter to a lightly floured work surface and hand knead for about 30 seconds. Place it in a lightly oiled bowl or container, cover the bowl (not the starter) with plastic wrap or a lid, and leave at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours, or until the starter increases in size by about 1 1/2 times. If you plan to use the starter on the same day, allow another hour of fermentation so that it nearly doubles in size. Otherwise, put the starter in the refrigerator. It will be good for up to four days. SF Sourdough Bread ### (### ounces) (### grams) xxx ### Use all 18 (1# 2 oz.) 510g Wild yeast starter (see below for instructions) 4 cups 20 oz. (1# 4 oz.) 567g Unbleached bread flour 2 teaspoons table salt; OR 2 1/2 teaspoons Mortons Kosher salt or 0.75 oz. 14g Salt 1 cup plus 5 ounces 13oz 369g Water (lukewarm) 2 1/4 teaspoons 0.25 oz 7g Instant yeast (optional) . 51.75 oz. (3# 3 oz.) Total 1. Build and ripen your starter according to the instructions above, at least one day and not more than three days prior to making this final dough. 2. Transfer the ripened starter to a lightly floured work surface and cut it up into about 10 pieces. In a mixing bowl, combine the starter pieces with the flour and salt. If using instant yeast, sprinkle it into the lukewarm water and whisk it to dissolve the yeast. Let it sit for 1 minute to hydrate, then pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients. If not using instant yeast, simply add the water to the mixing bowl. Mix with the dough hook on low speed for 2 minutes (or by hand, using a large spoon) to form a coarse ball of dough. It should be very tacky and slightly warm. Let the ball of dough sit for 5 minutes. 3. Resume mixing on low speed for 2 additional minutes, adding additional flour or water, if necessary, to make a soft, supple, very tacky ball of dough. Increase the speed to medium high for about 15 seconds to more fully develop the gluten (or, if mixing by hand, knead for an additional minute). 4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and hand knead for a few seconds to form it into a ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl (large enough to hold the dough when it doubles in size), cover the bowl tightly, not the dough, with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator. It will be ready to use the next day and for up to three days (Note: if you need to bake the dough on the same day that you mix it, for the yeasted version allow two hours for the first rise at room temperature, or 4 hours for the first rise if not using instant yeast, and then proceed to shaping and baking as described below). 5. Day of Baking: (Note: You do not have to use all of the dough, but can cut off, with a scissors or a knife, the amount of dough you wish to bake and return the remaining dough to the refrigerator where it will be good for up to 4 days.) For the no yeast version, remove the dough from the refrigerator 6 hours before you plan to bake it (4 hours to wake up and rise, then shape it, then 2 hours for final proofing). . For the no yeast version, after the 4 hour fermentation period, gently transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, degassing it as little as possible. 6. Shaping: Divide the dough with a pastry blade into the desired size (suggested size 16 oz. for a 1 pound loaf; 24 oz. for a 1 1/2 pound loaf, etc. You can also bake the entire dough as a large, 3 pound miche (round, country loaf) or as a large torpedo loaf. Shape and proof the loaf as shown on page 00 . You can raise the dough free-standing, or in floured bannetons (proofing baskets), or on couches (linen proofing cloths), the same as you would for traditional French bread. Allow 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the final proofing; the dough will increase in size by about 50%. It may spread as it rises, but it will rise as it bakes. 7. Allow 30 minutes to preheat the oven to 500 F./260 C.. If you have a baking stone, position it in the middle of the oven and preheat it along with the oven (allow an extra 15 minutes for preheating the stone thoroughly). Also, place a cast iron frying pan or a sheet pan on the lowest shelf to preheat along with the oven and stone, for steaming. Score the dough in the design style you prefer . 8. Transfer the dough to the oven either with a peel or on the pan in which it is rising (if free standing). Pour one cup of hot water into the steam pan (be careful to cover any glass oven windows with a towel in case of splash-back that could crack your window; also, wear an oven mitt to protect against steam burns). Reduce the temperature to 450 F./232 C. and bake for 12 minutes (note: if baking a large miche, reduce the oven another 25 °F.). Then, rotate the bread or the pan for even baking, and continue baking until the loaf is done, about 15 to 35 minutes, depending on the size of the loaf. The bread should have a rich, caramelized color, sound hollow when thumped on the bottom, and register approximately 210 F. /90 C. in the center of the loaf. Cool on a rack for at least one hour before serving.

You might want to go ahead and get started with the culture as it takes a bit for some folks to get it going. If you will use the bit of rye as suggested on The Fresh Loaf site I linked you will have a little more luck. Don't put any regular yeast. Resist using anything else...pineapple juice etc. Just use the formula. And by the time you have it the bread will be gone. You can use any discard as an additive to almost anything you are making. Just throw it in...quick breads,pancakes,waffles..you name it. Let me know if you would like any more info. I don't know about a sep , thread...what do you think ???? c

If you don't do enough baking to keep sourdough starter going in the refrigerator it can be frozen. Spread it out on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Let it air dry for a couple days...until it crumbles easily. Or, you can dry it in a dehydrator. Put it in a Zip-Lock or better still a Lock 'n Lock - type container & freeze crumbled. To use, add a tablespoon or two when making fresh dough. You can also freeze starter in liquid form. /tricia

Primer: Pre-ferment is a method by which a small dough is made of yeast, flour and water, to develop the activity and flavor of the yeast, usually overnight. "Ferment" refers to the yeast activity in the final bread dough. Biga (Italian) and levain (French) are pre-ferments. Usually, however not exclusively, bigas are made with commercial yeast, and levains are made with sourdough starter or saved levain starter. Those distinctions refer to the origins of the words. Many bakers use the words interchangeably. If you're not sure, just say "pre-ferment" and you're covered. Similarly, banneton, a woven basket, usually lined with cloth (French) and brotform, a coiled basket, less often lined with cloth (German) are used interchangeably for both types. In English, you can say "bread form" or "dough basket". Many people say "proofing basket", but I don't care for the word "proof" as a synonym for "rise". I'm not old, but I remember proving cake yeast before dry yeast was stable, but fresh yeast could have died. The yeast was proven (i.e., "proofed"), when the biga rose. The rises of the main dough were a given unless something really bad happened. Nowadays, people just toss in dried yeast and expect it to rise, and it does, so they proof in the baskets. This is a persnickety quibble that has no real meaning to anyone but me. :) Hydration refers to the weight of water in the dough based on the amount of flour, and is usually expressed as a percentage. The flour is always 100%. If there are different flours in the dough, then they have partial percentages, e.g., 95% unbleached white flour and 5% whole wheat (a substitute for European style bread flour). Add them up and they equal 100% because the flour is always 100%. This allows one to discuss, clearly, the amount of water in the dough, which can be more useful than adjectives such as loose, wet, sticky, tight, tacky, etc. If you have 1000g total of flour in your dough, and your recipe calls for 68% hydration, you would use 680g of water. If you have 650g of white flour, 120g of whole wheat, and 30g of rye flour, for a total of 800g flour, 68% hydration would mean 544g of water. These percentages really only apply to what's in the bowl. When you do your stretch and folds on additional flour, you're changing the percentage. When you wet your hands to do them, you're also changing the percentage. So they make it easier to talk about baking, but every baker is still going to have slightly different results. Factor in environment--flour absorbs humidity from the air, and also releases it and dries out. It also has a fat component, though much less with white flour, especially bleached. (Put your white flour in a half full, air tight container for a year (i.e., trapping in some air so oxidation will take place), and even the bleached stuff will smell rancid when you open it up (personal experience talking).) If you oil your surfaces, hands, etc., a trace of oil can also be added, mostly negligible, but sometimes a few drops can make a big difference. With all of those factors, as well, the percentages refer to the basic recipe, and the rest is whatever works for you. Like S&P to taste. Experience is king. Repetition is important. Getting a feel for it is crucial.