Sourdough - Whole Wheat Loaf

In my continued attempts at working with sourdough starter, I searched a (little) bit online and found this site: Sourdough Home . They had a whole wheat sourdough loaf that seemed to be pretty tasty and pretty simple. I wanted to try another recipe than my previous one. I just like to try new recipes, basically!

I followed the recipe exactly: excepting that I did not convert my starter to whole wheat. It only takes 3/4 c. of starter, and I figured that I was not selling my bread or advertising for anyone! Therefore, I would not be being dishonest in some shape or form. The only trick I found was that my rising times were considerably longer than suggested in the recipe. I think the first rise was about 3 hours, the second nearly 2, and the final one was at least 1 1/2 hours. Thankfully, I mixed my dough up at 8 a.m. this morning! The loaf finally came out of the oven at 3 p.m.! Lesson learned: if I make this again, I had better plan my time out and make sure I am just around the house or back in between rising time! In my limited experience, the rising times with sourdough starter just take a long time, no matter what the recipe.

I was so pleased with the appearance of the loaf! My mom came by to pick up half to share, and I must say, my vanity was a little bit stoked by her admiration of my bread. We split a slice right then and both enjoyed it. It definitely tasted "whole wheaty", but wasn't that the point? Sourdough Home has some other recipes I would like to try. But, I am also wanting to tackle a few in my checked-out copy of Peter Reinhart's book as well. It's going to be a month full of bread! If you all don't get tired of my bread baking posts, there might be several more to follow.