Norwegian here so bear with me.

I started my own starter about a week and a half ago -  1/2 flour, 1/2 water fed x2 per day. No activity for 2 days, so I added some yeast. Boom! off she went! Great, now to make some bread. I used 1 cup of starter, 4 cups flour and 4 cups of water. Mixed it up and let it rise over night. Got a good rise, added some salt, beat it down and let it rise again. I noticed that it was very difficult to knead the dough this time. It's not like I"m a wimp, but it seemed that the dough was a lot stronger than me. Anyway, after about 2 hours, I put the boule in the oven at 450 with an aluminum tent for 40 minutes and then baked at 425 fo anouther 1/2 hour until the top was browned. (Hint: Grease the damn bowl before you put the dough in it to cook).

The cooked boule didn't look great, but was acceptable (after I hacked it up getting it out of the cooking bowl). Now for the taste test - yuk! Very high density loaf with no sourdough taste. OK - shuold I just get my bread at the grocery store, or can I receive some hints here?

Jim (the baker - NOT)