Hi everyone. I've been baking bread of all sorts (including ones with 100% whole wheat flour) for about 5 years (mostly using a bread machine for kneads and rises before baking on a stone in the oven), but have recently become interested in nutrition and especially low cost nutritious foods of which whole wheat bread appears to be the absolute cheapest. So after experimenting with a few different diets, the next on my list to try is a diet consisting of only raw green leafy vegetables and 100% whole wheat bread (which, in my estimation, should be able to nourish a person with all the nutrients their body needs to maintain perfect health for less than $300/year); and to keep the bread as healthy and cheap as possible my goal is to cut out as many ingredients as possible which means I'm shooting for what I would call a simple "french bread" recipe of water, flour, salt, and yeast (and perhaps even eliminating the salt and learning how to replace the yeast with a homemade starter...but one thing at a time).

So I'm looking for a 100% whole wheat bread recipe consisting of just water, flour, salt, and yeast (that is, I'm looking for some advice on which proportions to try first). All the 100% whole wheat flour recipes I know include other ingredients like honey, but the white french bread recipe I've used in the past is:

1 cup water

2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Can anyone recommend what adjustments I should make, if any, to bake a loaf with only these ingredients and 100% whole wheat flour? I'd also be extremely grateful if anyone could also explain how I might go about substituting a homemade starter for the yeast (I know how to make the starter...but how to use it in the bread machine?) and/or eliminating the salt I'd be eternally grateful.

Thanks,

TheSimpleThings

P.S. Is this the best subforum to post this sort of query or am I better off asking in the "Challenges" or "Whole Grains" or "Baking for Special Needs" subforums?