I want to thank Jane for her excellent instructions on making whole wheat sourdough.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2059/100-whole-wheat-bread [1]

Up until recently, I have been cooking dense WW bread with no holes. I thought that that was about as good as it was going to get. My wife told me that she doesn't like bread. I told her that I wanted to make a bread that she would like eating.

I successfully made some holes with the Ciabatta recipe from BBA. And then tried the "No-Knead" method mentioned on this site with my cast iron pot. I got some holes, but the crumb was a mixed bag.

Last night I followed Jane's instructions relatively closely. And finished the bread today. And achieved holes that change the taste of the bread. After having my wife try some, she said that it was good! Success.

I hadn't realized the huge difference in taste having holes like this would make. I had read descriptions on this site of "creamy" texture. But didn't understand what that meant, until I ate some today with butter. The crumb was so tender, it almost melted in my mouth. The flavor was outstanding as well, very mildly sour.

I would like to encourage all who haven't tried to use Jane's method to go ahead. This is my 3rd attempt at making bread with holes. So I think it is fairly foolproof. The bread wasn't made perfectly. The bottom is burnt, and I shovelled the second loaf I was baking on top of side of the first loaf.

Also when trying to slide the bread off my makeshift peel, I found that I didn't use enough cornmeal. And the bread wasn't moving. So I had to lift the rather large piece of dough onto another peel, all the while scrunching the bread up like an accordian. I thought for sure that I was ruining the bread. But it ended up having some oven spring which made up.

The only difference in Jane's recipe was that my wheat was freshly ground. My starter was not at 100% hydration, but more like 130%. I however, used the same weight of starter that she did. I autolysed for about 25 to 30 minutes, instead of her 15.

Folded the dough about 4 or 5 times. And improperly. Since I was folding the top side. And then instead of folding the same side again, I folded the bottom. The last 3 folds however, were on the same side.

I divided the dough, and did one fold. Shaped the dough, let it rest for 10 minutes, and then put it into an inverted bowl to rise.

Either I didn't fold it enough, or the dough was too hydrated, since after putting the dough on the peel, it spread quite a bit.

Gumby