And a week later...

Tonight marked the beginning of a new chapter in the Montreal locavore's diet. The sourdough starter which began its process almost two weeks ago was finally transformed into what will hopefully be the first of many local, homemade breads. To my amazement the frothy, sponge-like starter was still kickin'! It was to be enjoyed with some garlic-butter mashed potatoes, fresh spinach, roasted carrots, and spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce (all of which still used 95% local ingredients). Many of the recipes were repeated from last week's feast and so thanks go out to all those who helped. The bread didn't really follow a single recipe but was instead a combination of different resources so I'll leave you with what the basics were:

Sourdough Starter:
1 cup flour (I started with whole wheat and then alternated with white flour just so that it would have some fluffyness in the final product. Feel free to experiment, but I definitely suggest starting with white flour. I felt far more accomplished seeing it rise into a nice soft bread than ending with a really dense, hearty type of loaf)
1 cup water
leave out at room temp with air. Each day throw away half and add another 1/2 cup of flour. Less and less water should be necessary but add enough to keep it sponge-like without being too saturated.

After one week, it is ready to be used. Keep it in the fridge from this point on, still with a little bit of air. You do still need to feed it but instead of daily, only weekly using the same process.

When you decide to use it, you should take out half and leave it in a warm place to "proof" for several hours. The other half can go back into the fridge after you regenerate it with another 1/2 cup of flour, 2 tbsp of salt, and some water as needed. You can also add some honey or maple syrup to the half in which you are using. It will vary in the time it takes to rise, but you should expect to see it double in size before using it. Once this happens you want to "punch" it/ kneed it a bit with an equal amount of flour to starter ratio. Again, you should only add enough water so that you can work with the dough and it isn't too sticky. Add it slowly though since a little water goes a long way and you can always keep adding. Here is where if you put it back in the fridge, it allows for the lactobacilli to multiple but the yeast will be retarded as they don't do so well in colder environments. The longer it stays in the fridge (2-3 hours usually), the more "sour" tasting your dough will be. When you take it out, you will punch it one last time, shape it, add any other ingredients to it you wish to have in your bread, and let it rise again in a warm environment as your oven preheats. Throw it on some lightly oiled tin foil and throw it in @ 425 for about 45 minutes or so. You should smell it once its ready!

I hope this works for others as it did for me. I encourage you all to look up other sources in cookbooks or online since there are many ideas out there which you may like to try. I am by no means an expert. Cant wait to hear how it turns out!