I've made several batches of this recipe now, and have been uniformly
pleased with the results. In particular, I have Jim (TG) to thank, as he's
the one who initially introduced me to the concept of using just a tiny bit
of sourdough starter and then allowing the dough to ferment for a long, long
time. Mike Avery's lesson on stretch and fold at his Website was also
extremely helpful as was Kenneth's miche recipe, which led me to play around
with spelt flour.

Anyway, I've been trying to get a tasty loaf of open-crumbed 100% sourdough
bread with nothing but the "holy four" ingredients (starter, flour, salt and
water) for about two years now. I think I've finally got it. Here's the
pics:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j8...y/IMG_4878.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j8...y/IMG_5234.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j8...y/IMG_5226.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j8...y/IMG_5231.jpg

And here's the recipe:

40 grams of whole wheat starter at 60% hydration (Use 50 grams if at 100%
hydration) - About 3 tbs to 1/4 cup
375 grams water -- 1.5 cups or so
10 grams salt -- 1.25 tsp
300 grams whole wheat flour - About 2 cups
150 grams whole spelt flour -- About 1 cup
50 grams whole rye flour -- About 1/3 cup

So basically, its roughly 10 percent starter to the total flour, with a
60-30-10 wheat / spelt / rye flour combination at 75% hydration and 2% salt.

I mixed the starter into the water, added the salt until it was dissolved,
and then stirred in the flour. I then did a stretch and fold at one hour,
and then two more at half hour intervals. After the last stretch and fold, I
shaped it into a ball, and let it sit overnight.

It's pretty chilly in our house at night, getting down to 63 degrees F, so
your mileage may very, but the dough was ready to shape after about 12
hours. I pre-shaped it into a ball, let it rest 15 minutes, shaped it into
an oval loaf and then wrapped it in baker's linen. I let it rise at 64
degrees for about 3.5 hours. After that, a few slashes and into a hot oven
on a stone at 450 for 35-40 minutes. I've not tried a cold start but will do
so on the next batch.

Thanks to everyone who helped teach me how to do this.
--
Jeff