BREAD baking

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

That olive bread looked good! I'm thinking that I would like to try making sourdough and would like to use whole wheat flour--does that starter from King Arthur work for whole wheat? I tried a while back to make my own starter and it was a flop, so maybe it would be better to just get one from somewhere.

I made a mild sourdough bread last week using the KingArthur sourdough starter and their flours as well.
The Starter seems fine- but I used it before letting it get 'too' strong since my DH is not a big fan of strong sourdough bread. I myself like a strong sourdough bread.
I used 1/3 King Arthur 'white' whole wheat flour and 2/3 KA regular flour. I followed the recipe on the KA sourdough instructions.
I think the content of whole wheat flour makes it harder to get fluffy. elastic, or puffy bread. It tasted fine, if mild, but the inside did not get airy or light.
This is something I remember having problems with 20 years ago when making whole wheat breads.
I am planning to experiment with the Artisan Bread book's whole wheat type recipes later on to see if their breads come out just as nice with ww flour as they are with white flour. But first I want to try some other types from their book- like semolina bread, white sourdough bread, focaccia, etc.

I do notice that the Artisan basic white boule dough mix does get a nice flavor after a few days ion the fridge, a flavor that reminds me of sourdough bread. Their bread texture is just what I like, so I might just keep using that book to make various breads for a while. I think aging the dough in the fridge gives it a nicer flavor and texture- like the traditional 'sponge' or 'old dough starter' methods produce. The book also says that this helps produce a bread that stays fresh longer. Makes sense if it has a lot of enzymes in it.