So far, I’ve had the best results with a half and half loaf: starter and yeast. I get a nice, chewy texture, very high rise and a perfect sandwich bread this way. I’m using a 100% whole wheat starter that is 1/3 all purpose whole wheat flour, 1/3 hard whole wheat flour and 1/3 red fife whole wheat flour (a Canadian heritage wheat that was revived in the 80’s from 1/2 pound of seed and is now commercially viable). The hard wheats (hard ww and red fife) are particularly good for bread. AP WW flour is usually soft wheat which is not well suited to bread making.

I always add a few tablespoons of gluten in the initial mix of ingredients. This gives the dough it’s elasticity and will help with rise.

My friend, a baker, says that 100% sourdough breads need to rise and proof from 12-24 hrs and that this long time frame is needed to get a rise in the absence if commercial yeast.

My feeder can’t be killed. When I first got it from my baker friend, I stuck it in the fridge for two weeks and didn’t touch it. I finally took it out, stirred the separated liquid back into the mix and added a few TBSPs of flour and water. Every day I would add a bit more and now I try to work on an equal measure basis: equal parts starter, flour and water, every day for a few days until ready to use. I bake a couple times per week, so less frequent bakers could feed on a slower time table.

I leave my starter at room temp. Most of the time I pour off the liquid after it separates. Sometimes I stir it back in. Today, I put it into a bowl and fed it once and was delighted to watch how it bubbled more and more over the course of a few hours.

Well, this is long enough, but I hope some of this info may be helpful to you or your readers.

Jenny is probably not still reading this thread but I was curious if her two sourdough starters have stayed true or if they’ve crossed or morphed in a new environment. That is the problem that I always have. SF sourdough is only SF in SF, it changes when you bring it to a new climate.

Have you tried making no knead bread? it uses only 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. I make the Cooks Illustrated version of NKB and love it. It has a great sourdough taste, But have been reading where you can replace the liquid in this recipe with kefir and not use yeast for a nice mild sour dough taste. You may want to try that. I’m gonna try it next week. I have my first batch of kefir doing a second fermentation right now. So after the first I will try a loaf and let you know how it turned out.

(Yes, I know that sentence was too long, but I’m too tired to fix it.)

Yes, my bread isn’t dense at all–lots of air pockets, very light and springy (although the crust is crunchier than with a typical loaf of sandwich bread). The key to not having dense bread is to make sure that it’s totally proofed (which for sourdough requires a LONG rising period–mine does its first rise for 12 hrs in the fridge, then 4-6 hrs for the second rise) and that the oven is moist when the bread goes in (which I accomplish by tossing a cup of ice water in a cookie sheet at the base of the oven when I put the loaf in).

Get in there and try again! It’s all trial and error. I made some yucky loaves before I got it right.

I also wanted to refer you to this link. I’ve been using their technique to make perfect sourdough boules recently. I don’t have a banetton, but simply line a colander with a dishcloth and line the dishcloth with flour to mimic the banneton. It seems to work! I also replace 1 cup of white flour with whole wheat, though this is not a technically whole grain bread recipe:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=27634

Here’s my notes on making it from those instructions:
http://sarahs-musings.blogspot.com/2009/02/sourdough-success.html

Also, have you considered making something like a foccacia to split open lengthwise for making sandwiches? Mine is awesome. If I do say so myself.
http://sarahs-musings.blogspot.com/2008/10/sourdough-focaccia.html

Anyway, good luck with your sourdough progress!

Best,
Sarah