I have been maintaining a colony of wild yeast since earlier this year, and starting in late March I began preparing and baking loaves of sourdough bread. For me at least, it is a fairly time-consuming process, but the results are pretty amazing.
I still have a lot to learn, but even the loaves that are obviously (to me) defective in some way are still delicious.
The changes that the dough goes through in a couple hours is really interesting. It goes from being a ball of flour and starter to a dough with a strong gluten network that is jiggly, slippery, and is able to hold its shape.
To date, I have made eleven loaves of bread with three recipes. The main difference between the recipes is the ratio of whole wheat flour to bread flour.
The images below show stages of the process, starting after bulk fermentation through to completion.
