For those of you not familiar with sour dough. A very quick guide. Normal bread is made with yeast as the rising agent, sour dough is made using a 'starter' dough which uses no yeast whatsoever. The starter is a mixture of flour and water, which when left alone for a few weeks, starts to ferment and this mixture is added to your standard bread recipe to act as the rising agent. It also takes much longer to rest and prove, this loaf took about 15 hours. Some bakers have starters that are years old. It also helps to have an understanding partner who doesn't mind having breads at various stages of life in the airing cupboard for hours on end!
The result is a much more flavoursome loaf. The texture is also much more springy, almost like a ciabatta. So for my first attempt, I am pretty chuffed.
