We are moving soon and due to the length between leaving this apartment and when I will next have an apartment, I decided I would have to abandon my sourdough starter. Had I thought it was exceptional, I could have possibly conscripted a friend to feed her while I was gone, but I am viewing this as a clean slate to start over when I return.

Rather than tossing it wantonly into the trash, it seemed appropriate to try to use the remainder up. On Sunday night I made a sponge with the the starter and on Monday afternoon I baked two loaves of sourdough bread.

I followed the recipe in Lon Walters' Old West Baking Book for Classic Sourdough Bread.

This is one of my favorite cookbooks. Walters has created a fascinating and well-researched historical account of pioneer and Native American baking in the old west. I highly suggest this book if you are interested in bread baking. I can't claim the recipes are always the best, but they are always authentic and the stories behind each entry are worth reading. The trials these pioneer cooks worked through in order to get their team fresh and warm bread are quite amazing. If you did not before, this book will make you appreciate bread in the fullest sense.

The loaves turned out alright. I thought the flavor and the crumb were quite wondeful, however the crust could use some work.