Sometimes you have to improvise...

... and as a beginning bread baker I'm not quite comfortable with improvisation, but it works, some of the time.
I'd been looking for a wheat sourdough bread recipe, because I tried to make sourdough bread with wheat flour and it didn't rise very well. Since wheat flour is heavier than white flour, it needs a little boost, in the form of baking soda or yeast. I found the following recipe on breadbaking.about.com and tweaked it.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Makes 2 loaves

4 1/2 cups flour (1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)
3 3/4 cups warm water
1 cup sourdough starter

1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup olive oil
5 cups flour (1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)

The evening before, mix the first three ingredients in a large bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let sit overnight. I used the largest of the three glass Pyrex bowls for this.

On the day of baking, stir down the sponge. Mix in the baking soda, salt, honey & oil. At this point, I poured the sponge into my Kitchenaid mixer bowl, as it was already too big for the Pyrex, and still didn't have the flour in it.
Mix in bread flour. Knead dough for five minutes in the bowl.
Let dough sit for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, grease two loaf pans. Divide the dough in half and put in each loaf pan. I used a glass loaf pan I use for banana bread, which I wouldn't recommend using for this bread as it is angled on the ends. I only have one loaf pan, so for the other loaf I used an Baker's Secret Nonstick 8-Inch Round Cake Pan.
Cover and let rise for 2 hours or until dough is risen over the edge of the pan. My kitchen was about 70 degrees, and it took closer to 3 hours to rise enough. After an hour and 15 minutes, I put the pans on the back of the stove top, turned the oven on for 5 minutes and then turned it off. This seemed to help.
Bake the loaves at 425 for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until it sound hollow when tapped.

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