I have a beautifully sour mother sponge. Aka...sourdough starter. I have been working on it for months. Dutifully feeding it. It's actually rather easy and not time consuming at all. We love sourdough but can't afford the price to buy it. So I make it! BUT to make it the 'real' way takes nearly 2 days. You use the starter AS the leavening. You feed it, let it sit for 12 hours or so until bubbly then you mix part of it and some more flour and water together. Knead for a bit and set aside for about 6 hours. Then knead briefly and shape it and let it sit overnight and bake in the morning. There are many variances on this method, so this is not the only way but most traditional ways do take nearly 2 days. The results are undeniably delicious!
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I find that I can not commit! I have done it, but it takes a lot of planning and paying attention. My day is too hectic. So I devised a way to do this in my breadmachine, and using yeast to it to make it rise faster but still giving me a sour loaf. Mmmm! Yes and still using my starter!
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If you have a starter and you want to make some sourdough bread faster...try this...(remember that results vary from starter to starter and climate to climate). I use a San Francisco starter, not an amish one. This works for starters that are about 50% water (give or take)....if you use a firm starter adjust liquid and flour accordingly. There is NO exact science to making sourdough bread! Have fun!
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This is for a 2 pound Sourdough loaf.
3/4 cup warm water
1 1/4 cup plus 1 TB sourdough starter
1 TB sugar
2 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour
1 TB active dry yeast
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Place all ingredients into your breadpan. Select regular dough cycle (not the quick pizza cycle). Turn it on. When it beeps after the first knead, check it. Scrape down any bits off the sides as it kneads. If it is like batter, add a couple TB of flour. If it is too firm, add a TB or 2 of the sourdough starter. You want the dough to be stickier than regular bread dough but not so loose as a batter. This is also preference, so if you have a dough preference (wet or firm) stick with it. Just do not overload your breadmachine with too much flour. My breadmachine can handle 4 1/2 cups of flour on dough cycle.
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When breadmachine is all done, oil your hands and counter surface very well. Sourdough dough is very soft and sticky and oozes a bit between your fingers (it's more of a wet dough). Re-oiling hands and surface as needed, shape into desired loaf shape or place into greased bread pan or divide into 2 small 1 pound loaves. Let rise until almost double. Rise time varies. I like to leave mine out for at least an hour (and sometimes forget it for 2 hours lol)...you can go a longer than 1 hour or a little shorter.
***You may even shape the loaf place on the surface it is to baked on and then cover well and let sit in the fridge overnight to allow the sour flavor to develop even more.
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Bake at 425 for 20- 30 minutes until outside is brown and hollow sounding when rapped on. Bake time will vary according to loaf size too. I bake ONE full sized loaf at 425 for 30 minutes. Again...not an exact science. There is room for oops with this recipe!
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It took me about 3 hours from start to finish for a loaf, with very little hands on time. Most of the time was in putting ingredients in bread pan (5minutes), one check to check dough consistency(2 minutes), time in the breadmachine (totaled about 90 minutes), shape when done(less than 10) and let rise(this took over an hour but I didn't need to do anything with it lol)...and then bake(30 minutes)! Voila!
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OR bypass ALL the steps except checking part way during the kneading and do not use the dough cycle. Use the regular white cycle. And let the machine to ALL the work for you!
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This recipe is not only a frugal way for my family to enjoy sourdough bread, but it is also a time saver as I am not doing it the old fashioned way. Plus healthier as I use a mix of unbleached bread flour and whole wheat flour, which makes a more dense less fluffy loaf but it's healthier! If I had 10 mouths to feed, this would not be practical as 1 loaf may not feed 10 people during a meal. LOL I only have 5 to feed and we always have bread leftover for toasting the next day and eating along side an egg cooked over medium for breakfast. YUM! | 
