Turning grapes into bread

It all started when my marina neighbor, Dave, had too much time on his hands between jobs and decided to perfect sourdough bread. He was kind enough to bring us a loaf and also some of the starter he used to make the bread. His bread was delicious, but I decided to use his starter in a ciabatta recipe that I had used in the past. Here are the results:

While I was pleased with my first attempt at making bread using a sourdough starter, I knew I could do better. I found a recipe for LaBrea Rustic Bread (my favorite!) and decided to give it a try. The recipe, by Nancy Silverton, called for making your own starter. The starter is quite the science project and takes fourteen days. Being the overachiever I can sometimes be, I decided why not? You start by tying a pound of grapes in cheesecloth, mashing them up and adding them to a container with flour and water. The concoction ferments for 1o days, then you feed it with flour and water for another four days and finally on day fifteen you are ready to make bread. I wish I would have thought to take pictures during this process. It lived on our counter and I have to say until about day eleven it looked pretty disgusting.

I overfed the starter on day fourteen and this is what I woke up to the next morning!

Recipe and detailed instructions can be found in Nancy Silverton's Breads From the La Brea Bakery or follow this link to a video demonstration she did on an old Julia Child show.