I am having a mild problem with my sourdough blobbing out instead of
rising. This is a 100% WHOLE WHEAT sourdough recipe more or less of my own
devising. The starter is likewise fed constantly on whole wheat. It was
originally Gold Rush San Francisco starter which I bought at the
supermarket.

Anyway, I put a little bit of starter (about 0.25 cup) in a jar with 0.5
cups flour and 0.5 cups water. When this is showing signs of strong
activity and has increased noticeably in size (about 3 hours), I dump the
mix into a bowl and add 0.75 cups flour and 0.75 cups water. I let this
sit for about 3 hours, then I add 1.5 cups water and about 6 or 7 cups
flour and 1 tablespoon of salt.

I knead this by hand for 10 minutes. Then I shape the dough into a ball,
cover it with a little bit of olive oil, and put it in a large bowl. I
cover the bowl with plastic or aluminum foil. I let it sit like this in
the oven with the light on for about 3 hours.

Then I take it out and cut the dough into two pieces, knead each piece
again for about a minute or so, and then shape the pieces into balls. I
put these balls on a buttered cookie sheet and let them sit for about
three hours. I have tried this with the loaves uncovered (the
surface dries out a lot) covered with plastic, and covered with
towels. Plastic seems to work best.

During these three hours, the dough increases in volume, but it is hard to
say by how much, since the dough flattens as it expands.

I preheat the oven (with convection fan) to 375 F, then put the cookie
sheet in the oven. The bread rises a lot in the oven, probably almost
doubling. After 10 minutes, I turn the oven down to 325 or 300, depending
on how brown the bottom looks.

Overall, the result is reasonable. I use the bread for sandwiches and
toast and just eat it plain. My wife likes it also, mostly for toast.

But if there was something I could do to make the loaves rise higher
instead of spreading out, that would be a good thing, and I would love to
hear suggestions.

Thanks!

--Mac