Mediterranean type Sourdough, again

First of all, let me bring attention to another blog that specializes in posting about baking Portuguese  breads. I ran across the blog while looking for Portuguese bread recipes for something to send to a college room mate and his wife who live in New Bedford, MA, a town with a large number of people of Portuguese descent.

    http://portuguesebreads.blogspot.com/2012_05_01_archive.html

I found Mr Forte's recipes interesting and admire his determination to make and bake breads the way his grandmother did when he was growing up. The measurements are by volume rather than weight and he thoroughly enjoys kneading by hand.

Mr Forte almost exclusively uses what he calls a slow rise starter. After reading his instructions for building a starter, I suspect that it's a 125% hydration sourdough starter.

Mr Forte doesn't appear to be blogging for the glory of seeing his posts on the internet. He just enjoys baking and wants to pass on knowledge about the breads he ate when growing up. It's worth our while to see what he's done and will be doing in the future.

My recent bake is similar to Mr Forte's Pao de Caseira or "house bread". In turn, it's similar to a Greek pain de Horiatiko and an Itailian pane al Olio. I think there's a Spanish loaf that fits in as well. It's a good bread to have around the house.

Starter
160 g at 100% hydration

Main Dough

267 g bread flour
133 g whole wheat flour
260 g water at 90F
10 g kosher salt
1 Tbs olive oil
All of starter

While driving home from Omaha, Mrs PG and I saw several large flights of geese in the air and in some open water in the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge area. I can only estimate thousands in the air at different altitudes and flying in different directions stretching for at least a couple miles. The refuge is located in one of the great migratory flyways for N. American birds and should be visited when the flocks are in residence. There is a website that page that posts counts of the number and variety of birds.

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Squaw_Creek/wildlife_and_habitat/waterfowl_count.html

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.