Since the starter was finally ready, I made my first loaf of real sourdough bread. The texture was pretty good and it rose well. This is the recipe I used: https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-bread-recipe-beginners-guide/

There was one thing I changed for the recipe. I used a mix of whole wheat and white all purpose flour because I didn’t have bread flour. I don’t think that it affected it that much, but it could have made the dough wetter, which might have been why the cuts didn’t shoe up the way they were supposed to.

For my expert, I contacted Brio Bakery. They were very helpful and answered all of my questions well.

I asked them how to tell when the bread is done baking, and they said by tapping on the bottom of the loaf to see if it sounds hollow.

The cuts should be half a centimeter deep on a 45 degree angle, and made with an old-fashioned double edged razor on a bread lame or coffee stir stick, so I’ll have to go find one.