The bread that never was.

As I make my own bread, I thought I would have a bash at making some by the sourdough method which is the way thay most artisan breads are made. This is method is particularly popular in France and also in the USA where it was the method of choice used by the early settlers who had to carry all their supplies with them.
If bread is made by this method you need to start making it a good few days before you want to eat it, but once you get going you don't need to buy yeast and it takes longer to rise. The end result is far superior to the soggy stuff that you buy in the supermarket which sticks to the roof of your mouth and is full of unnecessary additives.
Well, I got out my bread cookery book and followed the instructions very carefully to make a 'levain' which has to be left for about three days. After that time it looked and smelled exactly as the description in the book so I followed the instructions for the next stage which meant it had to be left for a further three days.
At each stage, the dough looked and smelled the way it was described in the book so I now had the 'chef' with which to make the bread dough. Again following the instructions to the letter I added the right amount of water and flour and kneaded for the right amount of time and put it to rise. The dough looked and felt absolutely right and should have taken about two hours or so for the first 'rising' before being ready to 'knock back'. I left it covered with cling film in a lightly oiled bowl as the recipe had said.
After FOUR hours, the darned stuff hadn't risen so I checked it. It was very elastic and full of air bubbles and smelled as dough should but it hadn't risen one tiny little bit. After a further two hours still nothing had happened so I gave up and threw the lot out.
I'll have another go one day but until then I'll carry on with my tried and tested method and at least that way I'll know I can have a sandwich or piece of toast!