For the person who wants a quick sourdough, the closest one can come is recipes that have a loooong sponge stage followed by a looong slow rise, either in the refrigerator with normal amounts of yeast or at cool room temp with a small amount of yeast. Sponge = a lot of water, some flour, and a tiny amount of yeast, mixed to make a batter. I've seen recipes where you could leave the sponge around for 24 hours with no trouble. If you time the stages right, you can start the day beforehand, work a few minutes on the sponge, leave it alone for 24 hours, mix up the dough the next evening (or morning, whichever is more convenient for you), then bake and shape in the evening if you did the dough in the morning or in the morning if you did the dough in the evening. so you still have to think ahead, but the actual time on eating day is two hours or so. The (in)famous New York Times bread does something similar. There's a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes which lays out a process that works similarly, sort of....and there are flatbread recipes in the latest book by Jeremy and Naomi Alford that do something very similar. And if you are willing to fly by the seat of your pants (experienced, daring bakers only, or maybe lucky bakers too) you can put some sourdough starter into this bread described here. If your starter is thin (pancake batter texture) just sub it for some of the water. If it is thicker, use your judgement. Make the dough match the texture in the pictures here by adjusting with more flour or water. And be flexible about the results. The taste will be sourish and tangy, but you are unlikely to get a really crusty result unless you follow all the ice-in-the-pan baking-stone high-oven-temperature sourdough rules. Confession time - I've mde a few sloppy messes that way, but far more decent last-minute focaccia type breads with good top crust. Good thing I have a family that likes all kinds of bread, including kinds that have never been seen before on earth. - Jessica

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