Brian Christiansen wrote:
> I made some sourdough starter this afternoon, or perhaps just started it
> since it won't actually be ready for 2-3 days. The recipe called for skim
> milk, buttermilk, white flour, and whole wheat flour, I would have to look
> in the cookbook that I used to get the exact proportions. I had everything
> but the buttermilk, but when I actually started making it, I got a little
> worried that the skim milk I had might be going bad. Not just "soured", but
> actually starting to spoil. Luckily, it wasn't, so I just went ahead and
> used it.
>
> If it had been, I was wondering what might have been best. One option would
> have been to use all buttermilk. Perhaps that would have been the best as
> the recipe called for only about 1/4 cup and I now have almost a quart of
> buttermilk that I really don't know what to do with.
>
> Adding water instead of the skim milk would not really work. At least I
> dont think it would because I think that the flavor of sourdough comes from
> the lactic acid in milk being metabolized by the natural yeast into
> whatever.
>


IIRC, real sourdough starter is just flour and water. No milk, no
sugar, and no yeast. It takes a while to get going. If you have it,
use some rye flour in the initial starter, then you can feed it with
wheat flour once it gets going.

Bob