First, thanks to those folks who are promoting and preserving
sourdough starters !

I received a dried sample of Carl's 1847 Oregon Trail starter, and
revivied it as per instructions. After doubling ( with 1/2 cup of
flour and water) the starter, it got wonderfully bubbly overnight. I
added a cup of water and flour to the mix, transferred it to a Mason
jar, and placed the jar in a large pot of luke warm water on my stove.
About once an hour, I turned on the natural gas flame to warm the
water to just barely warm, and in three hours the starter literally
exploded into activity. I put the lid on the jar, shook it to remove
the bubbles and watched it double in volume over a 10 minute span. I
took that as evidence of an especially active sponge.

Taking two cups of the sponge, a 1/2 tsp salt, enough flour to make a
single loaf, and 6 minutes in my Kitchen Aid mixer...it was time to
let it rise. After 2 hours, I punched the loaf down, hand kneaded it
for 5 minutes, spread 1/4 cup of corn meal on a pizza stone, and let
it rise for 3 hours (made two slices in the loaf after an hour).
Starting with a cold oven and a cookie pan underneath with a cup of
hot water in it, I let the oven rise to 500 deg F, then lowered the
temperature to 400 until the loaf was nicely browned. Got a nice,
thick crispy crust and a decent loaf.

Beginner's luck. This was my first attempt at sourdough bread. I've
been reading about sourdough bread for years, and just wanted to try
it. The emails and advice on this user group were especially
handy...my thanks to all of you who have posted here.

Still, Carl's starter didn't create a bread with a tang that I
expected. On a scale of 0 to 10, I'd give this loaf a 7 or 8.

Just wondering - would the Acme or San Francisco starters provide a
bread with more tangyness and more of that 'sour cream' or
'buttermilk' flavor ?

Doug