Mikey S. wrote:
> I am a novice baker and decided I wanted to give sourdough bread ( a
> favorite of mine) a try.
>
> I started some sourdough starter according to a recipe book I had ( just a
> simple flour, water, sugar, yeast mix) and put it up in a dark warm corner
> to ferment. Now I was wondering is there anything I should be worrying about
> or keeping track of? The recipe said cover with a towel and stir it 2 or 3
> times a day..OK, that's easy, and it should be ready to use for the bread in
> 5-10 days. But how do I know when the starter is ready? How am I sure it
> fermented right and didn't just go bad? CAN it go bad?
>
> Enquiring minds would like to know...
>


That's not a very good starter recipe. You just mix water and flour
until it looks like thin pancake batter, and let it sit for a few days.
(it works best if you use bottled water (no chlorine) and at least a
little rye flour instead of all white flour.) It takes a week or two,
and several feeding for the starter to stabilize into something really
useful. Check out rec.food.sourdough for more details.

Best regards,
Bob