On Thursday, January 11, 2007, Russ wrote:

> Also, concerning your snippet below, yes, I bought the book also.

Hey Russ:

Great. I don't think you will ever regret the purchase.

One tidbit of personal experience. Using the book during my first foray
into sourdough, my results were extremely inconsistent. Batch to batch
produced considerable variability. All was generally edible but some loaves
were better than others.

When returning this time I took advice from Mike Avery and others concerning
weighing ingredients. I personally cannot imagine doing it any other way.
I even weigh the water as I find that to be easier than seeing the faded
lines on an old Pyrex cup that has been through the dishwasher many, many
times. While others completely disagree concerning weighing ingredients, I
find that my batch to batch consistency is greatly improved and virtually
imperceptible.

If you do decide to go the weight route, Ed's conversions/ assumptions begin
on page 200 of the book. From that information it is easy to convert all
the recipes that you use in his book to weight. I did it using a
spreadsheet and further converted to grams which I prefer.

Again, good luck.

Ray