I started my sourdough starter project from scratch about 3 weeks ago. The
second starter stabilized and was successful (rye flour and water that had
been boiled and cooled.) It still looks good and smells good after about 6
feedings with high gluten flour. I baked about 12 loaves of bread flavored
with some of the starter as I fed and stabilized the culture. It tasted
faintly sour but wasn't really sourdough because I had leavened them with
commercial yeast.

Finally yesterday morning I took about a 1/4 cup of my starter, added it to
1 1/2 lb. of high gluten flour, about 12 oz. of warm water, 1 oz. of sugar
and 1/2 oz. of salt. I mixed it until it had the right feel and appearance,
set it on the counter, covered it with film and let it ferment. By the end
of the day, it looked like it hadn't fermented at all and had just flattened
itself out. The dough was a little too hydrated I guess. I went home and
came back to the store this morning. Surprise - the dough was fully
fermented and had a strong aroma of sourdough. It was a little too soft to
make up hearth bread so I made it up into some baguettes and put the
baguette pan to proof for about an hour. I baked it and, to my surprise, I
had some delicious and definitely sour baguettes of normal size and texture.
I fed slices all day long to customers who gave me plenty of thumbs up and
encouragement. My first bread without a single bit of commercial yeast was
a reality. Ah, success!

Fred
The Good Gourmet
http://www.thegoodgourmet.com