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...

--

Mikey S.
http://www.mike721.com

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

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 07:48:56 GMT, "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...

Yes, sourdough starter can go bad. It's been a long time since I've been
settled enough to raise some sourdough starter, so I can't remember how you
tell when it's ready. I'm sure someone else will be able to.

--
Siobhan Perricone
"I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what ya do in the name of your god"
- Holly Near

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 07:48:56 GMT, "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...

Here is a link to the Sourdough FAQ

http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html



Rusty

I ever even thought to look for a dedicated sourdough group..thanks!

--

Mikey S.
http://www.mike721.com


"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
Check out rec.food.sourdough for more details.
>
> Best regards,
> Bob