I picked up a sourdough packet while out at Snoqualmie Falls . Turns
out its a starter from Montana Bounty Foods. Of course I only picked up
the starter and did not buy the little cookbook that they had to offer.
It gave instructions as follows.

Day 1 Mix 1 cup milk with starter, cover with towel or wax paper.
Day 2-4 Stir
Day 5 Add 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar
Day 6-9 stir.
Day 10 split into thirds.

Doesnt tell you what to do past that. At day 10 I split into thirds,
fed 1 third with a 1/2 of water and a 1/2 c of AP flour. 1 third I
dumped and 1 third I tried baking with. Baking didnt work though, and
I'm not sure who's fault it was, the starter , the breadmachine or me.

I've been stirring, yesterday was day 15, I added 1/2 c flour 1/2 cup
water and I'm assuming at day 20 I can try baking again? (This time by
hand, no bread machine.

Am I going about this all wrong? I'm tempted to give up get some Carls
and try again.
Help?

Deb / Seattlejo

(To email me directly remove Spokane from the picture)

Seattlejo wrote:
>
> I picked up a sourdough packet while out at Snoqualmie Falls . Turns
> out its a starter from Montana Bounty Foods. Of course I only picked up
> the starter and did not buy the little cookbook that they had to offer.
> It gave instructions as follows.
>
> Day 1 Mix 1 cup milk with starter, cover with towel or wax paper.
> Day 2-4 Stir
> Day 5 Add 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar
> Day 6-9 stir.
> Day 10 split into thirds.

How big was the amount of material you had originally? I. e. what was in
that package/packet.

To put some milk and sugar into flour, let it sit for a while, something
will move anyway and eventually get moldy if you do nothing about it.

Asking to do it for 10 days appears trying to pull somebody's leg.

It is really not surprising that nothing moved.

> Doesnt tell you what to do past that. At day 10 I split into thirds,
> fed 1 third with a 1/2 of water and a 1/2 c of AP flour. 1 third I
> dumped and 1 third I tried baking with. Baking didnt work though, and
> I'm not sure who's fault it was, the starter , the breadmachine or me.

It appears that there is the perception that sourdough works like yeast
in bread machines. Just put it in and it rises - big mistake!


> I've been stirring, yesterday was day 15, I added 1/2 c flour 1/2 cup
> water and I'm assuming at day 20 I can try baking again? (This time by
> hand, no bread machine.

The twenty day idea is plainly wrong! You grow the best starter amount
for making a lot of bread in less than 3 days from a good existing one.

A couple of numbers: Generation time for an alive starter is in the
area of 1 - 2 hours i. e. the number of organisms doubles in that time,
in double the time, it grows four-fold, then eight, sixteen... get the
picture. Within 8 - 12 hours you'll need to feed again because of lack
of food, oversouring, exhaustion. If you don't feed, it goes downhill.

How much down a hill you will go in 10 days - maybe Mount Everest.

When growing a starter from a dried state, you don't have an alive
starter, so there is some delay and you have a delay of maybe 1 - 2 days
and then it takes off with bubbles, gassing.

> Am I going about this all wrong? I'm tempted to give up get some Carls
> and try again.

That's up to you.

Maybe you could look around on the sourdough FAQ - my web site does only
a rye starter, but it may help to get the idea what is involved. There
is lots of information around, the Carl's web site has links.

Once you get a bit more of an idea how a starter functions and what is
done with it, you may decide which way to go.

The 10 day sugar & milk story - just forget about it. Looks somebody
pulled your leg - successfully.

Btw. rye is a good way to get a starter going.

Samartha


--
remove -nospam from my email address, if there is one
SD page is the http://samartha.net/SD/

On 1/26/04 7:54 PM, in article , "Samartha
Deva" > wrote:

> Seattlejo wrote:
> How big was the amount of material you had originally? I. e. what was in
> that package/packet.
>
> To put some milk and sugar into flour, let it sit for a while, something
> will move anyway and eventually get moldy if you do nothing about it.
>
> Asking to do it for 10 days appears trying to pull somebody's leg.
>
> It is really not surprising that nothing moved.

It was about a cup of flour.
>

> It appears that there is the perception that sourdough works like yeast
> in bread machines. Just put it in and it rises - big mistake!
>
Well, I added yeast as well, like normal. Guess I should read the FAQ to
figure out why it is wrong.

> much down a hill you will go in 10 days - maybe Mount Everest.
>
> When growing a starter from a dried state, you don't have an alive
> starter, so there is some delay and you have a delay of maybe 1 - 2 days
> and then it takes off with bubbles, gassing.
>

Well thanks to the response of one of other posters, I figured out that I
did not have a sourdough starter. Instead it is a freienship bread starter.
The label indeed said both sourdough in big bold letters, and friendship
bread down in the description.
It'll be dumped shortly.
>
> That's up to you
> Maybe you could look around on the sourdough FAQ - my web site does only
> a rye starter, but it may help to get the idea what is involved. There
> is lots of information around, the Carl's web site has links.
>
> Once you get a bit more of an idea how a starter functions and what is
> done with it, you may decide which way to go.
>
> The 10 day sugar & milk story - just forget about it. Looks somebody
> pulled your leg - successfully.
>
> Btw. rye is a good way to get a starter going.


Where is your website? I've been through the FAQ a couple of times and
will likely mine it for more information now that I'm starting from scratch
again. I've tried a rye starter as well, but found that it just didn¹t work
for me.

Thanks again for all your help!
>

Deborah Schumacher > wrote in message >...
> On 1/26/04 7:54 PM, in article , "Samartha
> Deva" > wrote:
>
> > Seattlejo wrote:
> > How big was the amount of material you had originally? I. e. what was in
> > that package/packet.
> >
> > To put some milk and sugar into flour, let it sit for a while, something
> > will move anyway and eventually get moldy if you do nothing about it.
> >
> > Asking to do it for 10 days appears trying to pull somebody's leg.
> >
> > It is really not surprising that nothing moved.
>
> It was about a cup of flour.
> >
>
> > It appears that there is the perception that sourdough works like yeast
> > in bread machines. Just put it in and it rises - big mistake!
> >
> Well, I added yeast as well, like normal. Guess I should read the FAQ to
> figure out why it is wrong.
>
> > much down a hill you will go in 10 days - maybe Mount Everest.
> >
> > When growing a starter from a dried state, you don't have an alive
> > starter, so there is some delay and you have a delay of maybe 1 - 2 days
> > and then it takes off with bubbles, gassing.
> >
>
> Well thanks to the response of one of other posters, I figured out that I
> did not have a sourdough starter. Instead it is a freienship bread starter.
> The label indeed said both sourdough in big bold letters, and friendship
> bread down in the description.
> It'll be dumped shortly.
> >
> > That's up to you
> > Maybe you could look around on the sourdough FAQ - my web site does only
> > a rye starter, but it may help to get the idea what is involved. There
> > is lots of information around, the Carl's web site has links.
> >
> > Once you get a bit more of an idea how a starter functions and what is
> > done with it, you may decide which way to go.
> >
> > The 10 day sugar & milk story - just forget about it. Looks somebody
> > pulled your leg - successfully.
> >
> > Btw. rye is a good way to get a starter going.
>
>
> Where is your website? I've been through the FAQ a couple of times and
> will likely mine it for more information now that I'm starting from scratch
> again. I've tried a rye starter as well, but found that it just didn¹t work
> for me.
>
> Thanks again for all your help!
> >

hi there i love food !!!!!!!