I've been reading this newsgroup for a while and googling for answers to
questions about making bread.

A little background, for the past year I've been making wine for the past
year on the same package of wine yeast I started with then. Seems that
sludge on the bottom still contains enough living yeast to ferment a new
64oz bottle of grape juice. But I was still throwing away a lot of the
goop. But then it occured to me that if that yeast could make alcohol, it
might also make bread rise. Early experiments produced a bread with decent
taste, just a little tough around the edges and not too fluffy. So I read
up on this starter business and this time added flour and water to the
sludge and just let it sit on the counter for a few days with the cap
loosely on. Every now and then I'd tighten the cap and give it a good
shake. The bottle would harden up as CO2 was released. I never did see any
"hooch". But it did have an alcohol smell.

I know you guys talk about using a bowl, but I thought this would be a lot
"cleaner" and easier. Less spillage potential etc. But naturally, with time
this stuff did ferment and I poured some into a bowl added flour and mixed
then kneaded. I think kneading is a VERY important step in this whole
process. You can't really mix the stuff with a spoon all that effectively
you just have to lift it out and work it with your hands. It tires your
arms, but it's important I believe.

I put this glob of well kneaded dough back in the bowl and covered it with a
damp washcloth. I held it there with those spring loaded clamps you often
see used to hold tarps to one thing or another. The ones with the orange
plastic grips, yeah, those things.

I left it for an hour and a half. In that time it did rise a lot. More
than previous bread attempts. I punched it down and left it for another
hour or so.

Then after reading in here that dough that dries out on the top tends to not
rise much, I sprayed a thin coat of oil on a 7x7 --roughly-- pyrex dish, and
placed the dough top down on that. I figured the damp bottom would give the
dough the ability to get more rising in before it dried over. I made no
attempt to punch it down again. I was afraid it might not come back up!
This time I left it uncovered in the oven for 3-4 hours. When I came home
I checked the oven and WOW had it ever risen! I turned on the oven @350 and
20 minutes later a beautiful golden brown loaf was sitting there. The crust
was crisp and the innards light and fluffy. I forgot to add salt. But I
don't know how much difference that would have made.

I typed all this to maybe encourage all the other newbies that it can be
done and is easy and forgiving. Note that my starter has a thin
consistency. This is contrary to what I read, but I think is much easier to
work with and heck, if it works, why not.

So if you have any advice or suggestions, please share.

thanks.

--
billb
Every man has his price except the honest man. You get him for nothing.