On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 14:40:07 GMT, Steve W
wrote:


snip some very helpful advice

Steve,

Thanks for some very useful advice. I do plan to order the starter
from Carls; however, I still want to experiment some more with
homemade starters. I've never seen a doubling or tripling of my
existing starter after feeding, although I have seen activity (slow
bubbling.) Given the hydration level (100%), I find it hard to
believe my starter could ever sustain a doubling or tripling for long
without swiftly collapsing. I'll pay closer attention, though.

I'm going to try to work a bit with this starter on a couple of
different theories: it is either not active enough (probable, given
your comments) or I'm allowing it to go too far beyond it's peak
before using to bake. I'll be running experiments on both hypotheses
with portions of the starter, although not simultaneously.

In addition, this morning I began another starter using the
instructions from Samartha's website. I'll keep this going as a rye
starter as his instructions indicate. Assuming this works out, I'll
probably try to convert some of this to a wheat starter at some point
after it's established, hopefully in a week or two.

In all cases, I plan to pay a lot closer attention to what's going on
and to document things in writing as I go along. I think this is
probably the best way for me to learn. I'm in no particular hurry
with any of this. I can certainly work at it until I eventually have
some success, whether it's with my own homemade starters or by using
the Carl's starter. In the meantime, the experiments will be fun and
I can reliably continue enjoying the yeast breads that I already know
how to make! g

Thank you, again, for your very useful advice!