Hi Stacey,

Stacey wrote:
> My first two attempts ended up with a quickly rising, but horribly
> nasty smelling bowl of stringy goo. Now, however, I think I may not
> have been feeding often enough (every 24 hours) and might need to try
> and stick it out past the third day to see if the smell improves at
> all.
>

When you mix flour and water, you are encouraging a wild mix of yeast
and bacteria to start growing. And they all will. It's kind of like
starting a yard in a new subdivision. All sorts of weeds will pop up.
If you want a good natural yard, the answer is simple. Water often and
mow very regularly. Most weeds don't like being cut down. Most of the
grasses we want like to be watered regularly. That yard will become
presentable over time. It IS faster to just sod or seed. Like it's
faster to use yeast or get a working starter from a someone.

The equivalents in the starter are to feed regularly and enough. I like
to feed my starter twice a day, enough to double its size, and a mix of
1 part flour to 1 part water by weight, or 2 parts water to 3 parts of
flour by volume. Or, for 1/2 cup of starter, I add about 1/4 cup of
water and 3/8 cup of flour.

As the sourdough bacteria becomes more dominant, it will increase the
acidity of the starter and produce 50 different compounds we have
identified that which will make the starter inhospitable for most other
bacteria and yeast. Discard and feed. And repeat. During this
process, all sorts of strange yeasts and bacteria will try to take over
the culture. Keep feeding the starter and the undesired ones will be
killed off.

It is easier to start the starter with a whole grain wheat or rye
flour. I usually feed a new starter with whole wheat or rye two or
three times and then switch over to the flours I will want to use.
White flours have had almost all of the bran removed, and the bran is
where the wild yeasts and bacteria are found.
> This also being the middle of winter in a somewhat northerly climate
> where I am, I'm wondering if the lack of moisture in the air might
> mean fewer "critters" to populate my mix, leaving it more vulnerable
> to whatever other bacteria might be floating around. Does anyone know
> how much bearing climate/location would have on getting a sourdough
> started? Maybe I should try again in the summer?
>

I hope you are covering your starters with saran wrap. All if the
studies I've read suggest that while it is possible to "catch a starter
from the air," the critters you want are already present in much higher
concentration on the grain. Dr. Ed Wood in his "World Sourdoughs From
Antiquity" recounted his attempt to capture a native starter in Egypt.
He had a quantity of flour irradiated so it was sterile. He put out
many containers to catch cultures in Egypt. And had more than a 90%
failure rate. Some folks who used to hang around here tried a poor
man's approach to sterilizing the flour - they poured boiling water on
it. And these folks who thought nothing of starting a starter and who
counted on a viable starter in a few days found that they too had more
than a 90% failure rate. When you use whole grains, you get a 95+%
success rate. When you use white flour, the success rate drops - a few
people here say they've never been able to start a good starter from
white flour. And when you sterilize the flour, the success rate drops
to less than10%. All of which holds up the idea that the critters are
on the flour.

If you cover the starter container with saran wrap, the container will
contain the humidity and the starter won't dry out and it will do just fine.

Temperature is another issue. I'd suggest something in the mid 70's to
low 80's Fahrenheit. I usually find I can turn on my oven light and
that will hold the temperature about right during the winter months.

Hope this helps,
Mike

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