rob norman wrote:

> I am curious, I've come across recipes that identify a basic SD
> starter as just about a 1:1 ratio of flour (unbleached) and water, but
> have also seen recipes calling for 1:1 flour to milk. ?? Any insight
> on which provides for a stronger "sour"?


I find 'both' work well. I make SD English muffins that call for an
overnight ferment of starter and milk and flour as well as I use milk in
lots of loaves of bread, depending on what texture I am aiming for. The
muffins turned out beautiful and we had eggs Benedict for supper last
night.

I find the best 'sour' taste comes from a long ferment. I can get half
decent 'sour' from a long ferment overnight of the starter, but not near
as nice as a long last rise.

I just pulled a loaf out of the oven now at 10:15 AM that I started
growing at 9:30 PM last night. I took a tbsp of my active sponge and
added 500 ml water with enough flour stirred in to ball up and a tsp of
salt. I then kneaded the dough and let it rest in a ball covered on the
counter until about 11:30, then loafed it and let it rise until 9:30 AM
this morning when I baked it. I might have let it rise more, except it
'escaped' the pyrex dish it was in and was starting to spread over the
cookie sheet I had the dish on. It 'mushroomed' big time. LOL. Turned
out really nice with a crispy sour crust.

I loosely base my 'sour' loaves on Dick's 'Billowly' SD loaf. His
method of using one small amount of starter with lots of food for
growing works very well for me.

Mike