> Hi Barry,
>
> If memory serves, Leader also suggests making a sourdough
> starter by adding commercial yeast. He explains that the
> yeast will "attract" the wild yeasts that are in the air.
>
> I will also add that about a year ago I forgot to refresh
> some of my refrigerated starter and it was dead as a
> doornail after about a month.
>
> All the best

Hi Kenneth,

Yeah, in "Bread Alone," his first book, he takes the "company line" that
was current about that time about trapping yeast spores out of the air,
using a bit rof yeast to get a jump start, etc. I'm like a few of the
recipes in "Bread Alone," but it's a vastly inferior book to "Local
Breads."

In his new book, "Local Breads," he gets it right. Water and flour only.

Interestingly, Calvel, in his "Taste of Bread," uses a bit of salt and a
bit of diastatic malt in starting his sourdough and carries through on the
addition of a bit of salt with every stage of the initial development. See
pages 89-91. Since you seem to know a lot more about sourdough than I do,
I'd be interested in your take on Calvel's opinion. I tried it and got
excellent results. (Maybe luck. No, more than a "maybe." <g>)

Barry