Hi Dick,

> You're kidding -- you're putting us on, right?

Ahhhhh, well no....

Apparently, from your response, I really screwed up. What part of what I did was the goof? After looking back at my original post, I forgot to mention that I also added more flour. My experience up to this point has been bread machine. I knew I had to add salt and more flour, but I thought I'd add the other stuff so maybe the wife would like it a little more.

> Must be something wrong with the starter. Maybe you should try a rye starter or a grape starter or something?

I'm pretty sure the starter is okay. I -DO- know enough about starters not to go the grape route...

The main reason for the steps I took was reading a book co-authored by Ed Wood, "World Sourdoughs From Your Bread Machine". This was a recipe and baking instructions from that book. I liked the idea of letting the machine do the kneading. The 8-hour rise was supposed to have let the sour develop. The second rise in the machine after adding more flour and water was supposed to have taken care of the leavening. The extra kneading really shot that down.

So, I'm really serious about making sourdough. If you could offer some suggestions, I'd really appreciate it!

TIA,
Tim