I gave up on the concept of making a sourdough starter with commercial
yeast. It needs to be fed constantly. I mixed some bread flour and some
tap water into a wet dough and put it a bowl last Friday. On Monday I had a
bubbly mass that had grown somewhat in size in the bowl. It had no smell.
Also on Monday I started a second culture using organic rye flour and tap
water that I had boiled and cooled to remove any chlorine. I also added
some of the rye flour and boiled water to the Friday batch. This evening
the Friday batch is quite bubbly and smells like aged cheese. The color is
good. The Monday batch has grown a little, has a few bubbles and has no
smell at all. Neither did the Friday batch after just one day. How am I
doing? Do I have the start of a sourdough starter in the Friday batch?
What do I do next? Make it larger and try a loaf of bread? Help.

Fred
The Good Gourmet
http://www.thegoodgourmet.com