On Thu, 20 May 2004 20:50:45 -0500, "Fred"
> wrote:

>I started my sourdough starter project from scratch about 3 weeks ago. The
>second starter stabilized and was successful (rye flour and water that had
>been boiled and cooled.) It still looks good and smells good after about 6
>feedings with high gluten flour. I baked about 12 loaves of bread flavored
>with some of the starter as I fed and stabilized the culture. It tasted
>faintly sour but wasn't really sourdough because I had leavened them with
>commercial yeast.
>
>Finally yesterday morning I took about a 1/4 cup of my starter, added it to
>1 1/2 lb. of high gluten flour, about 12 oz. of warm water, 1 oz. of sugar
>and 1/2 oz. of salt. I mixed it until it had the right feel and appearance,
>set it on the counter, covered it with film and let it ferment. By the end
>of the day, it looked like it hadn't fermented at all and had just flattened
>itself out. The dough was a little too hydrated I guess. I went home and
>came back to the store this morning. Surprise - the dough was fully
>fermented and had a strong aroma of sourdough. It was a little too soft to
>make up hearth bread so I made it up into some baguettes and put the
>baguette pan to proof for about an hour. I baked it and, to my surprise, I
>had some delicious and definitely sour baguettes of normal size and texture.
>I fed slices all day long to customers who gave me plenty of thumbs up and
>encouragement. My first bread without a single bit of commercial yeast was
>a reality. Ah, success!
>
>Fred
>The Good Gourmet
>http://www.thegoodgourmet.com
>
>

Hi Fred,

Your tale brought a smile!

Continued success,

--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."