Can anyone tell me how to get a start for sourdough bread and what the
advantages of sourdough are?

wrote:
> Can anyone tell me how to get a start for sourdough bread and what the
> advantages of sourdough are?
Try the "rec.food.sourdough" group and you will get all the anwswers
you are looking for.

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 19:49:24 -0800 (PST), "
> wrote:

>Can anyone tell me how to get a start for sourdough bread and what the
>advantages of sourdough are?


This page will give you information on acquiring a starter. IT is a
really nice starter, too.
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/source.html

And this link will give you a lot of general information.

http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html

Someone else recommended rec.food.sourdough, but you might also enjoy
alt.bread.recipes. Neither group is super active, though the
participants (like me!) usually check in for questions that newcomers
might pose.

And if you prefer an online forum, www.thefreshloaf.com is one of the
good ones.

Boron

Making a starter is easy. Just mix a cup of flour with about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water and allow to sit out on the counter overnight. Sourdough has similar rising qualities to yeast dough, but with a slightly sour taste. If you make bread from the starter, save out a quarter cup of the starter to use in the next bread-making project. When using this small amount of starter, add it to the ingredients called for in the bread recipe (remember, no yeast here), except only use half the flour called for. When the dough raises the first time, save out 1/4 to 1/2 cups of the dough. (Be sure to add the remaining flour to your recipe to achieve proper results.) This will become your starter for the next time. It always keeps your starter fresh and ready to leaven the next batch of bread. Remember to store this starter in the refrigerator in a covered container (a simple bowl with plastic wrap will do nicely) to keep the starter from becoming too soured and unusable.

Vic in Oregon