I've been baking bread very successfully for some years now, up here in
the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia. No machine; all by hand.
However, I've yet to try my hand at sourdough. So what I need is
suggestions on how to source the best sourdough starter. Mind you, I
have no idea as yet what I mean by 'best'! Maybe you'll tell me .....

anthony wrote:

> I've been baking bread very successfully for some years now, up here in
> the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia. No machine; all by hand.
> However, I've yet to try my hand at sourdough. So what I need is
> suggestions on how to source the best sourdough starter. Mind you, I
> have no idea as yet what I mean by 'best'! Maybe you'll tell me .....
>

Read this group, and you can obtain one for the price of a SASE. Either
from Carl's Friends, http://www.carlsfriends.com, me, (substitute .com
for invalid, mine is a SF sourdough), and Kenneth, who's been offering
his Acme-derived (an SF artisanal bakery that apparently gave him some
of theirs) lately.

B/

B/

"Brian Mailman" > wrote in message ...

> Read this group, and you can obtain one for the price of a SASE ...
> from Carl's Friends, http://www.carlsfriends.com ...

Be sure to send the poor bugger at least $10 via your charge card, but don't
expect to get a sourdough start. (Advice givers are advised to check their
references.)

> ... me, (substitute .com for invalid, mine is a SF sourdough), and
> Kenneth, who's been offering his Acme-derived (an SF artisanal
> bakery that apparently gave him some of theirs) lately.

That's very nice of you and Kenneth. Well, I'd be glad to send the
Aussie a sample of Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter, but the
man who does the work at www.carlsfriends.ORG does a better
job of drying down and quality controlling his product than I do, or
do you or Kenneth, I strongly suspect, and offers alternatives to the
SASE for overseas requests.

--
Dicky
(Dick Adams)
<firstname> dot <lastname> at bigfoot dot com
___________________
Sourdough FAQ guide at
http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html

anthony wrote:
> So what I need is
> suggestions on how to source the best sourdough starter.

There's an Aussie SD forum he

http://sourdough.com.au/

I suspect you can find local starter assistance.

Will

You can try to start your own starter from flour and water (I used
(filtered) rain water....just don't use any chlorinated water) stir it
up...

I kind of tried to fan some outside air in as I stirred...but I don't
know if that really does anything (I thought I was trying to catch any
further wild yeast....but there already is some in the flour). Try
using rye flour at first. It takes just a few days or so.

You can find directions on the internet...(Samartha's site?).

It is a matter of discarding half and then feeding it with more flour
and water. About the 3rd or 4th time you can use unbleached bread
flour. It should be bubbling pretty well by then.

Isn't it still summer there in AU. It should work pretty well for you.


Each time you use it you reserve some for the next time. I also dried
some of each of my starters, just in case.

(Guys, correct me if I gave any wrong info. please)

Trix wrote:
> You can try to start your own starter from flour and water (I used
> (filtered) rain water....just don't use any chlorinated water) stir it
> up...
>
> I kind of tried to fan some outside air in as I stirred...but I don't
> know if that really does anything (I thought I was trying to catch any
> further wild yeast....but there already is some in the flour). Try
> using rye flour at first. It takes just a few days or so.
>
> You can find directions on the internet...(Samartha's site?).
>
> It is a matter of discarding half and then feeding it with more flour
> and water. About the 3rd or 4th time you can use unbleached bread
> flour. It should be bubbling pretty well by then.
>
> Isn't it still summer there in AU. It should work pretty well for you.
>
>
> Each time you use it you reserve some for the next time. I also dried
> some of each of my starters, just in case.
>
> (Guys, correct me if I gave any wrong info. please)

Yeah good idea Trix. And it would be much quicker and cheaper. My
experience is that the starter you get depends on the flour you use.
I've made a few different starters and I found different flour -
different starter. There's instructions in the faq he

<http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/howcanistartastarterfromsc.html>

and Will's method he

<http://tinyurl.com/opl6k>

worked well too. It really is easy and it's good to know how to do it
as it gives you piece of mind that if you loose your starter you can
just make another.

I've found that bread is 95% baker and 5% starter. : -)

TG

I can vouch for the ease of reconstitution of Carl's starter. I just
received a dried sample of Carl's, freshly prepared and quality control
dated by Ticker's acolyte. I began seeing some nice activity even after
just the first feeding. After a couple more feedings (just flour and water;
no potato flakes, sugar, etc.), the starter is now quite vigorous. Looking
forward to baking with it soon.

- Steve Brandt

"Dick Adams" > wrote in message
news:FTELf.2$UN1.0@trndny08...

That's very nice of you and Kenneth. Well, I'd be glad to send the
Aussie a sample of Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter, but the
man who does the work at www.carlsfriends.ORG does a better
job of drying down and quality controlling his product ...

Yeah, I used that one in the FAQ this last time. I am making bread with
it right now using my rye starter.

Dick Adams wrote:

> That's very nice of you and Kenneth. Well, I'd be glad to send the
> Aussie a sample of Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter, but the
> man who does the work at www.carlsfriends.ORG does a better
> job of drying down and quality controlling his product than I do, or
> do you or Kenneth, I strongly suspect, and offers alternatives to the
> SASE for overseas requests.

I knew that would rouse you out of that stupor.

B/

"Brian Mailman" > in message said
to me:

> I knew that would rouse you out of that stupor.

What would? Advice-giving idiots giving stupidly
incorrect advice? Like *.com for *.org as in

???

What stupor? Are you referring to some specific
incidences of stupor? Not posting for a while should
not count as stupor.

--
Dicky

Dick Adams wrote:

> "Brian Mailman" > in message said
> to me:
>
>> I knew that would rouse you out of that stupor.

> What stupor? Are you referring to some specific
> incidences of stupor? Not posting for a while should
> not count as stupor.

No, but other than me, there's been plenty grist for your grisly mill.

B/

"Brian Mailman" > wrote in message ...

> No, but other than me, there's been plenty grist for your grisly mill.

It's just that I expect more from you. How could you send
innocent nOObies to some sickie Carl who just wants their
charge card number and sends no sourdough starts?

Why don't you devote yourself to the useful pursuit of putting
that counterfeit Carl out of business?

The real Carl is dead, but lives on at www.carlsfriends.org.
No charge card required, just a SASE.

--
Dicky

"Dick Adams" > wrote

"Why don't you devote yourself to the useful pursuit of putting
that counterfeit Carl out of business?"

This is much worse even than posting for advertising purposes on newsgroups,
and gets less attention. Is this true, an imposter Carl Griffith fishing for
credit card numbers? What can be done?

hutchndi

hutchndi wrote:
> "Dick Adams" > wrote
>
> "Why don't you devote yourself to the useful pursuit of putting
> that counterfeit Carl out of business?"
>
> This is much worse even than posting for advertising purposes on newsgroups,
> and gets less attention. Is this true, an imposter Carl Griffith fishing for
> credit card numbers? What can be done?
>
> hutchndi
>
>
Have you checked the site?
It appears to be a reasonably legit charity appeal for a local guy with
health problems. Now, *anyone* could put up a sob story like this, and
there's no telling what's going on, unless there are some news articles
to follow up, but I wouldn't think it was meant to horn in on Carl
Griffith's memory...

Dave

"Dave Bell" > wrote in message om...
www.carlsfriends.com

> Have you checked the site?
> It appears to be a reasonably legit charity appeal for a local guy with
> health problems. Now, *anyone* could put up a sob story like this, and
> there's no telling what's going on, unless there are some news articles
> to follow up, but I wouldn't think it was meant to horn in on Carl
> Griffith's memory...

It is frustrating because there is no "webmaster" or responsible person
listed on the web page. I can't imagine it is effective for money raising.
The photo looks like Kevin Spacey. There is a movie actor with that
Carl's name, but it is not him. But there is no reason why there cannot
be a www.carlsfriends.com as well as the www.carlsfriends.org, and
it is doubtful that the McIntyre team would be amenable to changing
their site name, or owning poor judgement in not searching on the site
name before they adopted it.

--
Dick Adams
<firstname> dot <lastname> at bigfoot dot com
___________________
Sourdough FAQ guide at
http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html

Thanks all for the advice ... I'll take it from here!
Just wish me luck .....

Dick Adams wrote:
> "Dave Bell" > wrote in message om...
> www.carlsfriends.com
>
>
>>Have you checked the site?
>>It appears to be a reasonably legit charity appeal for a local guy with
>>health problems. Now, *anyone* could put up a sob story like this, and
>>there's no telling what's going on, unless there are some news articles
>>to follow up, but I wouldn't think it was meant to horn in on Carl
>>Griffith's memory...
>
>
> It is frustrating because there is no "webmaster" or responsible person
> listed on the web page. I can't imagine it is effective for money raising.
> The photo looks like Kevin Spacey. There is a movie actor with that
> Carl's name, but it is not him. But there is no reason why there cannot
> be a www.carlsfriends.com as well as the www.carlsfriends.org, and
> it is doubtful that the McIntyre team would be amenable to changing
> their site name, or owning poor judgement in not searching on the site
> name before they adopted it.
>
I'm sure the history of the sites are traceable. I suspect the .com
charity site is newer...

Dick Adams wrote:

> "Brian Mailman" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> No, but other than me, there's been plenty grist for your grisly
>> mill.
>
> It's just that I expect more from you.

Why thank you!

> How could you send innocent nOObies to some sickie Carl who just
> wants their charge card number and sends no sourdough starts?

I'm guilty, it's true.

I plead temporary not-paying-attention-to-details due to the annual bout
with pneumonia and not realizing I didn't have quite enough oxygen to
think straight. I should have double-checked my own typing and gone to
the site to make sure.

B/