Have not been on to the forums in some time, nor done much baking, but am ready to jump back into it with both feet!

I just read the thread on Rye, and thought I'd start a thread dedicated to rye.

As I conducted my home ash content tests during the latest home milling and sifting session, a sourdough starter was accidentally started. The home ash content test involves mixing 5 grams of flour with 100 grams of distilled water, stirring it periodically, and measuring the conductivity of the water until it stabilizes, about 24 hours later. All of that time was spent at about 69F, the temperature of my kitchen in the winter.

As I conducted my home ash content tests during the latest home milling and sifting session, a sourdough starter was accidentally started. The home ash content test involves mixing 5 grams of flour with 100 grams of distilled water, stirring it periodically, and measuring the conductivity of the water until it stabilizes, about 24 hours later. All of that time was spent at about 69F, the temperature of my kitchen in the winter.

I am posting a new method of creating a sourdough loaf that may help "newbies" to over-come those initial flops we all seemed to have had at one time or another.

Assuming you have a healthy starter, if you haven't there is plenty of information available here on "The Fresh Loaf Website".

Temperature is the most important item when it comes to dough making and this includes "starters".

I find the term "at room tempt." a little misleading as it can vary up to 15°.

Hello all...

I activated my starter from Northwest Sourdough last week.  It was bubbly at first (I feed it for 3 days starter - 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup distilled water).  Now it is doing nothing - looks like pancake batter - no bubbles.  I keep getting houch (the thin layer of liquid on top) - so I stir that back in.  But, I haven't seen any bubbles for the last day or two.  Did I do something wrong?  Is it OK?  What do I need to do?

Ten days ago I began my journey in the land of sourdough.

My very first sourdough starter was made following the excellent instructions in tattooedtonka and jmonkeys epic starter catching tandem trial. Nursed with rye and weaned to bread flour on day 4, the starter looked ready to leave the nursery and go to work at the end of 8 days. Day 9 became my first ever sourdough bread baking attempt.

Eagleswings' struggles with a rye starter and the current interest in Jewish sour rye and corn bread have prompted me to re-post my response regarding the care and feeding of rye sour. After making sour rye breads last weekend, I took some photos of my rye sour refreshment which might be helpful to those undertaking rye bread baking for the first time.

 The photos that follow illustrate the progression of each stage's ripening. The volume of the sour is, of course, increased with each stage.

DMSnyder's adaptation of Greenstein's Rye Sour:

When I read about Susan's grissini, I thought they would be perfect for using up leftovers after building up the starter in preparation for making bread.

Thanks to the inspiration of this forum, I created a wild sourdough starter on Sept 19.  It has created some wonderful breads, so I followed someone's idea to dry some starter by spreading it thinly on waxed paper and letting it dry.  Now I have fingernail sized flakes of dry starter.  Should I put it in a blender to make the flakes smaller?  Do I store this at room temperature or in the refrigerator, or freezer?  How can I re-activate the dried starter?  I still have some of my original starter.  This dehydrated starter is a backup, "just in case".

Thank you,