Dear Floydm,
As I said it is a taste once experienced you never forget. It is closer to sourdough than regular yeast bread but more cheesey than sour. It has a dense, even texture, and is best eaten sliced thin, toasted and buttered.

I have read that it is very tempramental to make and after 3 initial successes I had two failures. There seem to be two starter types, one with potatoes and cornmeal in the starter and one with just cornmeal, as in the recipe you posted. My first failure was with the cornmeal only but then I went back to adding the potatoes and had another failure. I know you have to use whole ground cornmeal and NOT degermed which I used in all cases but I wonder if it has to be very fresh since when I first opened the package I had the best results.

I also thought that maybe the first 3 successes used up all the yeast making bacteria (is that what activates the starter) floating around in my darkroom. Who knows. I plan to try again this weekend.

Traditionally you use only white flour, which tastes great but in order to make it a little more healthy I added some whole wheat. THis works to a point but if you add too much it doesn't seem to rise. Also I have only tried making it in bread pans and the first time it did not rise in the typical dome shape but straight up! they literally looked like bricks but it tasted great.

Also the Joy of Cooking said if you use non mealy potatoes it will not stink up the house so much and this seems to be true but it also seems that a little stinkiness is necessary for that real cheesy flavor.

I got my recipe from a cookbook called Lost Recipes, by the author of the Fanny Farmer cookbook (I don't have it with me right here).

You should really try it. I will send my recipe if you would like. I also plan to try your method for french bread this weekend.

Kathryn