Starting the Starter
Now that I've invested in a NutriMill and tons of whole grains, I figure I'm going to be baking bread more often now. I'm trying to adjust my eating routines so I can eat more bread and still lose the 10 pounds I need to lose. Maybe just bread and water. No, I need some fruits and vegetables too.
Anyway, I thought that I might try another sourdough starter. My past ones have been failures due to extreme neglect. Now's the time to try again. But I want to start my own starter. There's no fun in using someone else's starter.
I tried RLB' s approach in The Bread Bible (page 432). She has you combine equal weights of organic rye flour and water (4.2 oz of each) and place in a closed container for two days (no warmer than 65 degrees) before the next step.
I followed her directions (about 48 hours ago) and nothing has happened. This morning, I found someone else's instructions for a starter (Ed Wood, I think), and he used wheat flour and more water and didn't cover it; so I pulled back the plastic wrap and replaced it with a tea towel. I haven't seen anything yet.
There is one possibility I can think of. I ground my rye flour just before using it. It occurs to me that maybe the critters that make it a starter exist in greater numbers on the flour than on the whole grain. Maybe I should grind my flour days in advance and leave it around.
Am I on the right track?
Rosalie