New to Sourdough

Fortarcher,

The recipe that you found would more accurately be called a type of pre-ferment; perhaps a poolish.

If you want to get off to a good start (sorry, I couldn't resist), try following the directions posted by Sourdolady.

If you would like to understand some of the science behind it, read Debra Wink's The Pineapple Solution.  This link takes you to part one.  A link at the bottom of that page takes you to part two.

You can also read a lot of Q&A about starter development in gaarp's Sourdough 101 thread.  He also wound up creating a flowchart to help visualize the process.  You'll find several iterations in the thread, so don't stop at the first one.

For even more information, make use of the Search box near the top of the left hand side of this page.

Paul

I agree, the resources listed above would be a great place to start. I had a friend tell me a long time ago to make a sourdough starter with commercial yeast. That is actually not correct. An actual sourdough starter is made with just flour and water (although there are several methods that incorporate pineapple juice/ o.j. in the initial stages). You are essentially making a culture of the naturally occurring yeast that is already in the flour.

Please check out the write-ups that have already been done as they will do a more thorough job explaining. It's really fascinating stuff. Glad you're venturing into sourdough- it's really fun.

I did the already mentioned Pineapple Starter and did a comparisson with just flour & water, and you can follow the process here. Lots of photos so you can see what was happening along the way to both types of starter.

The instant you add commercial yeast, you've stepped outside of "sourdough".