Sourdough Questions
Hello all, I've been baking bread off on on for years. Started out in my teen years with a book by James Beard on bread, and have been using some of Jim Lahey's No-Knead recipe for a few years now. I'm on the cusp of diabetes, so have been scaling back my bread intake. However, I've been reading the sourdough bread may be a little better for diabetics, due to the fermentation.
I'd like to start working and try out some sourdough recipes, but I'm not sure about getting the starter going. I've been reading through the various posts here, and they all seem to take quite a long time to get up and running before you can actually use them. While I'm not opposed to such, I'm wondering if there's any way to speed up the process a bit? Can you create a starter using a bit of regular active, dried, or even live yeast, to kick start the process?
I'd just like to get started attempting baking a few loaves in the next week or two, instead of the next month or two. From what I understand, the starter will continue to evolve over time as it picks up more and more wild yeast each time it's fed and used, so the flavors will become more complex. I guess what I'm asking is can you speed up the fermentation process by starting with active yeast, or does it really need weeks of accumulating wild yeast?
Thanks in advance for any advice or tips...