Sourdough bread

I've just started on my first batch, and I have a question..

I made the starter with flour and water, let it sit.. and it became bubbly and sour smelling within 12 hours.  Should I still discard half and feed it more flour and water, or is it good to go? (The instructions say to keep discarding and feeding UNTIL bubbles and sourness are achieved, 3-4 days.  Not one..)

A lot of it is environmental. If it traps lots of yeast fast, and if it's warm, your starter will take a lot faster.

It still might be a good idea to feed the starter for another day or so. You'll get more yeast in the mix, and it'll be a stronger final dough.

I used to find that the first batch or two off a new starter was weaker bread (both texture and flavour) than ones from a starter that was a month or two old.

Good info, thanks!  I went ahead with a loaf anyhow, and it turned out pretty much perfect.  Chewy, heavy, sour.  Very close to the SF-style bread I was aiming for, holy cow!  It's super hot here..

No advice but all I gotta say is

mMmmMmMmMmM

My favorite bread in the world.

Recipe, please?!

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

I pretty much followed the directions here.  I don't have measuring cups or anything, though, so just eyeballed everything.

Once the starter was all bubbly and smelly, I made the 'sponge'.  After the sponge was bubbly, I left it for at least three hours.. hoping for very sour bread.  Which is what I got, so all good.  The first rising was pretty fast.  After punching down and adding more flour, the second took overnight.

Going to try another loaf tomorrow, now that I have tons of starter!

Thank you!

or pop to morrisons and buy it fresh

or pop to morrisons and buy it fresh

For those enough lucky enough to live in places where Morrisons carries sourdough!

I think I'm going to try my hand at making a starter tomorrow.  We'll see how this goes - thanks for the link!!

For those enough lucky enough to live in places where Morrisons carries sourdough!

I think I'm going to try my hand at making a starter tomorrow.  We'll see how this goes - thanks for the link!!

Sainsbury's usually carries it but it tastes nothing like proper sourdough.  Let us know how you get on Meg

or pop to morrisons and buy it fresh

I think Madeira is in Japan now... so no Morrisons!

We have some OK French bakeries.. but it's very difficult to find really heavy breads of any type (yes, I'm in Japan).  Maybe someplace has sourdough, but I've never seen any.  Making bread is a pretty fun and cheap hobby, too!

I don't find the sourdough at my Morrisons to be all that sour.  I was quiet disappointed in it, but I still buy it b/c I'm too lazy to make it myself while I'm working full-time.  I miss proper San Fran sourdough though.

I was happier with the sourdough baguettes I bought at Costco a week or two ago.  They had better flavour.

-Cadenza
(who's seriously craving a good sourdough breadbowl with clam chowder now)

There's supposed to be a programme about making it next week 'Big Hairy Bikers Cookery Programme?' (trailed in the Radio Times).

I had some bread last night at a restaurant in Amsterdam that seemed to be sourdough, although not quite San Francisco-style. It was lovely, though.

I think I'll give the starter a go when I get home. Last time I tried all I got was mould.