And thanks for the tips on keeping a culture alive. I just got back from visiting my mom and I did try out some of her culture, with this bread recipe. It had a lot more sourdough flavor than mine did. She gave me some of her starter, but then I wasn’t sure how to take care of it. Plus, I still have my culture in the fridge, which I’ve been ignoring for quite a while. I think I’m going to go feed it right now.

As for the labor-intensive process of keeping a culture alive. . .it really isn’t. A fully-established, healthy culture will go dormant if you leave it in the fridge, and remain–sluggish, but alive–for quite a while. (I’ve gone as much as three months, but there was VERY little activity by then. I think I almost left it too long. A month, however, is no problem.) You have to revive it before you can use it, but that usually just means feeding it, allowing it plenty of time to consume that feeding, then feeding it again. You needn’t throw anything away, either, if you’re willing to bake extra bread. Just put what you take out into a bowl and feed it, too. Vóila! Double the culture, all ready to go.

and more on leavening techniques, including microbial http://joepastry.web.aplus.net/index.php?cat=48. He says that the taste (sourness) of sourdough depends on the native yeasts and bacteria, and that San Franciscans happen to be very fortunate in both. There, “your starter will very likely culture a very different and interesting yeast by the name of Candida humilis (formerly called Candida milleri, formerly called Saccharomyces exiguus) which is notable in that it doesn’t consume maltose, one of the primary products of enzymatic activity. And that leaves the door wide open to a unique bacterium that lives in the Bay Area and goes by the name of Lactobacillus sanfrancisco. L. sanfranciso, as you might expect, is a prodigious producer of acid (lactic acid as well as acetic acid, which is what gives vinegar its sour tang).”

Check out Joe’s blog, it’s all fascinating.

Thank you for the insight. Good luck with school!

In reference to the hooch I would suggest mixing it back in before taking out any to use to bake I beleive you will then get the “sourdough” taste you are looking for – I have a starter that is almost a year and a half old and I am getting the flavour- and I mix the hooch in with the layer of flour when feeding the starter or else the water/flour ration will be offset

You can feed the sourdough without tossing any of it. I keep mine in the fridge and feed it a half cup flour and a half cup water to get it active when I need to bake. I usually use what I need, feed it again and then pop it into cold storage after it has a chance to really feed on that last feeding.

Some people mix in the “hooch” that develops when the starter sits. I usually pour mine off when it is feeding time. I’m not sure if that has any effect on the flavor or not. If you mix in the hooch you might get a more sour flavor? I hear that the flavor comes from bacteria (lactobacillis) not the yeast.

Great country bread that you made! It looks beautiful with all of the holes!