Sometime in the early nineties I got interested in Sourdough Starter. I was captivated by the mystery and the history. I used it in bread machines, I found a few other recipes, and had moderate success but somewhere along the line I killed it and it just seemed a bit too complicated to really worry about.
Then a few years ago I got interested again. Now with the Internet as my research tool, I discovered that there are as many ways to "make" and use Sourdough Starter as there are people. It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. Well, not true, really no matter how hard you try it just isn't complex!
Once I realized that it wasn't some special kind of yeast for special kind of recipes, I was free to determine that any yeast recipe is a sourdough recipe, and I vowed to never buy commercial yeast again, there's just no need. I made a starter with beasties caught in the air here, a true Houston Suburbs starter. It didn't have much character, so once I got a couple of Italian starters from Sourdoughs International, I let the Houston one die.
I suppose it's natural for me to be a natural leaven devotee. I like baking (not cooking, baking). I like history. I like science. I like reducing my consumption of packaged products (less garbage for landfills). I like cheap. I like turning the mysterious normal.
Go to Sourdoughs International and pick one of their starters, order it, and when it comes in the mail you get all the instructions you need. Getting a starter started is the most labor intensive part. After that, it's INSANELY easy.
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