Starting the Starter

Many years ago, my sister brought me a cup of sourdough bread starter with instructions for its care and feeding.  For the next three or four years I churned out countless loaves of sourdough and nary a loaf of the store-bought variety darkened my door.  What I didn't eat (I was single at the time, living alone with my cat) went to my parents, to work, became a gift, or occasionally I had to pour out the required cup due to lack of time or just too many loaves already in the freezer.  Eventually, the starter gave up the ghost and I was back to buying my weekly supply.

Although I still have the original instructions they don't tell how to make the starter, so while prowling through my clipping stash the other day I found a recipe for the actual sourdough starter.

One of my all time favorite smells is the smell of freshly baked bread so I've decided to give this starter a whirl and see where it takes me.  We don't eat a great deal of bread anymore and I may be pouring out the weekly cup more often than before, but I think my kitchen is going to smell really good in about 10 or 12 days ...

1 pkg dry yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 cups warm water

2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Mix yeast with 1/2 cup lukewarm water.  Place sugar in a glass jar, pour in 2 cups warm water and mix well.  Add flour and the yeast mixture, stirring together until well blended.  Cover jar with a cloth and let stand for 5 days.

End of day one ...

the waiting continues.