SC - Pumpkins and such...

[Jenne Heise]

> The color is a pale yellow.  It is thin in consistency--like 
> pancake batter 
> that has been watered down too much.  As for smell, it has a 
> smell not 
> unlike buttermilk.  I covered the container with cheese cloth 
> as it said in 
> the recipe.

You're probably okay, so try feeding it twice a day for a couple days, then
bake with it.

The cheesecloth lets in the wild yeast while keeping the bugs out.  Replace
it with plastic wrap now that you have the wild yeastie-beasties

Mold has a hard time forming while the fermentation is going, and attacks
usually after the starter has gone dormant.

> I was using a recipe from a Gold Medal/Fleischmann's yeast 
> bread machine 
> cookbook.
> Here is the recipe they gave:
> 1 1/2 tsp Fleischmann's bread machine yeast
> 4 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees) mine was 110 degrees
> 3 cups Gold Medal all purpose or better for bread flour (I 
> used better for 
> bread flour)
> 4 tsp sugar
> 
> Now, it says to leave it sit for a week or until bubbly and 
> has a sour 
> aroma.  

As a guess, the recipe just bakes up the loaf and doesn't keep a continuous
starter.

True sourdough starters tend to make dense doughs, and I believe Ed Wood,
who has been working with sourdough for 20-30 years, recommends not making
them in a bread machine because they tax the motors.

Another recipe I had from the Better homes and Gardens bread 
> machine cookbook said to let it sit 10-12 days.  I guess they 
> are assuming 
> that the wild yeast in the air is low to non-existent.  

Actually, they probably took the recipe from someone who has no knowledge of
the dynamics of sourdough.

Some of the best bakers have no real knowledge of sourdough.  Elizabeth
David didn't and defers to James Beard in her English Bread and Yeast
Cookery.  Beard's recipe for sourdough is so outre, it's ridiculous.

> 
> Marsaili:-)
>

Bear