sourdough revisited

Was going thru the fridge at the beginning of this week, cleaning out old stuff, and in the back I found my sourdough starter.

Opened it up, and there was a thick layer of alcohol on there, as well as a thin, dryish grey/brown layer that looked a bit like beef caul. And kinda stinky, on top of it all. I got in there with a spoon, cleaned off the crud off the top, took a tablespoon and dumped the rest. Mixed it with 1 cup flour + 1 cup water, put it in a jar, covered and let sit at room temp for the day. Opened it up, and it was bubbly but still was kinda stinky. Saved a scant 1 tsp of the new mix, remixed with 3/4 c flour, 1/4 c rye flour, and water. Just fed it again today, there was already a layer of alcohol, and it smells great! Rich, bubbly, doughy, nice!

A new sourdough loaf is in my near future. I wonder how old this starter is now? Will have to check the blog again....ok, so it looks like I started it in Dec 2006 when I made grandma's bread for the holidays. It's neat to see that it's still alive and kicking.

Revisited another good site with tips: http://www.schoolofbaking.com/sourdough_tips.htm