For what its worth, I use the stater mix from the recipe book that came with our breadmaker ( only use it now for the mixing and initial rising if I am feeling lazy).

http://lee.org/cooking/Breadman%20Ultimate%20Manual%20TR2200C.pdf

Carolyn, 

Agreed, so many breads so little coals....

I have just started making a starter!! from scratch using whole grain rye flour (could be other flour) and pineapple juice.  This is day two and it will take a while to hopefully activate - I think someone else had made their own starter and I cant remember what the final results were and would love to hear what happened.

I tried to combine two recipes and didnt get much of a rise for along time.  Its soft enough but a bit heavy, looks worse as I cut it hot.  This was 4 cups of flour halved into the two loaves and I shaped them in the banneton which would have shown up better if I had made the whole dough in one loaf.

Here is the proper recipe:

Deluxe Sourdough Bread
1 1/4 cups proofed starter
1 cup water
3 T. dry powdered milk
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 cup instant potato flakes
3 3/4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
2 T. sugar
3 T. butter or margarine
2 tsp. salt
Combine the first 5 ingredients. Mix in the flour just until the mixture is a shaggy mass. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Add sugar, butter, and salt and mix until all is incorporated. Knead dough until it is smooth and satiny.
Cover and let dough rest for 45 minutes. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Pat each dough portion out into a large, flat circle. Gently stretch and fold the left side over the middle, then the right side over the middle (like folding a letter). Pat down with the palms of hands and repeat the folding with the remaining two unfolded ends. Shape loaves, always keeping the folded side as the bottom. I do free-form oval loaves and place them on parchment paper.
Spray the loaves with Pam and cover with plastic. Place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, take loaves out and let them finish rising at room temperature. They should be very light. Do not rush it or your bread will be dense.
While bread is rising, preheat oven and stone to 400 F. I also place a shallow pan of hot water on the bottom rack for steam.
When bread is fully risen, slash top and slide onto hot stone. If you don't have a stone, just bake on a baking sheet. After 10 minutes, turn the oven heat down to 375 F. When loaves start to show color, water pan can be removed. Bake until loaves are a nice golden brown. Time will vary according to the shape and size of loaf.
Cool on a wire rack. You can brush crust with butter while still hot if you like a soft crust.

Many years ago when I first made Piroshki - I unknowling used a no knead method.  Now I have the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a day books and have watched some Youtubes by Jim Lahey I doubt I would ever knead bread again.  No knead bread is rather wet but firms up with refrigerating overnight.  I have made some where I didnt chill overnight and had to add a bit of flour to manage to shape it but it was fine to eat.  I am having better results lately and am using the white  flour that comes in 5K bags at Coles.  Being white flour it gives a much softer and lighter loaf than the wholemeal flours so I guess it just a matter of choice of if you want a healthier loaf or not.  Personally I like seeds and wholemeal but the rest of my family prefers white.

http://carolynscocioz.blogspot.com/2010/12/carolyns-baked-party-piroshki-this.ht...


The Starter Saga

I hate having to be organised so I left the two different starters on the kitchen bench with the idea in mind to feed them on Fridays, I put two more in the fridge, my understanding was that I could just leave them sit there but would then need to reconstitute them and leave them at room temperature for about 6 hours to get them active again. 

The two in the kitchen grew mould as well as the expected liquid topping and I decided I would chuck them.

The fridge two have just acquired the liquid which I believe can either be drained off or stirred in.  I will leave them till the silly season is over and I come back from a holiday where I wont be cooking