Sourdough Starter

 I finally made sourdough bread.  It took 2 weeks.  It is a process of mixing 1/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water in a jar.  I am using a mason jar.  You mix it and cover it with plastic wrap.  You do this for 7 days.  A fermentation process will begin.  It is using the natural yeast in the flour.  On the first try, it worked for a couple of days and then nothing.  It even had a dark liquid form.  It is called hooch.  It can be poured off.  It smells.  At the end of 7 days, I tried and it did not work.  No rising and it was a block of cooked flour.  The pigs had no problem eating it.  The second time, I did not get the hooch.  The starter started to rise after a couple of days.  After 7 days, I looked up a recipe.  I found it is kind of a labor intensive process.  I waited another week.  I even had to split the starter in 2 jars.  Then I made the bread.  It takes a little starter, flour and water.  Mix and let sit for 1 hour.  Then work the dough and place it in a bowl.  Cover it with a damp cloth and let sit for 10+ hours.  Once done, work the dough into a ball and place it in your cooking pan.  I used a Dutch oven.  Let it sit for 1-2 hours.  Then it is time to cook.  It turned out.  Only problem is I used wax paper instead of parchment paper.  It ended up sticking to the bottom of the crust.  I will not make that mistake again.