So far I’ve sent over 50 sourdough starters to people who have asked for them, many who haven’t had any experience baking with yeast or sourdough.  I encourage anyone to write if they have questions.  Since most of the questions are probably of interest to others I decided to post them here.
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Q… Thank you very much for the starter, I received it yesterday.  I followed your directions and got things started right away.  Like I said, I am a novice at this at best.  I haven’t seen a whole lot of bubbling but will check it tonight after work and see how it is going.  I am wondering about a lot of things but was wondering if I have more questions, can I ask you?
When you say covered – do you mean with a cloth or a lid loosely on a jar?  You said you drilled a small hole in a plastic lid – very small or relatively small, to release gasses?  When you feed the sourdough – do you do approximately what you had us start with – or a smaller amount?  I currently have it starting in a quart jar and I see you use a pint.

A… First off, RELAX ,   this starter has been around for 100 years and isn’t likely to die unless you poison it (with soda, baking powder or self-rising flour), or get it too hot.
Look at the sourdough through the side of your glass jar.  If you see tiny bubbles in the dough, things are going well.  I’ve kept a plastic bag, just like the one I mailed to you on my counter for the past two weeks, just to see how it would do.  Yesterday I put a spoonful of this into fresh flour and water and it bubbled up wonderfully.
Yes, cover with a cloth or loose lid to keep it clean.  It doesn’t take a very large hole to let gasses escape
I try to keep about 1/2 cup for starter.  When you feed it, discard all but about 1/4 cup and replace with enough flour and water to make 1/2 cup.
I suggest you put the discarded starter in a little bowl.  Add a pinch of salt, a little sugar, and a dab of butter.  Stir in enough flour until you can handle it.  Knead it for a few minutes and place it in an oven-safe cereal bowl (or a tuna can or. . .).  Cover and let it raise for two or three hours and bake it.  You have now made a little loaf of bread!  This is a good way towards building your confidence and learning how long, under your conditions, you need to let your bread raise.
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Q… I usually try to avoid wheat flour since I am gluten intolerant, but do you know if gluten-free flour, like Buckwheat, Quinoa, Sorghum, or Coconut would work for the feedings?

A… They should work OK.  You might keep a little starter going with regular flour then experiment with the others.  Let me know how it works out.
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Q…I have made one batch of biscuits.  They really weren’t too bad!  I am wondering about how much they raised or rather didn’t raise.  I started them as per the recipe in a big crock bowl which I set on the back of our wood pellet stove top.  It is just barely warm there.  At first the dough grew fast and then didn’t change for the next 4-5 hours.  I finally just added the other ingredients and put them on a cookie sheet on top of my cook stove with the oven turned to 200 degrees.  They didn’t double in size but did get bigger.  When baking they did grow some more.  They had very nice texture and we thought it was a fairly strong sourdough taste.  Should I have kept the dough warmer to start with?

A…No, I don’t think you needed to keep them warmer, maybe just let them raise a little longer before baking.  I’ve had problems sometimes putting them in a “warm” spot, not realizing it was too warm.
Sourdough bread will not be as light as yeast bread.  You will get the most “growth” immediately after feeding or adding the final ingredients for your recipe.  Unlike yeast bread don’t “punch it down” halfway through the raise period.  As soon as you add the final ingredients, make up the loaf or cinnamon rolls or  . . . , let raise then bake.

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