Sourdough starter pics

you've got bubbles in the starter means you have life in the starter.
Congrats. in the next few days it should start to smell vaguely alcoholic, and slightly acidic. These are normal things.
Your starter at this stage is still rather weak, so don't be to worried if your first attempt to use it is not stellar, It will get stronger the longer you have it.
Once again, congratulations.
Mark

It looks exactly like the whole wheat starter someone gave me about a week ago.

I've been feeding mine 1/4 c flour and 1/4 c water. Can I feed smaller amounts and, if so, how small? I probably won't make a load of whole wheat bread so I don't want to waste a lot of flour feeding this. The person who gave it to me feeds hers every day. I used to feed my white flour starter once a week.

I was also given a potato bread starter and she said she feeds hers every 3 to 7 days. I'm going to make potato bread tomorrow.

Once you are satisfied the culture is strong, you can put it in the fridge, and only feed it about once a week, depending on how much you use it. Each culture is a little different from others. I got a few from Sour Dough International. I am currently growing the San Francisco original. It is really vigorous, and eats through its food faster than others. Within six hours of removing it from the fridge, and feeding it, it doubles in volume.

The rule of thumb for the culture growth is that it doubles every 10 degrees above freezing. My cultures have come back pretty quickly after 7 days a little below 40 F. During the summer, when my house was near 90 F, my bread would over proof in 4 hours. I had one very wet batter that actually began bubbling like one of the Yellowstone boiling mud pools!

Because I use my starter for lots of things, and whole wheat is not well suited for some doughs, I just feed my starter all-purpose flour. When I want whole wheat or rye, etc. I just add that while making the dough.

Your starter looks just right. Have a good time using it.

I have made my own but I really like one I got for free on the internet. This is a very old culture that the family and friends keep alive and make available for free. I included a few bucks in the request envelope as a donation for their efforts.

The web site is http://carlsfriends.net/ and they have lots of info on starters and their care and feeding.

Well don't screw it up. We're all counting on you.

I have been making SD starters for years and belong to a group that shares their starters. Mine has been in my family for over 80 years.

Whole wheat starters usually don't bubble as much as a standard white starter. Keep that in mind when you are baking with it. Also the more you bake SD the more you will understand the whole process. Most people have a tendency not to use enough water.

There are a couple of great sites to start off with.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

Also go to Yahoo groups and there is one group call "sourdough" and "sourdoughchatter". You can learn a lot from these people and also pick up some great recipes. Some will even send you some of their starter.

Now once your starter is going good I would dry some that way you will always have it.

To dry it put some of your starter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Spread it out thin and put it in your oven with just the light on. Leave it their overnight and once it dries you can break it up and store it to use later. All you have to do to bring it back to life is mix it in a 50/50 mix of water and flour and let it sit out for a while.