Rusty - You've got it (sorta'). Even the recipes for this starter, and ways to use it, differ from person-to-person and recipe-to-recipe. I've collected a file on it over the last decade, or so, and no two seem to be alike. It's an overnight sponge method, would be the best way to describe it. I feed it rye flour when I want it for rye bread, as well as wholegrain spelt or wheat, but plain old all-purpose flour (milled in the town she lived it) is all my friend, who gave me the starter, ever used. I got my starter from a woman in her late 80's (she's now in her late 90's). She got her starter from her mother when she "set up housekeeping" as a young bride. She had used this method growing up, as did all her sisters. From the research I've done, it's a method that goes back about 100-125-years. She gave me a quart jar with about 1-cup of starter in it, along with some cryptic instructions. Good thing I was a seasoned bread maker and had used starter before or I doubt I'd have even gotten a loaf made. I quickly adapted to the overnight sponge method and used Everlasting Yeast cup-for-cup for any sourdough recipe I had used in the past from other types of starter. The night before: Mix the 1-cup starter with an equal amount of water, 1/4 c. sugar and beat in enough flour so the batter is about the thickness of pancake batter. Cover (I use a Quick Cover with a few air holes poked into it to off-gas) and let sit overnight in a warm place (my oven with the light on). The next morning: Remove 1 cup and store in the refrigerator in a 1-quart jar. My original jar had a sheet of waxed paper on it, held in place with a rubber band, and a few holes cut into the paper. I replaced that with a small Quick Cover with a few holes in it. The gal I got my starter from had never made anything other than white bread with the starter, while I've incorporated it into lots of different baked goods, pancakes/waffles, biscuits, cake, wholegrain breads, rolls, cinnamon rolls, etc... I like the overnight sponge, usually with a whole wheat flour in it, which lightens the loaf. I make sure I use the Everlasting Yeast at least once every 2-4 weeks to renew it. I never use tap water in it, although my friend did. We're not sure what the original recipe was, but here's some from my file. The methods used in the recipes below aren't anything like what my friend used. Recipe #1: Source - Capper's Weekly - C.P.W. Topeka, KS, January 18, 1947 EVERLASTING YEAST 4 med. potatoes, peeled 1 quart potato water 1/4 c. sugar 1 T. salt 1 package granulated yeast, dissolved in 1/4 c. water Cook and mash potatoes, saving water. Add enough water to potato water to make a quart and combine with mashed potatoes, sugar and salt. Cool. Add dissolved yeast. Place in 1/2 gallon jar or other container and allow to ferment at room temperature overnight. Then keep in refrigerator. One cup starter equals 1 cake yeast. To Make Bread: The night before, mix 1 cup starter, 1 cup water, 1/4 c. sugar and 2 cups flour. The next morning, add 2 cups water, 2 T. salt, 1/4 c. shortening and about 10 cups flour. Knead until smooth. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise. When light, divide into loaves and let rise again. Bake 1 hour at 325F. When down to last cup of starter, it may be used to make another batch of starter instead of using yeast. That's why it's called "everlasting yeast." Recipe #2 Use glass container. 1 quart potato water or 1 qt. water + 1 T. potato flakes 1/2 cake yeast 2 T. sugar 2 T. flour 1 t. salt Mix well and let stand covered with net at room temperature for 12 hours. Leave about 1/3 c. in bottle. Use the rest when you make bread, do not need extra liquid with this yeast. To the 1/3 c. starter, add all the original ingredients except the yeast. Let stand again for 12 hours then store in refrigerator until needed. This can be kept going indefinitely, if you use it every 3-4 weeks. Recipe #3: (copied as written) Peel two medium sized potatoes and grate them into a plastic bowl, pour 2 cups of boiling water in them and stir until sort of thick like. Cool to lukewarm. Then put two packages of yeast that you have dissolved into the mixture and stir. Add 1/2 c. of sugar, stir in and set aside with a towel over the top. It will all bubble and when through bubbling take out all but one cup and use for the yeast called for in your recipe and put the leftover cup in the fridge. The day before you are ready to make bread again, take out your cup of yest and start over with the raw potatoes again and when this has cooled to lukewarm add the yeast that you saved, add 1/2 c. of sugar again and set aside to bubble. Always save a cup when you use it to keep your yeast active. You should keep this yeast fresh every couple of weeks at least. -------------------------------- This starter always makes a mild-tasting loaf of bread. Back 100 years ago they never called it "sourdough" bread. It was just "bread" using a natural leavening. If the starter got to the point they were getting "sour" bread, they would do what is called "sweeten the pot". This was done by taking a very small amount of the starter (a tablespoon or two) and repetedly feeding it until it was back to a couple cups of starter. Google - Everlasting Yeast - and you'll probably find even more recipes and stories of it's use. I have one newspaper clipping from Checotah, OK "Bread Starter 71 Years Old" and another from Bartlesville, Ark. "Bartlesville Family Has Antique Bread 'Starter' about using this same type of starter. -Grainlady

Most of this information came from the Internet or books by Rita Bingham ("Country Beans" & "Natural Meals in Minutes"). In the "Country Beans" book you will find many recipes using bean flour. - Creamy Cabbage Soup uses white bean flour. - 3-Minute "Cream of Chicken" Sooup - white bean flour - "Instant Pea Soup" - flour from green or yellow split peas - Rita's Lentil Soup - lentil flour Basic Bean Information: 1 c. whole, dried, pinto beans = approximately 1 1/8 c. bean flour 1 c. water + 1/2 c. bean flour = 1 c. "instant" mashed beans (thick mixture) 2 c. water + 3/4 c. bean flour = 2-1/2 c. "fluffy" mashed beans The thick mixture can be used in place of cooked, mashed beans in patties, loaves, casseroles, desserts, and other food products calling for mashed beans. You can substitute pinto beans with black beans milled into black bean flour. General Recipe: Bring 2 c. water to a boil. Whisk in 1 c. bean flour. Cook and stir for 1 minute, until mixture thickens. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pan and cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. This produces a fairly stiff bean mixture that is similar to commercial canned refried beans. Season to taste with your favorite seasonings including: salt cumin chili powder garlic bouillon meat or vegetable soup base powdered seasoning mixes For fluffy bean mixture: This type of bean mixture is lighter and has a creamier texture which works well for dips, burrito and sandwich fillings. Bring 2-1/2 c. water to boil, then whisk in 3/4 c. bean flour. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pan and cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can add Picante sauce to the "instant" refried beans. "INSTANT" REFRIED BEAN MIX (source: Country Beans) 1-1/2 c. pinto or black bean flour 1-1/2 t. chili powder 1/8 t. garlic powder (optional) 1/2 t. cumin 1-1/2 t. salt 1 t. instant minced onions (optional Mix and store in airtight container. To prepare, whisk 3/4 c. above mixture into 2-1/2 c. boiling water. Cook, while stirring, over medium heat for 1 minute, until mixture thickens. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and cook 4 minutes. Bean Flour Storage: Store bean flour in an air tight container, preferably in the refrigerator or freezer. Bean flour keeps 6 months. Other Uses: To cook bean flour soups in a microwave - whisk bean flour into seasoned hot water in a large microwavable bowl. Cook at full power for 1 minute, or until mixture boils. Stir well, then cook an additional 2 minutes. Bean flour soup in a pan - whisk navy bean flour into seasoned boiling water to make an almost instant soup or thickener in only 3 minutes. Bean flour combined with wheat flour = complete protein. Bean flour can be used in a recipe calling for flour by replacing up to 25% of the wheat flour with any variety of bean flour. Baby lima or small white beans are the mildest in flavor and the lightest in color and work well to increase the protein in baked goods if you need another use for bean flour. -Grainlady

Here goes. These are the tips and ideas that DIDN'T come with the set of pastry rings (LOL). 1. Put down a sheet of plastic wrap. I purchased a box of EXTRA WIDE Reynolds Plastic Wrap (50% wider than regular plastic wrap) just for this purpose. If you don't have, or can't find, the Extra Wide Plastic Wrap, just use two lengths of regular plastic wrap and overlap the pieces to form one large sheet - larger than the size of the ring you are using. 2. Place the "puck" of pastry on the center of the plastic wrap and cover with another sheet (or 2 overlaping sheets) of plastic wrap. 3. Place the plastic ring over the top of all the sheets of plastic. The pastry is now sandwiched between the plastic wrap. This keeps your plastic ring clean. 4. Use a LONG, non-tapering, rolling pin (see link below) for easy use and best results, but a regular pin will work. Roll out the dough until the ring is filled. Once you roll the pastry so it is touching the ring on two opposite sides, it should stabalize the ring enough to let your finish without any problems. If the plastic wrap bunches or gets caught in the dough, just lift up the plastic wrap off the top of the dough, smooth it out, top with the ring again and continue rolling. Run the palm of your hand over the entire crust when you are done rolling it to make sure it's level all around. Benefits of this method... It's amazing really, but it seems you can't over-work the pastry. You don't add any bench flour, so that doesn't contribute gluten, and you won't get a tough finished product. That dreaded clean-up is a snap. More hints: a. Still in the plastic wrap, transfer the rolled out pastry to a cookie sheet (a really thin sheet without any lip or edges works best) and chill for 20 minutes to firm it up after rolling it out. b. After chilling, leave the pastry on the cookie sheet and CAREFULLY peel off the top sheet/s of plastic wrap. Center the pie plate on the pastry. c. Flip the cookie sheet and pie plate. Remove the cookie sheet. d. Press the pastry into the pie pan while the plastic wrap is still on the pastry. This is very beneficial because it will prevent you from stretching the pastry, which leads to it shrinking during baking. When satisfied with it's positioning, remove the plastic wrap. If the plastic wrap is sticking to the pastry, stick the pan/pastry back in the refrigerator, it's gotten to warm. e. If you have a really warm kitchen or very warm hands, an old tip is to dip your hands in ice water and dry them to cool them off, while forming the dough in the pan to keep your hands cool. You can also chill the pie pan before using it. f. When you are satisfied with the fit, remove the plastic wrap and flute the edge. Lay the plastic wrap back on the pastry and refrigerate it until ready to fill. If it's a double crust pie, roll out both crusts, leave one flat in the refrigerator. Fit the bottom one into the pie pan, leaving the plastic wrap intact and leave it in the refrigerator until ready to fill. Remove the plastic wrap and fill. Top with the second well-chilled crust (you have removed one side of the plastic wrap - flip it on the pie and then remove the second sheet of plastic wrap. Okay, this sounds rather complex, but it's not really, and you get a perfect crust every time. A friend who uses these always takes the blue ribbons at the fair every time she enters a pie. They are especially great when you have to make a LOT of pies - for the simple fact you don't have to mess with bench flour everywhere. You may get frustrated when you first use this method - your plastic wrap may bunch, or your ring will move slightly, but hang in there, it all works out and you WILL have a perfectly round crust. I used to hate to roll out pastry because of all the mess, but I LOVE using this method. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Vic Firth Bakery Rolling Pin

Before going gluten-free, I nearly always used a 100% extraction - medium-fine grind (Nutrimill) for bread. I used an overnight sponge, which softens the bran, for making 100% whole wheat flour yeast bread. That is another way to lighten the loaf. Using a soaked flour method (Sue Gregg or "Nourishing Traditions") is another method to lighten the loaves because it softens the bran. Tempering the grain before milling, as well as bolting the flour, is yet one more method. The only tempered wheat I've worked with was called "heavy-bran" (from a local stone mill), and it was more like oatmeal. I developed several recipes for the mill with this product, but they decided not to continue production due to expense and hassle. I would sift the bran from flour milled for making "cake" flour (a 3:1 mix of soft white wheat and whole oat groats OR spelt), although softer wheat doesn't bolt as efficiently as hard wheat. I don't own a standard flour "sifter", but I use a series of food-grade mesh sieves I've collected over the years for bolting. I'm not even sure of the micron size of them. You can get sets that have 3 (or more) sizes to the set. Start with a large one and continue with smaller ones until you have achieved the extraction rate and particle size you'd like. If you make your own cereal or cereal blends for making cooked cereal (Cream of Wheat, Rice, Barley, Rye, 5-grain, 7-grain, etc.), that's another place you will want to sift the finer particles from the mixture before cooking it. If you don't sift it out, you will end up with "glue" for cooked cereal. Same thing if you make cracked wheat or bulgur. It is my understanding that flour is generally in the range of 35-70 micron opening mesh. Naturally, it depends on the grind from your mill. If you start with a coarse grind, you will get different results than if you mill your grain on a medium or fine grind. You will get a finer grind on many mills if you run the grain through on a coarse grind, then run the coarse flour through on a finer grind a second time. Yet one more option. I'm not sure what the sizes are for the various grinds of corn, but I might have something in my files and will post it if I find it. The finer the cornmeal -- the texture of the cornbread will be more cake-like. This would be the "coarse" setting used for milling cornmeal on the Nutrimill. You can't get a true coarse grind using an impact mill. I use a Corn Mill - steel burrs - for coarse grinding. Coarse cornmeal will be coarse and heavy when used for cornbread. Neither is right or wrong - just a choice. ;-) Sorry I couldn't be more help.... -Grainlady