I also got some given to me, one of the office staff made the bread every single day for months, I think. She kept adding different fruit to make it "different", LOL. She gave me some starter, I politely took it and just threw it away. When she asked how it went, I told her I had forgotten it on the counter and it died. She promptly offered me more, which I turned down, reminding her that she was baking it all the time and bringing it in, I didn't have to bake any. (grin) A couple of weeks later she stopped baking it and said she got so tired of it she threw it away and that she had about 20 loaves in the freezer. So, I know you can freeze the bread after it's baked and I don't see why you couldn't just make half of the starter, it's all the same proportions and it'll start fermenting. Annie

This name sounded familiar to me so I checked the allrecipes site. There are lots of recipes to make various things from Herman starter. Sounds similar to me. Trying to give you the link, but if I don't do it correctly, just search for "herman" recipes Here is a link that might be useful: Herman

Starters - how people use them and what they put in them are as varied as the people that use them. Just Google - Care and Feeding of Sourdough Starters - for a real lesson in contradictions. The good news is you can try a wide variety of "starters" until you find the one/s you like. My favorite is a 100-year old starter method called Everlasting Yeast. I can feed it rye flour if I want a rye starter. I also use whole wheat flour or spelt.... I use what kind of flour I have on hand that might need to be used up, as well what type of starter might work best in a recipe. "Starter" is also called levain, desum, barm, or sourdough. According to "Crust & Crumb", those names indicate a certain method of creating the starter, and the level of acidity and complexity. "Old Dough" is also a starter method - where you keep a bit of dough from your last breadmaking to use as a starter for the next. For more information I'd suggest finding a copy of "Crust & Crumb" by Peter Reinhart and "The Bread Book" by Thom Leonard. Both men are experts in the world of naturally-leavened breads. I've also included a link below for more information. But when it comes to plain old fun and a lot of recipes, you can also choose "Friendship" or "Amish" Starters - which are a modern version of "starter" that includes using bakers' yeast along with flour and water. Starter "purests", flour/water ONLY - usually avoid the "modern" starter versions, but I say to each their own.... The bakers' yeast quickly dies out, and if you're lucky, naturally-occuring (aka wild) yeast will take over. In the book, "Sourdough Breads and Coffee Cakes" by Ada Lou Roberts, she has starter recipes for these starters, as well as recipes using them. She also includes a few homemade yeast recipes. -Grated Raw Potato Starter -Cooked Potato Starter -Peach Leaf Starter -Beer Starter -English Beer Starter -Hop Starter -Alaskan Sourdough Starter "Adventures in Sourdough Cooking & Baking" by Charles D. Wilford includes simple recipes for Primary Batter "A", and Primary Batter "B". Then there's the every popular, "World Sourdoughs From Antiquity" by Ed Wood. "CookWise" by Shirley O. Corriher includes information about: -Firm Sourdough Starter -Wet Sourdough Starter -Starter with Yeast -Sweet Yeast Starter I've found most types of starters I've made over the years can be used successfully in recipes that call for "starter". The differences come with hydration of the starters and the mixture of flour/water and any of a number of other ingredients used in them. But they all have the same thing in common, the naturally-occuring yeasts that make them work. When it comes to Sourdough English Muffins (and English Muffins in general), I cut my muffins - either with a circle cutter or to save time I'll cut them into squares with a pizza cutter (and eliminate second-cuts that are more tough than first-cuts), but I don't usually cut them with my English Muffin Rings. I've never made a "batter" English Muffin recipe, nor do I bake English Muffins with the ring around them. I bake them on an electric griddle without the ring. However, I bake Sourdough Crumpets on a griddle using 4 English Muffin Rings. It's a King Arthur recipe and one of the best uses for that 1-cup starter people toss. You can find the entire recipe in their recipe file entitled: Sourdough Crumpets Or How to Resurrect a Neglected Starter. Sourdough Crumpets (1 c. starter = 8 crumpets) Note: If you make 1 cup of starter into crumpet batter, place it in a 4-cup measuring cup (easy pouring), but the batter expands a LOT and you need that 4-cup volume. For each 1 cup of sourdough starter, sprinkle over the surface: 1 t. sugar 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. baking soda Whisk these in thoroughly. Caution...the batter expands. On a pre-heated griddle (medium heat), place the greased rings. Fill rings with about 1/4-inch of batter and cook it over low heat until the tops are set and full of holes. Remove the rings and flip the crumpets over for a minute or two. After they've finished cooking, stockpile them on a cooling rack (don't stack them like pancakes, they stick together). When cool, pop them in a toaster or toaster oven to brown and crisp. Serve them with butter and jam. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Sourdough Home

I made MaryAnne's Recipe #2 last nite. I forgot to buy a pudding mix. It makes a huge cake! It was okay, but not as good as I was hoping. I did overcook it a teeny bit though. I was thinking it should have had baking powder in it, but it wasn't in the ingredients, and I was panicking. I thought cakes had BP, but I'm wrong, obviously. I have away the starters on Freecycle.....had lots of requests for it. I was surprised. I think I'll wait a while and maybe try it again with another recipe, one moister.