No, I didn't name him Hermann - the German version was named Hermann.....called Herman over here. Folks either like to do this sort of baking or they run when they see you coming with a jar of the stuff! My mom really liked the date bread, so I'll be baking more for her to give as gifts. You can freeze the starter after it is going good, then bake when you feel like it. I don't find it too hard to stir and feed it - as long as I don't have to go out of town. Teresa

buehl - The link below is a recipe for "Gluten Free Sourdough Bread" I've had in my "Need To Make" notebook since 3/7/2007 (I'll never live long enough to make everything in that darn thing at this rate...;-). It's a bit odd with the additions of kefir or kefir whey and kimbucha, but those are common ingredients around my house. I always have homemade kefir (made with real kefir grains) and I make kombucha during hot weather - I like it as a refreshing beverage, so I'm sure that was what caught my eye about the recipe. You can also make rice flour starter - it's simple. You can use white or brown rice and mill it into flour yourself in a coffee/spice mill (Fresh-Is-Best) if you don't have a grain mill. If you Google - rice sourdough starter - you will find lots of instructions and recipes. Rice flour starter is similar to making starter with wheat flour and water. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Gluten Free Sourdough Bread

Helene - that is a great tip! What would you freeze it in? Just a freezer bag with the air squished out? I still haven't done my baking - I really need to get to it today. I am about 4 days overdue in baking it. I have two bags of starter on my counter that I would like to use up/give away/freeze. I am very confused on what amounts to freeze, and then how much of the other ingredients to add to it before I bake it all. The recipe says to take out four 1 cup servings of the starter, bag them up, give them away. Then, the remainder in the bag, you use that in your bread recipe. But, what if I want to just bake with the whole bag and not make giveaway starters out of it? How do I know how much to add to it in order to make break out of the whole thing? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question to you more seasoned bakers out there. GW

Wow! Good looking baskets. I noticed you made Plantmaven's Amish Sugar cookies. My neighboer and I made cookies today and we made the sugar cookies...made a ton! They are good but so crumbly you can hardly pick one up. I don't suppose you had that problem and I'm wondering what we did wrong. I'm hesitant to give them to anyone although they really do taste good. Any ideas what I did wrong? jude