Rice/Bread/paper= Carbohydrates=browns veggie/fruit/grass/green=protein=greens. Balancing kitchen wastes with browns such as breads, pastas, noodles, rice, napkins, tissues, etc. is a good thing and helps bring the C:N to optimal. I have 2 hunting cats, live in MA and have never had a rodent problem in my compost. If I did have a rodent problem I would add mammalian urine to the compst bin. If I still had rodent problems I would compost some rodents.

Without a BIG oven and probably a brick construction, it may not be possible to get the exact same texture. Usually a crisp top crust is from moisture that is sprayed inside the oven while the bread is baking. Sourdough cultures vary greatly and there are probably thousands of subtile strain differences in flavor and texture. The flour used is also important as is the kind of heat used. Wood fired ovens are good as that gives the bread a slight smoky taste depending on the type of wood used. Home convection ovens seem to come close to commercial bread ovens, but not quite. The big ovens are also using clay type ceramic as a base for the baking. The shine is made by using a product that is offered on the King Arthur flour site. Its sprayed on and has a bit of milk and a few other things that help give that shine. My grandfather as a baker and had a huge oven that had a bar below the wide door opening. You push down on the bar and the oven floor inside 'moves up' and a new baking surface is seen. It had 4 levels inside and my grandfather would make nice crusty sour rye bread in there. It too had an atomizer that sprayed water inside, that he didn't use for everything. He also liked to add black caraway seeds to some of his rye breads and bagles. We has kids would raid the bakery on every visit. Here is a link that might be useful: Shine from KA Flour

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 agree, knocking down the dough shouldn't hurt it, the yeast should let it come back as it needs to. I think it's not knocked down becasue it's supposed to be fast and easy and that adds another step. As Ann mentioned, safety isn't an issue, but I'll be interested to see how the batch turns out. Annie