Recipe(tried): Range-Rider's Sourdough Starter +2

Range-Rider's Sourdough Starter

1 medium potato, peeled, cubed
1 cup sugar
3 cups water
3 cups flour

Combine all ingredients. Let stand in gallon jar or crock for 3 days. As each cup of starter is taken out for baking, add 1 cup water, c. flour, and 1 T. sugar to starter so there will be a supply for another baking.

This is a very old recipe, and was handed down to me by my mother-in-law. I also have 2 other recipes for starters. One is yeast-based, and the other is without any type of yeast.

Prospector's Starter

1 pkg. yeast, dry or cake
1 c. warm water
1 T. sugar
1 T. salt
2 c. flour

Dissolve dry yeast in warm (not hot) water, or compressed yeast in lukewarm water. Add sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cover and allow to stand at warm room temperature (78 degrees) for 36 to 48 hours.

Pioneer Starter

1 c. flour
1 c. water

Mix flour and water to smooth paste. Set aside in warm place to sour, about a week. You can add a package of yeast to mixture to shorten souring time. With yeast, it takes about 3 days to sour. Also you can add 2 T. sugar.
Be sure to use crock or 2-quart jar with lid. Keep starter at consistency of old fashioned thick cream or thickness of today's commercial sour cream. Store in refrigerator, removing it the night before using. Keep sufficient starter on hand by adding milk, flour, and 1 T. sugar, always holding back at least a half cupful. Use milk if only chlorinated water is available.