About baking bread

[Kali]

4. it shouldn't need commercial yeast

but sourdough is like beans or that hilarious Tday video "Just put the fucking turkey in the oven!" everybody has their way of doing it - hence the endless info out there. to me, when there are so many ways to do one thing it is a signal that they pretty much all work and anybody can do it. you just have to experiment and not get bogged down in "instructions"

the old timers didn't have yeast and it is everywhere in the environment, though I had a relative tell me they used a few local berries to get the yeast off the outside of them when they made new starter.

adding a little yeast, or even a bit of sugar, isn't going to get you arrested but you don't actually need either. the variety of yeast DOES influence the flavor and that is why commercial starters can be a good thing.