Instructions: Sprinkle one tablespoon sugar over warm water. Sprinkle yeast over this and let stand in warm place until doubled in size, about 10 minutes. Mix milk, remaining sugar, flour and yeast mixture. Place in plastic or glass containter about the size of a 5-quar ice cream bucket. Stir, using only a wooden sppon or paddle, as metal retards growth. Cover loosely and let stand in a warm place overnight. The next day, refrigerate. Stir each day with a wooden spoon to retard spoilage. On the fifth day, measure out one cup to bake with. Measure out one cup for gift. Feed remaining starter one cup flour, one cup milk and one-half cup sugar. Stir well. Refrigerate and stir daily. On the 10th day, measure out one cup, if desired, to give to a friend. You should have enough left over to use in a recipe, plus extra to feed as before and refrigerate. Thereafter, use the starter almost daily or as desired, feeding every five days.

"Last fall, a friend gave some starter to Etta Taylor of St. Louis. I was really beginning to feel disenchanted with its reproductive necessities when I got a copy of "The Baking Sheet" from King Arthur Flour (in Vermont), she wrote. This gave me the courage just to keep a container of this starter in the fridge (alongside my 20-year-old regular sourdough pot!) and feed it with some sugar about every two weeks. Before I get ready to make some more bread, I double the starter and use about 2-1/2 cups of it for the bread recipe and return the rest to the fridge. Now I feel like
*I* am in control. "

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