My starter, if you want to call it that, never doubles in size. It bubbles a little, but stays pretty flat, and for some reason after I feed it (daily) it gets a little more liquid the next day. Certainly doesn't give me the confidence to use up a half a bag of flour and who knows how much time trying to make bread with it.

I've tried to get a starter going three times now. Generally the first day of my starter it smells bad as it's supposed to, but after I feed it it becomes much more tame and stops smelling so bad. I have fed it day after day and it gets more lifeless every time.

Having no experience with sourdough I am pretty sure I'm doing something significantly wrong, even though I am following the directions to create and feed a starter to the letter. I'm using the 50/50 wheat/white flour mix with lukewarm water, making a thick batter, etc.

So, here's my heresy: I'm tempted to try baking with it but hedge my bet with a tablespoon or two of baker's yeast. Does anyone normal ever try that or is it just me? About to give up on sourdough and go back to ordinary bread.

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