My second attempt failed in a mouldy mess, when I left it untended at room temperature for several days.

The results of my third attempt has been more successful and is now ticking away nicely. I'm using a much drier mix this time, roughly following these instructions:

http://sourdough.com/blog/sourdom/beginners-blog-starter-scratch

Had my first baking attempt with it the other day, with a rye heavy loaf. That was a mistake, tasted good but very dense.

Today was my second try, all white loaf this time (apart from the rye in the starter).



Looks good, tastes good*, still not as light as I'd like it. My starter doesn't yet seem to be as vigorous as it could be, still creating relatively small bubbles.

It probably didn't help that I forgot to use strong flour for today's loaf.

Making progress.

* it is quite bizarre to think that the taste comes from just flour, water, a bit of salt and some yeast and bacteria that were floating around