This topic has been especially challenging to learn strictly from YouTube and help forums. With baking, I am instantly drawn to talking to those I aspire to be in the kitchen, and reading the comments and conversations on recipes. There is so much wisdom to glean from others, but I found those who posted in forums were not always very creditable sources.
this comment for example, this person has no experience with sourdough 
And as I mentioned in the last post, sometimes it is challenging to find videos from those you connect with.
And as I mentioned in the last post, sometimes it is challenging to find videos from those you connect with.
My reflection and overview:
Given my progress over these 4 weeks, I decided it was more feasible for me to focus on getting a starter going for sourdough. Let me talk you through my journey. I watched several videos, as I mentioned in post number 2, but had a few failures.
Looking back, attempt one. The first attempt I expected success immediately, so when the water and flour separated, I threw it out and started over. How hard could it be? Water + flour = yeasty sourdough starter. Wrong. I had also used measuring cups for this, but I couldn’t leave anything else up to chance. I bought a kitchen scale.
So I tried again, this time was much better, right around our update post. I was eagerly awaiting. I was nervous as the water and flour separated, so I stirred and made another one.
The next couple days I noticed little bubbles. We have had a really cold, rainy week here in northern Michigan. I began looking at forums relating to temperature and sourdough starters. I saw a lot of posts about the temperature being too warm. If it is too cold, yeast slows and becomes more dormant, but many keep their starter in the fridge long-term. The bubbles didn’t look exactly like the videos I had seen, so I tried to find a warmer place to leave it. I also covered it with a tea towel at this point instead of a lid, which, as I read, allowed it to breathe a little more.
More days passed and I was required to feed it. This was tricky so I started another starter just in case. To “feed” the starter, you have to discard part of it, and then replenish it with water and flour so that the yeast has fresh flour to feed on. At this point it really started to smell. That is one aspect that is hard to get from a video. Remove 1/2 the starter (which I put in another jar), and add 1 c flour, and 1/2 c warm water.
Apparently at this point, your starter should really be growing. It took mine a little longer and I had to wait to feed it again, but then it started to grow and it looked much better – or at least more like the videos.
All in all this was a very beneficial learning process! I realized that some of my fears of yeast are certainly warranted, as it is a tricky critter to keep a live and keep growing. I may have needed a more introductory bread to get me started.
Moving forward, I would not learn baking in this way, but I see the benefits for other contexts. There were a lot of pros and cons:
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