I’m making my third loaf with the culture now (the second generation was used to leaven a pizza base yesterday evening). It’s distinctly more sour now by this, the third proper generation and the second week of life - it also seems to be getting a bit more lively - it bubbles up to quite a foamy texture even in the fridge.
What a coincidence. I’ve just made my third loaf with my home-made wild yeast sourdough. Actually I made two sourdoughs - one on rye and one on wheat. And they’re both really good. I was surprised to find out how easy it is to make a sourdough - or “create life in jars” as I like to call it, and how nice it tastes.
Let me know if you find any good recipes. For starters I can suggest one - a no-knead sourdough bread. It is incredibly easy and very tasty. It is a variety of Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread which is very good as well.
For a real Danish treat try making proper sourdough rye bread. Mmm.
Know what you need to get really wild yeast?
Doughboys.
Please don’t hurt me.
That is so cool. I have read about capturing wild yeasts, but not in such detail. The way you write about it, and the pictures, make me want to try it! (Makes note in calendar… week of holidays in April… good time for experiment…)
I’m baking the above mentioned loaves now - although it sometimes seems a bit tardy on the proving, this bread more than makes up for it in springing up in the oven - the dough I made tonight was in all honesty probably a bit too loose due to a little too much water - and when I formed it on the tray, it sort of sagged, but during baking, it’s inflated like a balloon. I guess it’s because the culture works to form lots and lots of very small bubbles, instead of fewer larger ones - and the tiny bubbles can expand during cooking, but not escape so easily.
It’s just about midnight here and I’m sitting eating warm, buttered, crusty bread. The flavour and aroma of this batch is much more distinct than the first one. It’s really hard to describe though - sort of vinegar-sourish, but only mildly, and nicely - sort of yoghurt-tangy - almost cheesy - somewhat beer-ish. Weirdly complex in wonderful, subtle ways.
I’ve very little experience of real sourdough, as it’s just not common here - so I assume this is something close to how it’s meant to be…
You just refreshed another yeasty memory for me. As a kid, I loved the taste of yeast so much I would snack on a packet of dried yeast, or as much bread dough as I could eat.
Invariably, that would give me the worst stomach ache imaginable. I wonder if I could resist sourdough. 
Longer rise times at lower temperatures help develop the sourdough flavor. Also, using rye helps with getting more sourness.
It’s also easy enough to buy dried starter by mail, if you’re curious about experiencing a true San Francisco culture or something like that.