sourdough starter yeast

My family has passed down a starter yeast for several generations. It resides in my frig and I freshen it by adding 1/2 c. sugar, 2 c. warm water, 2 c. bread flour and let stand on the counter for 3 hours. Then I take half of it to make bread or biscuits. It has been alive for at least 100 years without any other yeast additions. Does anyone else have anything like this? Also interested in more recipes that might work with this starter.

I don't have anything nearly that old, but a friend just gave me an Amish Friendship bread starter.  Looking forward to trying that.  Sour dough would be good, one of my favorites!

Try some of the recipes at this site: http://home.teleport.com/~packham/sourdrec.htm They include biscuits, pancakes, carrot cake, bagels, hamburger buns, etc.

My great gradfather started a bakery (in Germany) in 1855. His sourdough was kept alive by grandfather and then my father until 1940 when my fathwr was drafted and we had to close te bakery until the early 50s when we opened again after being bombed out. Father then started a new sour. It was not made with white flour but some drk (a little coarser) rye and some whole wheat. To refresh sugar was NEVER added, just flour and water. At 10 at night father would take about 1 cup full to make a "pre`-dough" (sponge) with about 4-5 lbs of flour and warm water. It sat over night and was enough for about 40 loaves of 3.5 lbs ea. This sour was used only for darer breads. For white bread we just made a fresh sponge (or "young sour") from white flour the evening before

I still do the sponge because it saves yeast. Father told me a sour should be used at least once or twoce a week, but since I bake bread only every two weeks I don't keep a sour. Can't see adding more and more to give away. In this small town I couldn't dream of giving more than one or two small batches away, even though I live in a farming and ranching community. Most farm woves work away from home and either use a bread machine or buy bread in the store.

Before they had commercial yeast they made their own and actually those "yeasts" are what we now call sour dough.They were started by letting natural yeast  bacteria from the air settle in the mixtures of different ingredients.

My grandfather's 1870 pastry bakers and confectioners recipe book has about 10 ecipes for differnt "yeasts" in it.

To start my sponges the night before baking I use about 1 to 1 1/2 cup of whole hard white wheat flour (frsh ground), a hand full of rye, about a teasp of sugar, about  1/2 tsp of yeast and enough warm water to "make it right". With that I bake 5-7 loaves of bread using about 6-7 lbs of flour and wind up with 12 - 16 lbs of dough, depending of what type of bread I make, darker or white.