Is it permissible to use in baking or cooking something that is fermented and smells like alcohol? I recently made a sourdough starter for making bread and I'm not really sure if it's Islamicly approved to use something that smells so strongly of alcohol. I don't know if it will become alcoholic but any advice based on sound Ahadith will be appreciated.

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

If you mean that you add to your meal something fermented that causes drunkenness, then this is alcohol and it is forbidden to put it in the dish as everything that intoxicates is Haram (unlawful).

But if you mean the baking powder that is added to flour and the like, this is not unlawful as it is not alcohol and it is dissimilar to it.

Allah knows best.