But here's an update on my sourdough starter. On day two (i.e. after 24 hours), my starter looked like this:
It was bubbling and frothing like a mad thing, I was so excited! But... then we had two cold nights in a row (12'C/ 53'F), and this morning (day four) it is sulking quietly, doing absolutely nothing, and has developed a odd-looking moudly scum on top:
Not Happy :-( But not really surprised, I didn't really expect it would be fantastic on my first attempt (although I was hoping it would kinda work). Still, it's supposed to be warmer today, and it smells OK, in that it has a yeasty, sour smell, not an "off" odour, so I will refresh it and see if I can find somewhere warmer to stick it tonight, perhaps on top of the fridge? Fingers crossed...
6 comments:
Oh this is inspiring me to try again. My first batch was really really horrid!
I have found another recipe to start with so will go and experiment.
The eggs look great!
Kate
Hi,
Congrats on your bubbles for day 2 that is a highly impressive result.
Would be easier to be sure from the side as you would have two separate layers but I am pretty sure things haven't gone wrong for you at this point. I have to say that the second picture that you have there looks like your yeasties had simply exhausted all the food available and so you had "hooch" sitting on top.
Just feed them up and I am pretty sure things will bubble along nicely again. Your choice on tipping the hooch off or stirring it in it seems to be a split camp out in sourdough world about that.
Kind Regards
Belinda
Ergh, don't tell me that Crone! I thought they were pretty hard to stuff up too badly, LOL. Good luck with your new one though, we can compare notes :-)
Hi Kate, thanks! Hope your son is feeling better now :-)
Phew, THANKS Belinda, I thought I'd done something to it. I thought the liquid might be hooch, but the info I read said hooch is dark - and this wasn't *shrug* I mixed it in and fed it up, and it showed signs of activity again (yay!) during the warmth of the day but is separating out again now? Did I not feed it enough or is it because the air is cooling? Argh, I'm such a newbie, LOL.
Cheers, Julie
Hi,
Each version of yeast will go through food at different speeds and definitely processes faster when it is warm.
Based on the level of activity that you are seeing I would say split it into two containers for a bit do one where you do 1/4 c starter 1/4 c flour 1/4 c water and the other one 1/8 c starter 1/4 c flour 1/4 c water and just see what happens. From you pics it looks active enough to start working with smaller amounts of starter and making it work a bit harder, and it will slow the cycle down a bit, but having 2 containers for a while is a bit of insurance.
I find that to start with hooch will tend to be pretty light but if left, ie sitting in the fridge, it gets darker.
Kind Regards
Belinda
Thanks Belinda! I've split it into two as you've suggested, so it will be interesting to see what they both do from now on? I can't wait until I get to actually make some bread LOL.
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