Wild Yeast Sourdough Starters Exchange

Suzanne,

Don't despair, If you don't succeed, try, try again. Besides, it's fun. And once you do make a culture into a starter, you will be so proud of yourself.:) Hang in there. If you think you need to start over again, that's OK. Reminds me of laboratory experiments. LOL:D

I didn't want to say anything, but last night Joey and I heard a big bang. We went out to investigate, and there was Bill II, splattered all over the kitchen floor. I put him on top of the fridge, but Higgin, my female curious and forever a helpful one, decided she wanted to know what was on top of the fridge. She managed to get up there and knock it down, and now there is glass and culture all over the floor.

What can I say?:( I'll now have to culture Bill III. Would you like to start another one with me? I'll be very careful with mine from here on out and have protective barriers all around Bill III. I can't be mad, she is the most curious cat I have ever met. I really don't mind starting another one anyway, especially if I have someone in the beginning stage with me. It won't be so lonely that way.

I started one last night right after I cleaned up the mess. Tonight will be the starting of day 2. I'm using the instructions from above "Making Your Own Sourdough Starter".

Janie
 
Hi Ladies!

Janie - {{{hugs}}} Sorry about Bill II! Our kitty is the same. DH will be working on the computer or trying to put something together and he just has to be in the middle of it to help! He's always knocking things off the tables either for the puppies when they can't reach or just for attention! I salute Bill II and am ready to welcome Bill III!

Suzanne - Glad you still have yours going. Mine isn't doubling yet either, but it does kind of have a light beery smell, the white flour ones do anyway, just a tad. The wheat ones still smell like wheat! I read that some are even slower to develop. I wonder if mine are going to go slowly because it's getting cooler? I'll just keep watching them, feeding them and talking really nice to them!
I'm feeling much better about mine now! I did some more reading!

Janie - I used the starter recipe from The Fresh Loaf website with the pineapple juice. I started a white and a whole wheat one! I'm starting to get some froth, but no doubling. I'm hoping that will start soon.

I found some Mason jars finally! Couldn't believe what I had to go through! Job Lots didn't have any - they're seasonal there. The hardware store only sold them by the case! I don't need, but a few! Even though they would have come out to just under $1 a piece, I couldn't see buying that many just for wild yeast! Besides, I don't have room for storage!

I'll wash those tonight so they'll be nice and clean and dry for transfer tomorrow. It will be nice to have my bowls and measuring bowl back! LOL!

BTW, I'm having an absolute blast with this! All I'm doing is adding flour and water and I'm having fun! Is there something wrong with me? LOL! I love learning to do new things!
 
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Day 4

Day 4.... saw some bubble yesterday, but it is by no means exploding with bubbles, I guess the little bacteria guys are still working on it.. But, the temp in my kitchen is constant so how could it fail?:confused:

Janis, I sent you a pm about the San Francisco starter. Thank you for sharing!:p

Janie, thank you for posting all that information. Patience will pay off!!

Suzanne-hope your mother starter is doing better!!

Happy baking!!
Beth
 
Janie - So sorry about Bill II!!!! I can imagine what went through your mind when you heard the crash. Of course we can't stay mad at our kitties. Before we were married DH used to call me at home every night and one of the funniest conversations came after he called to tell me that there was a pawprint in his brownies. Thankfully he'd covered them with plastic wrap but...they DO just get into everything!

Good luck with Bill III.

I'm going to print off your directions and start from semi-scratch with the little batch of seed culture I have and start tossing and feeding and see what develops.

I'll put together the soaker tonight and either bake tomorrow or Saturday - probably Saturday.

I was feeling philosophical about it and remembering my failed attempt to get a starter going years ago. How many things do we just quit, or not even try because we are afraid of failing? I always felt that if I couldn't get it right - or even kind of ok, that I wouldn't even try. What a waste of time. Then I remembered my kids used to love The Magic School Bus and the great thing that Miss Frizzle would say...so I added it to my sig to remind me to loosen up!

Beth - I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Tricia - I'm right there with you. Now that I'm not worried about screwing up I'm really looking forward to experimenting.
 
Suzanne - I love your Miss Frizzle quote! That's just me on a regular day - trying new things, goofing up and making messes! Luckily, my beagles clean up after most of my messes! LOL! Kitty tried to steal a piece of my chicken tonight that I was cutting up for pizza!

Anyway, Ladies - I think my whole wheat starter is close to ready if not ready! It finally doubled today! Yippee! When I went to stir down this evening, it was foamy and spongy if that makes sense. The only thing is that it doesn't smell sour at all, just smells like wheat.

What do you think?
Is it ready, or does it need more time?
If it's ready, can I keep it going until the weekend to dry it and try a loaf with the leftover?
If so, is it okay to use a wheat starter to bake a white loaf?

Yes, I'm asking a ton of questions again! My white starter is smelling soury, but not doubling up yet. It's still bubbling, but I did restart the white one after a few days at the beginning and kept the wheat one going, so it might be that's why it's taking that one a bit longer.

Looking forward to your input!

Oh! I found me some Mason jars yesterday, so I transferred the starters to those, put tape up the side and marked the line tonight. Let's see where it is tomorrow!

How are you doing Beth and Janis? Janie, I hope Bill III is happy! You know what they say, third time's a charm!
 
Hi Wild Women!

I sent off yeast starter to everyone this afternoon. Let me know when they arrive!

Tricia - Your wheat culture sounds like it is doing what it should. Have you looked at Peter Reinhert's blog or other sites for information. I haven't started a wheat culture, but doubling is a good sign.

Janie - Starting Bob III almost inspired me to start one - but I think I just have to hold out for local musky grapes! lol!

Beth - How is yours progressing?

Suzanne - I love Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus. One of the tv episodes, I don't believe it was one of the books, was on dough! Ms. Frizzle said, "The more mixed up things are, the better the solution"

I almost - almost posted what my workout was for today!

LOL!

I did bake two SF sourdough batards and 3 baguettes, hands down the best bread I have made so far. I thought the French Levain was good, this is better.

The three lessons I have learned thus far with sourdough culture, starter, mother and bread baking is - 1) temperature 2) temperature 3)temperature. Temperature of the water and ingredients, temperature of the area in which the starter/culture/bread is rising, and temperature of the oven.


Big doughy hugs
:D
 
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Janis said:
Tricia - Your wheat culture sounds like it is doing what it should. Have you looked at Peter Reinhert's blog or other sites for information.:D
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A blog? I didn't know he had a blog! I'm off in search of.........!!!!

Of course the longer I sit here the less likely I'll actually DO anything to my experiments but.....
 
Hi Janis and Suzanne!

I had seen the forum and had perused it a while. I hadn't checked the blog out, but I will! Oh, I will! Everything I've been reading is saying to give it a couple of weeks, so I'll give the WW one another week and hope that in that time, my white one begins to follow suit!

Janis - I'm so looking forward to giving your starter a try! I'll be checking my mailbox everyday starting on Monday! Okay, have to order one of Peter's books this weekend! I think I'll get Baker's Apprentice. That one sounds more like the beginner's one? Who knows, but I'm sure it'll be good! All the reviews were positive!

Okay, gotta run! DH is home and I need to set up for my workout in the a.m. - yes, I'm trying to switch to morning workouts - and I need my neck and shoulders rubbed too!

Great night everyone!
 
Seems everyone is doing really well on their starters. Congratulations!

I'm looking forward to everyone's starter once it is sent out. Mine should be ready in about 11 more days.;)

Enjoy the blog. It has lots and lots of info.

Janie
 
DAY 6

Well, yesterday I started the feeding of water and flour instead of the pineapple juice-- I have two starters because I kept both halves on the first split- one is going to be white and one ww. I cannot tell how they are doing, I always see some bubbles, then the nex day, smooth with a layer of liquid on top--- sooooo-- patience, right?

Janis, I can't wait to give your starter a try! I am guessing the directions are the same? But, I don't want you to start over again explaining, so I am going to catch up on the reading.

Tricia, I like the idea of "setting up" for a morning workout. I spend too much time deciding what I am doing instead of doing it--I may try that!

Suzanne- I love your Ms. Frizzle analogy! I too have made more messes than I can count!

Janie- your cat stories made me laugh! I miss my cat (actually an eternal kitten) that I lost last year-- I haven't had the heart to replace him.

Well, hoping for some bubbles...... Beth
 
Hi Beth!

I know what you mean about patience! My ww starter is doing great, but my white starter is taking it's time! So, I'm right there with you!

As to morning workouts, I just started that yesterday! I need my evenings for more fun stuff once it warms up! I'm also on a rotation, so it makes that much easier to know what to set up for the next morning and what time to get up!

Keep the faith! Your white starter will catch up at some point! I actually now have 4! 2 ww and 2 white!
 
Beth, I know, I couldn't get mad at her, she's just doing what kitties do. LOL:D I know how you feel about losing a pet. I lost my beloved Molly Goo (a female Chorkie) the day after Christmas, 2009) I'm still heartbroken.:(

Your cultures are suppose to be the way you describe. Water on top is OK. When you feed the culture, and you get bubbles, that's good. Keep going! Yahoo!

Suzanne, I love Ms. Frizzle analogy too. LOL:D

I know what you mean about patience! My ww starter is doing great, but my white starter is taking it's time! So, I'm right there with you!

Tricia, You are doing so well with your cultures. Good for you!

Bill III is doing very very well. In about 10 days I'll be able to dry him then send him off. ;) There is no way my Higgin can get to Bill III. No way.LOL

Janie
 
syzygy314 said:
What did you do, Janie? Lock Bill III in a temp controlled vault? LOL! :eek:
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Tricia, LOL!:D, No, but it's close to that. Bill (I'll start calling the culture "Little Island Lake". It's the community here where I live.) is still on top of the fridge, but I put stuff on the counter where she can't get up. So now the culture is nice and safe. I hope.:rolleyes:

Janie
 
Hi Everyone

Here are instructions for re-activating the dried culture

http://www.breadtopia.com/starter_instructions/

or

http://www.ehow.com/how_4748918_dry-sourdough-starter-flakes.html

(see step 2)

or

http://www.sourdo.com/ - this site has been down, it is Ed Wood's, his instructions from the booklet I received with the original culture are below.

Mix dried culture with 3/4 warm water and 3/4 flour in a one quart canning jar. It should resemble pancake batter. Place in a warm place, 90degrees. I use my oven, which I pre-warm at 135 degrees, turn off and allow to cool for 10 minutes, I put the starter in the oven with the light on.

At the end of 24 hours a few bubbles may appear. Now feed the culture one cup flour and enough warm water to maintain thick batter consistency, up to 3/4 of a cup. Proof for 12 hours at 70 degrees. (or turn oven light off)

At the end of the 12 hour proof, feed one cup of flour and 3/4 cup water. Divide the culture into two jars.

Continue feeding both jars 1 cup flour and 3/4 water at 12 hour intervals. After each feeding discard all but a little over one cup/

When activation is complete, foam and bubbles will increase the volume by about two inches within 2 to 3 hours of the last feeding. Culture can be used at this point or refrigerated.
 
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Janis said:
Now feed the vulture one cup flour and enough warm water to maintain thick batter consistency, up to 3/4 of a cup. .
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Janis - That's one serious starter if we can reconstitue a vulture out of it! LOL! Sorry, I'm punchy and that just struck me funny. :D Thanks for the instructions.

Well, I baked a loaf today. It's a funny one for my first attempt.

My known issues:
  • immature, overhydrated Mother Starter
  • complete inexperience
  • insufficient rise prior to baking
I mean, it was pretty gloopy. But I went ahead and baked it anyway and it came out looking pretty much like a loaf of bread. (I'd attempt pics but my pic program is not functioning and I haven't found the disc to re-install).

But - It tastes funny. I understand that the flavors develop over time so I'll hang on to it for a few days and keep testing it. It's got a bit of tang to it but also it roams toward bitterness. This was one hour of cool-down. I just tested it again and the bitterness is less pronounced but still there.

So, now I'm off to search for some kind of "what went wrong" chart online to help troubleshoot.

My seed culture OTOH is pretty happy, bubbling away, not doubling yet but I'm continuing to feed it daily on a 1:1:1 ratio.
 
Suzanne - Congrats on your first attempt! I'm still a little scared! I probably could try with my wheat one, but I'm letting it go a few days more. My white starter is still not doing much. We'll see.

I posted my lack of confidence on the Sourdough Companion forum looking for some other input/ideas. Most everyone uses weight rather than measurements, so I decided to change horses mid-stream and start feedings by weight. I hope that doesn't kill my starters! If it does, well, I'll just start over again wholly by weight. My scale is kind of cheap and won't budge if I put flour/water into a cup while it's on the scale, so I add, then set it on there and adjust that way. We'll see what happens! I haven't had any more doubling since the other day, but our temps have dropped drastically! It's downright cold here!

Anyway, I ordered The Bread Baker's Apprentice today from Amazon along with a stainless steel dough scraper to get over the $25 mark so I could have free shipping! LOL! I love that free shipping!

I also had a disaster in the kitchen this morning! Background: I baked a white pizza on Thursday night (olive oil & garlic) instead of red sauce. Well, a little bit of the olive oil dripped and I forgot to wipe the oven out. Back to today: went to bake some biscuits for breakfast and the oven started smoking like crazy! My butter was melting out of my biscuits onto the floor of the oven adding to the olive oil burn off! OMG! It was horrible! Also, my biscuits weren't cooking! I thought I had killed my oven! Turned everything off, started the fans, opened all the windows (mind you, it was only around 25 degs out) to let the smoke out. Later, after cleaning and wiping the oven out several times, I realized that I had forgotten to add the salt and baking powder to the flour! No wonder the biscuits just sat there and expelled their butter! Sheesh! What an idiot! Well, I was relieved that I had, at least, not killled my oven! LOL! Cleaning it wasn't fun, but I felt better that I had just forgotten a step!

Needless, to say, there was no workout for me today, but tomorrow, it's a kick butt run in the morning!

Wish me luck on my adjustments to my starters! I'm hoping this works out okay!
 
Oh, Tricia, I'm sorry for you kitchen disaster...I mean Learning Experience :p...but oh, I feel for you having to open your windows when it's this cold!

I have a cheap-o kitchen scale and I have been measuring my feeds the past few days by weight. Two ounces each of starter, flour, and water. I think it's easier to use the weight because so many variables can affect the other measurements.

I'm in the market for a nice digital scale. DH fully supports my kitchen gadget habit but I don't have any gift-receiving occasions coming up so I might have to just get this on my own, LOL.

Good luck to you!

(I haven't worked out in ages so I applaud your consistency!)
 
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