Saturday, November 15, 2014

Sourdough Starter Part 2

My new batch of sourdough starter began to bubble on Day 2.  Today is the end of Day 3. Between feedings, I am storing my jar in the oven, with the oven light on, and the door ajar.  I have a thermometer in there and the temp is about 24-26 degrees celcius. I don't want it to go over 27-28 celcius (about 80F) and it gets up to 30+ if the door is closed. I'm following the fruit juice method (recipe two posts back). I didn't have pineapple juice in the house the first two days, but I used some yesterday.


Here's what I have done so far:
Nov. 15, after feeding

11/12 - 9pm - mixed 2 T dark rye flour, 2 T orange juice in a pint jar

11/13 - 6pm  - added 2T dark rye flour, 2 T orange juice

11/14 - 6pm - added 2T dark rye, 2 T pineapple juice (some bubbles were visible)
 
11/15 - 4pm - I got a clean jar (just cuz) and added 1/4 cup of the starter mix (threw the rest away), 1/4 cup lukewarm water, and a scant 1/4 cup rye flour.I marked the level on the outside of the jar so I can see if it expands at all.

And now I watch it and wait for it to be able to double in size. Until then, I will feed it every 24 hours - keep 1/4 cup of the starter mix, throw the rest away and add fresh flour/water.  I'm going to keep using rye flour until it seems really strong. Then I will start to switch over to white flour.  Maybe.

Once it can double in size, I will need to feed it twice a day. When it can double in 4-6 hours, it is ready to make bread.

Oh, and I went for a run today.  It's hovering around freezing (zero celcius) but it was sunny and bright so it was nice to be outside.

1 comment:

Catherine Novak said...

I've wondered how to make starter - I'll check back in a couple of days!