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Farm Kitchen:  Starter Lament  |
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farmkitty
True Blue Farmgirl
69 Posts
Angela
Anderson
South Carolina
USA
69 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 07 2006 : 6:30:09 PM
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Hi yall...Lamenting over the recent attempts I have made with creating sourdough starter. Having never started my own , I excitedly told several friends that I was going to be starting a batch and offered it to them. I used the recipe that MJ has in the Ideas book and figured how hard can it be. Well I couldn't find organic whole wheat bread flour so I chose organic whole wheat flour. I lovingly tended it for about 3 days and it never smelled "right". At the end of that time it just smelled ...YUK! So I went to market again this time chosing organic unbleached bread flour. Again it looked "funny" (more like "goopey") but I'm trying really hard so ...after about three days BIG mess. The water and flour separated out and it looked so gross I again threw it out. This time I thought well maybe MJ has the magic touch with her two ingredient starter so ...I'll use the one in Better Homes and Gardens. It called for all purpose flour, warm water, sugar or honey and a packet of dry yeast. This time , it looked like starte, smelled like starter and I thought I had it made. WRONG! About 1 hour later the "thing" had blossomed over the sides of the bowl, "walked" down onto my potato bin and taken up residence between there and the tiny little space it shares with my refridge!!! Holy cow! Can you imagine a giagantic atomic cloud of organic bread flour! I have learned my lesson and am headed to Whole Foods Market to get the right flour. LOL...thought ya'll might need a laugh |
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tziporra
True Blue Farmgirl
234 Posts
Robin
Seattle
WA
USA
234 Posts |
Posted - Nov 07 2006 : 9:11:26 PM
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Actually, I believe the "water" that collects on a wet starter is acid from the reactions taking place in the starter. It happens with every starter I've ever had and doesn't mean that it's bad, just that it needs to be divided and fed. Just dump off the liquid, divide the starter and add flour and water.
I wouldn't use a starter that called for honey and yeast, for just the reason you listed here; it's overkill. Sounds like you had it right with just the flour and water (also, the wild yeasties are more resistant to the acid that builds up over time in a starter, while the "tame" yeasts in the package are not). I use a little organic rye flour, regular whole wheat flour, and water and it's good to go, although I just read a recipe that used pineapple juice in place of the water, just at the beginning (it was a dry-ish starter, not a wet starter like I've done in the past) to keep the "bad" bacteria out.
Good luck,
Best,
Robin
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Farm Kitchen: Starter Lament |
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Starter Lament
