Friday, January 16, 2009

Sourdough Mistake and Lesson Learned

When I posted The Sourdough Project Day Three, I said that I did not plan to feed my sourdough as often as some people said. I was feeding it every two or three days. That, my friends, was a mistake. I starved it to death! It stopped foaming and sat there and began to smell bad. I also think that using tap water hurt the sourdough. Chlorine kills yeast. Now I am using our filtered drinking water. Well, I had read that it is possible to revive a forgotten starter with lots of loving care, so I decided that would be the best thing for me to do. I began pouring off half my sourdough twice a day and feeding it. After two days of this treatment with no response, I included a pinch of sugar in the feedings. Still no foaming, not even a few bubbles to give me any hope. Finally I decided it was beyond rescuing, and I would start again. But as I was pouring out the sourdough, I saw a few bubbles in the bottom! Hope! I kept that little bit in the bottom of the bowl and fed it with a little flour and water. That evening my sourdough started foaming and looked like it has life! Today (two days later) it is still foaming, and I plan to make sourdough bagels tonight for tomorrow's breakfast.

If you have a stater going and need more recipes, here are some websites I've been getting recipes and ideas from.

Wild Yeast
Sourdough Home

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