After last week's posting, my first ever sourdough loaf with Carl's
starter, I asked for advice about increasing the sour taste of a loaf.
The advice was to allow the starter to grow in a cooler climate, and
to let the loaf rise two or three times on the counter rather than in
a warm oven.
Last Sunday, I put 1/2 cup of starter in a quart mason jar along with
a cup of water and flour...and into the refrigerator it went. On
Monday evening I had to shake the jar to dislodge the bubbles,
otherwise it would have overflowed the jar. Did the same on Tuesday
evening. On Wednesday evening, there was a hooch layer (about 1/2
inch), so I left the jar on the counter over night after feeding it
with another cup of flour and a cup of water. On Thursday morning, the
foaming was once again evident, so after a good shaking it went back
into the refrigerator. On Thursday night and Friday night the foaming
had filled the jar and after a good shaking, it went back into the
refrigerator. Then, Saturday morning I saw a hooch layer (about 3/4
inch), and dumped the whole batch into a 4 qt ceramic bowl, added
another cup or water and cup of flour. (I wanted the starter to be
wide awake for a Sunday of baking.) Well, it just sat there after a
tiny bit of bubbling over a few hours. On Sunday, there was no
evidence of life...no bubbles, just a layer of hooch on top of a flour/
water mix.
I thought that I'd killed it. As an experiment, I took a tablespoon
each of the 'dead' starter, water and flour and put that into a small
glass jar that had been boiled in water. Since this was the same
ratios that I'd been feeding the starter, I didn't expect much to
happen. However, those ratios were approximately what I'd used a week
or so before when reviving Carl's dried starter and I was hoping for
the best. Nothing happened after 12 hours...
As a second experiment, I mixed a tablespoon of starter with a cup of
water and a cup of flour in that original mason jar. After 3 hours the
starter filled the jar with bubbles and needed a good shake to avoid
overflowing.
As a rookie microbiologist :-), I conclude that the byproducts of
feeding a starter (lactic acid, ethanol ?, and other stuff) inhibited
the starter from growing after the last feeding on Saturday.
Next weekend, I'll take a half cup of starter and mix it with a cup of
water and a cup of flour...that should produce an active starter.
Do any of the experienced bakers have any other advice about reviving
the starter or comments for this humble rookie ?
Oh, I mixed a loaf of bread using the 'dead' starter and a package of
yeast, mixed in some sesame seeds and made some really great
breadsticks...so it wasn't a total loss.
Doug
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