Growing or Killing a Beast?
I started a wild sourdough starter last monday night. I have grown a starter in the past but used commercial yeast in the previous starter and as a result, I never quite achieved the tangy flavor I was looking for. Monday afternoon I decided to try to go 100% wild. I combined 2 C of flour and 2 C H2O and a few tablespoons of sugar and let the mixture sit out over night. By Wednesday it was a happy robust bubbling brew that looked like this:
wild and happy yeast
I stirred the beast down and gave it a feeding and after about 10 hours it appeared I was going to need a bigger boat:
I gave my happy Saccharomyces a bigger boat on Thursday, and a fresh feeding of rye flour and now it appears it has lost it’s will to live.
I realize in the above photo, the starter still appears bubbly and that is because I took this photo while it was still happy. Yesterday morning, I moved the starter to the fridge and removed 1 C to make a dough. I think I also threw some out and re-fed it to see if it would continue to ferment. The dough I made never rose. I let it sit all darned day, and it never grew. I took the starter out of the fridge and let it sit out on the counter too to see if I could revive it, and nothing seems to have happened. It’s currently in the fridge. I poured off the liquid this morning. I don’t know what to do. Maybe I’ll try to make some dough again today.
I have always wanted to try and raise a good sourdough starter. But see now…it looks scientifically hard and that just turns me off. Crap.