Sourdough Starter Diary: Day 1 to Day 14
I named my starter Kevin. Kevin almost died twice. Here is everything I learned keeping a wild yeast colony alive in a Florida apartment.
yes this is a regular wheat sourdough. my roomate gets her own gluten free one in a seperate jar on a seperate shelf. we have rules.
the setup
- a clean glass jar
- unbleached all purpose flour
- filtered water (tallahassee tap water has a LOT of chlorine, Kevin hated it)
- a rubber band to mark the level
the diary
day 1 - 50g flour + 50g water. stirred. named him Kevin. felt like a dad.
day 2 - nothing. kevin is sleeping.
day 3 - BUBBLES. kevin smells like gym socks. this is normal apparently.
day 4 - discard half, feed 50/50. this is the routine from now on.
day 5 - kevin went flat and smelled like nail polish remover. panicked. turns out its just hungry. fed it twice a day.
day 7 - kevin doubled in 6 hours. i screamed.
day 9 - my apartment hit 84F and kevin overflowed onto the counter. moved him to the coolest corner of the kitchen.
day 14 - first loaf. ugly. delicious. kevin is a man now.
what i learned
- temperature matters more then anything. 75-78F is the sweet spot.
- hooch (the grey liquid on top) just means hes hungry. pour it off, feed him.
- a rubber band on the jar tells u exactly how much he rose.
- dont put the lid on tight. kevin needs to breathe. (kevin almost exploded once.)
next post: kevins first real boule, and the gluten free starter experiment for my roomate.