ArchaicArcane

You're welcome Mike! I included all of that because I know when my starter was young, I almost killed it a couple of times but worse, I think I threw out a couple that were just fine (back in the day I had a dried batch that I kept just in case - now, I don't know what it would take to do this one in), not realizing that it responds well to rehabilitation too. The hooch weirded me out the first time or two and I was convinced it was "off" especially when it was "sour" and alcohol smelling.

manicmike

Well, guess what happened to the one I started three years ago: Yes I threw it away. Thanks to you I now say no to waste

Mine always smell like olives at the beginning then paint when more established. It's very sour ATM, so maybe I'll try a bit of rehab to get it off the hooch (or the other way around).

ArchaicArcane

You can take it a step further - the cup we usually take out and discard just before feeding? Make a batch of bread from it. You're going to feed the daylights out of it anyway, so as long as you haven't let it starve for a couple of weeks, it should perk up well during proofing. DH always wondered why I made bread on Mondays... that's feeding day.

Olives is about right. I think of it as a nice mellow slightly tart bread smell but you're right, it's sort of an olive like smell. I know some people start their starters with grapes. That weirds me out though. I can see it going off a lot easier. I probably couldn't have it either. Once the grapes started fermenting, it would probably become an allergen for me. I can't have wine either.

I think paint might be telling you that you're not feeding it enough. I get away with once a week, I wonder if your warmer moister climate dictates more often.

A little hooch never hurt anyone.

manicmike

You're now the QB sourdough starter guru Tammi

I usually do bread on Sundays when electricity's off peak but it's too hot in January for the oven. Perhaps a secondhand bread machine on "bake only" would be a good solution.

I'll leave it out tonight and feed in the morning and see if we can get olives again

Sunflowerzz

This is a fun thread to see what others on the forum enjoy. Thank you for posting the question.

I love doing lots of things but my actual hobbies mostly center around beads in different materials and creating one of a kind jewelry pieces.

I built a hot glass studio on the back patio for making glass beads, which involves sandblasting, electroforming, metal smithing, silver smithing, lapidary and much much more. I take breaks from the glass studio and try other craft/art forms.

Because of the vintage machines I started collecting I am now taking breaks from the glass studio which can be intense at times, like getting involved with mixed media with fabrics and sewing, and right now I am blogging about my beautiful pin cushions I am creating.

The most fun thing I ever did though was owning and riding endurance horses, but it was not all that relaxing because those horses were hot hot hot!

Rodney

Neat pincushion!
So far I can make a somewhat decent pizza crust but my attempts at bread haven't been that great. I'll try again at some point. There's no way I'm ready to try sourdough though.
Rodney

Sunflowerzz

Thanks Rodney. My MOM cheated. She loved sourdough and bought a bread machine that would make it. Turned out great! But after about four months we wrapped up the machine and put it in the bottom of the cupboard. We had gained too much weight from eating all of that wonderful fresh baked bread....LOL

maviskw

I've heard you can keep sourdough in the freezer. I have some in my freezer that must have been there at least 5 years. I might just be afraid to use it, and every time I see it, "I don't have time now!"
Has anyone else frozen sourdough and used it again?

4dogs

Tammi - thanks so much for telling us how to get the sourdough starter started...I am going to try this tomorrow....I really appreciate your help....

ArchaicArcane

I find sourdough is easy, it just takes longer to proof things - like 8 hours vs 1 hour. Instant yeast wakes up faster. The pizza dough I make is basically a sourdough bread mashed flat with a little olive oil. I think it might be the first bread recipe I tried...

A definite risk! I used to make it once a week when we all took sammies to work / school. Now I make bread every couple of months and freeze most of it ultra fresh and it toasts well. The main reason I still make it is to exercise the starter and because fresh bread with fresh ground wheat gives a lot of nutrients we don't always get in other bread - wheat germ, wheat germ oil, vitamin E, bran - all of which is removed from store bought flours so they don't go rancid. The yeast offers some nutrients too but I don't recall which at the moment.

I did once. Here's my "I thought I killed it" story. One Christmas, I'd been planning to give bread and sourdough Cinnamon buns as gifts. My poor starter was looking like it'd flatlined. I fed it anyway - flour's cheap... I pulled out the 1 cup of (backup) starter I'd frozen a couple of months before, let it thaw and fed it like crazy - I'm talking 4 cups of water, 4 cups of flour plus a cavity causing amount of sugar. I didn't think it was coming back either. I pulled out the dried starter, reconstituted it and fed the daylights out of it.

Every

Last

One

Revived.

I had a 17L tub full of starter by the end of it. I think the moral of that story is patience. Sourdough requires patience.

Feed it at night - maybe let it sit out over night - then feed it in the morning. It's sour smelling because it's starving - leaving it out without feeding it is pet cruelty.

We have a bread machine - I sometimes do a regular bread dough on the dough only cycle then form it myself and bake in the oven. DH especially likes that in the dead of summer. LOL! Like the time it was about 35C and I cooked a turkey and made bagels, bread and muffins while the boys put up the garage frame.

I'll have to look to see if mine has a bake only cycle.

I didn't mention - to feed it 1 cup of lukewarm water and one heaped cup of flour. Most of us remove a cup to add this so that the volume stays roughly the same. If you want to grow it to use a lot - don't remove any and double or triple the feeding then use it the next day. I have a bad habit of not removing any then every once in a while my starter burps all over the fridge. That usually my cue to spend a day baking (and cleaning the fridge)

When you're trying to grow the yeast colony- make sure it doesn't dry out too much - It needs a wet moist environment. Add food and water as required. It won't get bugs or other nasties once the yeast is established. The yeast beasties will stop anything else from getting established.