My fears of death never fully subsided (even now, on the eve of my first dough, I'm concerned that something out of my control like the humidity or a loud noise from a neighbor could disturb my cultures and ruin everything). But I did my best to keep these thoughts to a minimum, since I could still see that things were still moving and shaking with my culture. Bubbles still rose above the hooch and the smell was--even though I'd never smelled anything like it before--exactly how a sourdough culture is supposed to smell. The smell actually coats your entire mouth and you can feel it tingling along the sides of your tongue. A stink worth experiencing, it is instantly exciting and even somehow satisfying.
On Day 3, the time came to discard some culture as the jar was not large enough (the quart size I was using is strongly recommended, as to keep the bacterias as active as possible without spreading themselves out too much--or whatever), so I decided to split the culture in two and start a second colony (or whatever it should be called) in a clean yogurt container. I fed each a cup of flour and an unmeasured amount of water that I thought seemed right.
These three days of almost no noticeable change gave way to superstition. On the morning of Day 4 I decided to put the light in the proofing box on for an hour or so, to raise the temperature and maybe speed things up. In a way, this probably did help, because I was still using cold water from the pitcher we keep in the refrigerator, which must have lowered the temperature of the culture significantly at each feeding. I started to perceive subtle changes in the structure of the bubbles; or at least I thought so. Just like it is when scanning the woods for wildlife, your eyes will notice things that aren't there and you will trick yourself. On hiking trips last fall with my brother, I could've sworn I saw a massive male moose on three separate occasions. The first time was at night, and the supposed moose (whose presence I was willing to bet a significant sum of money on) turned out to be an outhouse positioned in the distance behind a sign. The second moose turned out to simply be a collection of branches, which, waving in the distance, made up the general shape of the extra-large northern deer.
On Day 3, the time came to discard some culture as the jar was not large enough (the quart size I was using is strongly recommended, as to keep the bacterias as active as possible without spreading themselves out too much--or whatever), so I decided to split the culture in two and start a second colony (or whatever it should be called) in a clean yogurt container. I fed each a cup of flour and an unmeasured amount of water that I thought seemed right.
These three days of almost no noticeable change gave way to superstition. On the morning of Day 4 I decided to put the light in the proofing box on for an hour or so, to raise the temperature and maybe speed things up. In a way, this probably did help, because I was still using cold water from the pitcher we keep in the refrigerator, which must have lowered the temperature of the culture significantly at each feeding. I started to perceive subtle changes in the structure of the bubbles; or at least I thought so. Just like it is when scanning the woods for wildlife, your eyes will notice things that aren't there and you will trick yourself. On hiking trips last fall with my brother, I could've sworn I saw a massive male moose on three separate occasions. The first time was at night, and the supposed moose (whose presence I was willing to bet a significant sum of money on) turned out to be an outhouse positioned in the distance behind a sign. The second moose turned out to simply be a collection of branches, which, waving in the distance, made up the general shape of the extra-large northern deer.
This was taken just before the night feeding on Day 3.Looking at those bubbles each morning and evening, I thought that maybe they were growing larger or more frequent with each feeding, but I had to admit that the volume of the culture as a whole had not really shown signs of growth. The culture would have to bubble up a few inches before I could know for sure that it was ready. So I started trying different things, like turning on the proofing light as mentioned, stirring the culture extra vigorously at feeding time, barely stirring at all, and experimenting with how much culture I discarded before feedings. The amount of culture to discard is still pretty confusing to me, so I've decided that it's a good idea to just discard as much as you need to in order to leave 3 inches empty at the top AFTER the culture is fed. This will at the very least keep things clean. I'm still not sure if discarding too much or too little culture before each feeding has positive or negative effects. My culture seems to have taken a day more than Ed Wood predicted, but that could be for a vast array of reasons.
For the night feeding on Day 5, I realized I should use warmer water, so I nuked it up to about 80F , and felt some promise from the slightly warm jar in my palms as I placed it back in the proofing box. The yogurt container did not yield as pleasant a feeling, unfortunately, but you can't expect much from plastic. I don't think it really matters what type of container you use for fermenting a culture, as long as it's clean and about the right size, but next time I do this I'm going to make sure I use glass jars only. If, for any reason, because glass represents a clean, ancient purity for me, and I'm convinced the whole process is much more attractive with the material's rustic charm. Plus, it's clear, which is helpful for sneaking a peak at the progress without having to remove lids.
For the night feeding on Day 5, I realized I should use warmer water, so I nuked it up to about 80F , and felt some promise from the slightly warm jar in my palms as I placed it back in the proofing box. The yogurt container did not yield as pleasant a feeling, unfortunately, but you can't expect much from plastic. I don't think it really matters what type of container you use for fermenting a culture, as long as it's clean and about the right size, but next time I do this I'm going to make sure I use glass jars only. If, for any reason, because glass represents a clean, ancient purity for me, and I'm convinced the whole process is much more attractive with the material's rustic charm. Plus, it's clear, which is helpful for sneaking a peak at the progress without having to remove lids.
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