Thank you Paul, and wake up baby starter!
A good two months ago we traveled to the States and member PMcCool, Paul, was kind enough to gift us some sourdough starter - dried and ready for international travel!
After a couple PMs, he and his lovely wife allowed us to swing by to get our starter an evening towards the end of our trip. And on the same evening they were leaving for a long roadtrip, that is Midwestern hospitality indeed. Or should we call it "TheFreshLoaf" hospitality? My two girls didn't break anything in their house but sure did bounce off the walls for long enough to make me nervous they were going to :) Luckily for us, Paul and his wife were very gracious and didnt even blink at their energy.
Two months later and I am FINALLY ready to wake up the baby dried starter. Conviently enough, Paul has a blog entry on rehydrating starters! ( http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25714/rehydrating-dried-starter-after-traveling ) I also picked up rye flour in the States , when it gets to that stage should I use Rye or stick with the type of flour I will mostly be using to make bread with (a whole wheat /white blend, no fancy flours until I find a sourcefor them here)?
Will post pictures when something gets exciting, whats a post without pictures?
Thank you again, Paul! The girls and I really appreciate our new starter, we are ready to get to baking!
It was a pleasure to meet you ahd your beautiful daughters. Having raised two of our own, we don't get too concerned about little ones and their activity levels.
You are welcome for the starter. I hope that it wakes up and flourishes in its new home south of the border. I won't make any promises regarding its fluency with Spanish, since it orginated in South Africa and has been hanging out in the U.S. the past couple of years.
Don't worry if it takes 3-4 days to show significant activity. Just keep feeding it at regular intervals and it will bounce back. I'm not too rigorous about what kind of flour I use for feedings, Most of the time it gets either AP or bread flour and sometimes rye flour is on the menu.
Paul
Paul , good news!
Your South African Kansan starter is apparently a quick learner, it is flourishing well here south of the border. The second day I opened it and it already smelled like my Grandmothers kitchen when she made bread. What memories that brought back! I havent made sourdough since cooking with her and her old (30 some year?) starter.
After the first feeding of flour, it doubled in size by 7 hours or so, lots of bubbles, lots of activity. It must have taken well to the Mexico City air (haha. Thats a joke, not much clear air here!) :)
I am super happy it took off well, I reread your tutorial on rehydrating late at night and accidentally put ALL the starter you gave me in the jar. (You gave me enough to rehydrate some and save enough for another round!) Needless to say, in the morning when I woke up I realized the mistake and panicked . I remembered the approximate ratio , so at least I put a sufficient amount of water, but I also didnt leave myself any room for mistakes. Beginners luck, but rest assured I will be drying some as back up here soon. Better safe than sorry!
Now to decide on which recipe I want to use for the first round of bread here in a few days! I did use the rye flour, but only because the flour bag says it is only good till this September. Our fridge is not plugged in yet, or I would store it there hoping to extend its life. I dont know much about the shelf life of flour - it is just an organic Rye flour from Whole Foods. Anyway, figured I should use a little of it since I brought it all the way from Kansas. ;)
I'm glad to hear that it is off to such a good start and already raising memories, if not bread, yet.
Backup is always a good thing!
Have fun!
Paul