February 19, 2014 - 12:03pm
My first starter
Ok I am on day three of my starter. Not sure what I am looking for but this is what I have:-
In the morning I have a few bubbles
I seem to have a batter and an oily looking liquid which folds back in.
Smell slightly bland bit like just a wet batter really.
I am splitting it in the mornings and adding 100gr fresh flour keeping it covered and room temperature.
Should I be expecting anything else?
Thanks in advance :-)
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Looks a bit better today, more sign of bubbles and a definite fermentation smell.
feeding daily, how do I know when my starter is ready. Id shows bubbles when I stir and has just a hint of something acetic when I get up close.
Is it doubling in 12 hours or just making some bubbles? If it is able to double itself, try feeding it 1:1:1 by weight of starter:flour:water at each feeding. Discard all but a little bit of starter each time. How much to keep is up to you. (How big you want your culture to be) I would think 100g each would be plenty of size. After it is stable, it can be even a tenth of that. When it gets as high as it can (or, some people say, when it begins to fall back), feed it again. Keep that up, and after a day or so, it should seem to follow the same pattern. The exact final feeding regime will be affected by lots of variables, but once you find it is doing the same thing in the same amount of time, it can be considered "stable". That is when you can start predicting, and therefore also controlling, the rise and fall pattern between feedings. That is when you can probably make bread, if you really want to.
Some people prefer to give it a little extra time to become somewhat "mature" before doing anything else to it, such as baking with it, or refrigerating it. If you do want to refrigerate it eventually, so that you're not feeding it every day, try with a parallel piece. Keep your main starter out for a few days while you make another batch to refrigerate. After a few days in the fridge, try feeding it and seeing if it survived. If all is well, it will rise and fall as normal in a cycle or two, and you will know that it works, before committing all of your starter to the fridge.