I’m combining today and tomorrow because tomorrow is Sunday and it’s always hard enough getting all six of us ready and out the door for church on time without stopping to post pictures of sourdough starter. It just might push me over the edge to insanity. :)
This morning my starter didn’t have any liquid hanging around anywhere. I think it is because yesterday I started working to thicken my starter so that it wouldn’t be SO sour. If you remember, I only added 1/4 cup of water. I’m glad I did that. It’s getting to be more of the consistency I want it to be now.
Today was graduation day for us. (Oh, I couldn’t be more proud.) My starter went from big glass jar to big glass bowl. I didn’t want sourdough overflowing all over the place.
Again today, I added a cup of flour and only 1/4 cup of liquid. Here is a picture of how thick my starter is now.
I layed a big piece of cheesecloth over my bowl without securing it with anything.
On Day 7…just do the very same thing by adding 1 cup of flour and enough cold water to make your starter as thick (less sour) or as thin (more sour) as you want. I may try to pop back in briefly if I feel like there’s anything important I need to tell you about the Day 7 process.
And GUESS WHAT?! On Monday we can make BREAD!!! Would it surprise you to hear that the only ingredients you need to have ready to go are more flour and water…and some salt? (I use Redmonds Real Sea Salt.)
Jen says
Just don’t cut the cheesecloth too small like I did yesterday! I cut it just a little bigger than the bowl and was planning to tie some yarn around to hold it place. Well, it fell into the center of the bowl, and then as I was trying to pull it back out, another part would fall in… oops! I fished out my wad of gooey cheesecloth and decided to pour the starter into a jar for one more day. :)
MelodyNicole says
Hello! I just found your blog through the blog Keeper At Home. I have recently begun a sourdough starter… I began mine in a plastic bowl but you say to use glass. Should I switch to glass or do you think I’m ok with the plastic? I wasn’t sure if that was just your preference or if there is a reason behind it!!
I also was relieved to read that the starter should really smell – because mine sure does :)
Thanks so much! May the Lord bless you today, Melody
michelle says
Hi Laura.I am on day six of my sour dough starter adventure. I didn’t chichen out this time …..because…..I found your recipes on what to do with the sour dough once you have made it. This time I am so excited. I used part w/w and part brown rice flour. I started off with 1 cup of w/w and one of brown rice. Then every other day I would use one or the other. I keep it in the oven with the light on and it loves it in there. Yesterday is the first time I have had any brown water floating on top and it was only a couple of table spoons. I poured that off. It smells sweetly sour, with little bubbles on top and is nice and thickly soupy. Sometimes I don’t add any water because I don’t want it to be to sour. Lack of water doesn’t seem to affect it, it just keeps doing it’s thing. Tuesday is bread baking day, Yaaaa!
momx2 says
For securing cheesecloth around my large container… If you go to the hair accessory aisle you can find what look like large rubberbands. I think they are headbands of some sort, but they work perfectly for securing the cheesecloth around my gallon jar.
Kathleen T says
It’s day 6 for me tomorrow. I’m making spelt starter. So far so good. I just wanted to share an alternative to cheesecloth. I didn’t have any and didn’t want to spend money on any. After doing a Google search for alternatives I learned that I could invert a fine mesh colander over the top (& I had one of those!). This has worked for me for both 1/2 gallon bottle and bowl. The colander would not be one you’d use for pasta, but for things like washing berries. The mesh on mine looks like screen for the window, and mine does not have a long handle on it. Money saved and pocketed a new idea!
Mary Stapp says
If you keep your starter in a jar you can use a coffee filter with a rubberband around it….