Dee,

The ciabatta and pizza look perfect to me.

No, I did not use any sugar in my starters. Your starter doesn't look too
bad from what I can tell. Mine, at roughly 65% hydration, will flow slowly
if I tilt the container on its side. They both give off a good, clean,
yeasty smell. I'd say you probably have weak yeast, but that's a guess.
You might try adding a pinch of sugar to the starter and stirring it up a
bit. This might kick start the yeast.

I'm not sure whether being old yeast affects the number of cells in the
process or the strength of each cells or both. Somewhere I read that yeast
colonies double every two hours. So, if that's the case, one would expect
weak yeast to "catch up" in some period of time, say two hours. In other
words,you would need a head start of two hours to get the volume and
activity with the old yeast that you would get with the fresh yeast. I
don't know if this is correct, or if it's even generalizable.

Barry


"Dee Randall" > wrote in message
...
> OK Barry, my test did not have sugar in it, and as you say yours did not
> have sugar in it -- correct?
>
> Well, mine is sitting here at 21:46 and it has since 16:50 (5 hours), room
> temperature now about 70.5 degrees, just about doubled in size and has
very
> few holes in it. Now, my container lid is quite strong and when I popped
> (pryed) it off, it let out a lot of air. But I would say, that the yeast
> is probably not as good as it should be.
> I've put a picture of the starter as it is now at 10:00 pm on a web page
so
> you can see it.
> http://www.user.shentel.net/jar02/breadbydee.htm
>
> Give me your "sage" advice.
> Dee
>
>
> "barry" > wrote in message
> et...
> >
> > "Dee Randall" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Barry, I just re-read your yeast testing information.
> > > At 4:50 to 6:20 - when I opened up the container, it only puffed at
me.
> > > But I'm re-reading your paragraph "Check your yeast. where above your
> > test
> > > ingredients , you say to put a teaspoon of sugar -- But I tested it
> > without
> > > the sugar as you mentioned in your next sentence. I will re-test
> tomorrow
> > > with the sugar. I want my lid to be blown off.
> > >
> > > Will let you know.
> > > Dee
> > I made the two batches at about 4PM. They pop the lid about every
twenty
> to
> > thirty minutes.
> >
> > Each has 5 ounces flour (one has AP, the other bread flour), 3 1/4
ounces
> > water (cool) and 1 teaspoon dry yeast.
> >
> > If your starter doesn't really pop the top off a sealed plastic
container,
> > then something might be wrong with the yeast.
> >
> > Barry
> >
> >
> >
>
>