Hi everyone again!

I woke up very interestingly this morning.. My girlfriend runs in before she
leaves for work and wakes me up yelling.... "DAN! Your sourdough exploded
all over my laundry room overnight!!! Get up and clean it!!"

I immidately thought the worst, I envisioned it covering the walls, roof,
and floor..... perhaps drenching out washer and dryer with yeast and
lacto-stuff... i trugded out of bed to examine what kind of monster I've
created...

Today is day 3 of my rye starter, and fortunately, it just rose so much
overnight that it overflowed my 5 cup glass container, lifted the lid, and
spilled out the sides.

after examining it, of course, the starter that has flooded dried out, but
inside the container the goop sunk down to about the 2 cup line, and after
stirring, rests at the 1 cup line looking fine and still alive.

I was merely wondering if now would be a good time to feed it (I was
considering moving it to another container to mix and give the old one a
bath)...

My concerns were that maybe (because the lit was crooked open) it has gotten
infected or anything. Should I have any worries?

Thanks

-Dan-

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 07:16:44 -0700, "xkeitarox" >
wrote:

>My concerns were that maybe (because the lit was crooked open) it has gotten
>infected or anything. Should I have any worries?
>
>Thanks
>
>-Dan-
>

Hi Dan,

Feed it, and relax...

I would also add that you need only a small amount to build a healthy
culture. Think in terms of "teaspoons full" rather than "cups full"
until you are getting ready to bake.

Have fun with it. It sounds like you are off to a good start...

--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

On 8/10/04 9:16 AM, "xkeitarox" > wrote:

> Hi everyone again!
>
> I woke up very interestingly this morning.. My girlfriend runs in before she
> leaves for work and wakes me up yelling.... "DAN! Your sourdough exploded
> all over my laundry room overnight!!! Get up and clean it!!"
>
> I immidately thought the worst, I envisioned it covering the walls, roof,
> and floor..... perhaps drenching out washer and dryer with yeast and
> lacto-stuff... i trugded out of bed to examine what kind of monster I've
> created...
>
> Today is day 3 of my rye starter, and fortunately, it just rose so much
> overnight that it overflowed my 5 cup glass container, lifted the lid, and
> spilled out the sides.
>
> after examining it, of course, the starter that has flooded dried out, but
> inside the container the goop sunk down to about the 2 cup line, and after
> stirring, rests at the 1 cup line looking fine and still alive.
>
> I was merely wondering if now would be a good time to feed it (I was
> considering moving it to another container to mix and give the old one a
> bath)...
>
> My concerns were that maybe (because the lit was crooked open) it has gotten
> infected or anything. Should I have any worries?
>
> Thanks
>
> -Dan-
>
>
Dan,

It sounds like it's time for you to check the yellow pages for the local
restaurant supply business. They carry really nice, cheap, NSF food rated
plastic buckets (with lids). You need a couple. A one liter (more than
sufficient) size for storing and building the starter and a four liter one
for fermenting your dough (handles two loaves; 1500-1800 gram formula).

Could be as much as $6 but will save you much aggravation... might even
impress the girl.

Will



> _______________________________________________
> rec.food.sourdough mailing list
>
> http://www.otherwhen.com/mailman/lis...food.sourdough

> Have fun with it. It sounds like you are off to a good start...


As much as my mouth has been watering to have some sourdough to eat, these
past 3 days have been really fun. I suppose it's more fun because of the
information provided to me from this newsgroup and it's very friendly
subscribers. Without this knowledge, I wouldn't know exactly that what I'm
doing is growing a culture, not just preparing to make a constant supply of
yummy sourdough. Knowing the facts and the way stuff works (which I might
add is an awesome website www.thewaystuffworks.com ) makes it that much more
fun.

Instead of slouching in a chair waiting and waiting for a good batch of
sourdough, I've actually kept myself occupied reading as much about the
process as possible. It's amazing how much more in depth and technical
baking sourdough is, rather than just a plain 'ol normal loaf of white
bread.

I've been watching my starter grow, feeding it when it's hungry, smelling it
on occasion (makes the g/f want to throw up, but I love the smell), and
basically doing just what you said Kenneth, having a good time.

Baking sourdough is a lot more fun than I imagined - I'm glad that my
stomach was in the mood for sourdough, otherwise I never would have looked
for a newsgroup, and learned as much as I have. My father wanted to make a
sourdough starter a long while ago, he's passed since then, but he never
actually did it. I'm kinda living some experiences for him - I know he would
have had a blast had he actually taken the time.

At this point I realize that this newsgroup is as sourdough newsgroup, and
I'm straying from the topic, lol.

Anyhow, yes, I'm having a blast (imagine that coming from a 20 year old
guy... lol) making my sourdough. And I still can't wait to eat it.

-Dan-

By the way, I've got a digital camera, and was thinking of posting pictures
to share on occasion - Is there a limit to how big they should be?

Thanks

"williamwaller" > wrote in message

> Dan,
>
> It sounds like it's time for you to check the yellow pages for the local
> restaurant supply business. They carry really nice, cheap, NSF food rated
> plastic buckets (with lids). You need a couple. A one liter (more than
> sufficient) size for storing and building the starter and a four liter one
> for fermenting your dough (handles two loaves; 1500-1800 gram formula).
>
> Could be as much as $6 but will save you much aggravation... might even
> impress the girl.
>
> Will


Thanks Will,

A very good idea indeed. Perhaps I'll run out later today and pick them up.
That was actually one of my concerns when I decided to take on this idea of
making my own sourdough... I thought to myself "Hmm Dan, what are you going
to keep this stuff in that Shelley won't sterilize you for..."

*chuckles*

So I grabbed the salt container off the top of the fridge (a 5 cup glass
cylinder with a suction-ey lid), cleaned it thoroughly, and voila!

Needless to say when Shelley got home and I showed her my creation, the
first thing out of her mouth was "Ok, so now what'd you do with the
salt....*glare*"

Pointing on top of the fridge, the salt is now nicely packed inside a
tupperware container *gleam!*

I thought of everything! =)

Just thought I'de share that with everyone too (man I type long messages).

Thanks again Will!

-Dan-

"williamwaller" > wrote in message

> Dan,
>
> It sounds like it's time for you to check the yellow pages for the local
> restaurant supply business. They carry really nice, cheap, NSF food rated
> plastic buckets (with lids). You need a couple. A one liter (more than
> sufficient) size for storing and building the starter and a four liter one
> for fermenting your dough (handles two loaves; 1500-1800 gram formula).
>
> Could be as much as $6 but will save you much aggravation... might even
> impress the girl.
>
> Will


Thanks Will,

A very good idea indeed. Perhaps I'll run out later today and pick them up.
That was actually one of my concerns when I decided to take on this idea of
making my own sourdough... I thought to myself "Hmm Dan, what are you going
to keep this stuff in that Shelley won't sterilize you for..."

*chuckles*

So I grabbed the salt container off the top of the fridge (a 5 cup glass
cylinder with a suction-ey lid), cleaned it thoroughly, and voila!

Needless to say when Shelley got home and I showed her my creation, the
first thing out of her mouth was "Ok, so now what'd you do with the
salt....*glare*"

Pointing on top of the fridge, the salt is now nicely packed inside a
tupperware container *gleam!*

I thought of everything! =)

Just thought I'de share that with everyone too (man I type long messages).

Thanks again Will!

-Dan-

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004, xkeitarox wrote:

> -Dan-
>
> By the way, I've got a digital camera, and was thinking of posting pictures
> to share on occasion - Is there a limit to how big they should be?

As far as I know, this is a text-only newsgroup, and you shouldn't post
them here. I have been using ZippyImages.com lately; they are free, take
images up to 1 MB, and only say that "Inactive images will be removed
after 6 months." Upload there, and post a link...

Dave

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004, xkeitarox wrote:

> -Dan-
>
> By the way, I've got a digital camera, and was thinking of posting pictures
> to share on occasion - Is there a limit to how big they should be?

As far as I know, this is a text-only newsgroup, and you shouldn't post
them here. I have been using ZippyImages.com lately; they are free, take
images up to 1 MB, and only say that "Inactive images will be removed
after 6 months." Upload there, and post a link...

Dave

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 09:38:15 -0500, williamwaller
> wrote:

>Dan,
>
>It sounds like it's time for you to check the yellow pages for the local
>restaurant supply business. They carry really nice, cheap, NSF food rated
>plastic buckets (with lids). You need a couple. A one liter (more than
>sufficient) size for storing and building the starter and a four liter one
>for fermenting your dough (handles two loaves; 1500-1800 gram formula).

Hi Dan,

There is another reason that Will is right about this:

It is useful to keep track of the volume of the starter (and sometimes
the dough) as it ferments.

Many folks try to do that in a mixing bowl of some sort, but it is
nearly impossible.

The "buckets" that Will suggested are typically cylindrical in shape.
As a result, it is easy to keep track of volume of the contents. (BTW,
often, they are marked.) Because of their (nearly) parallel sides, a
doubling or tripling of the height implies a doubling or tripling of
the volume...

Have fun,

--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 09:38:15 -0500, williamwaller
> wrote:

>Dan,
>
>It sounds like it's time for you to check the yellow pages for the local
>restaurant supply business. They carry really nice, cheap, NSF food rated
>plastic buckets (with lids). You need a couple. A one liter (more than
>sufficient) size for storing and building the starter and a four liter one
>for fermenting your dough (handles two loaves; 1500-1800 gram formula).

Hi Dan,

There is another reason that Will is right about this:

It is useful to keep track of the volume of the starter (and sometimes
the dough) as it ferments.

Many folks try to do that in a mixing bowl of some sort, but it is
nearly impossible.

The "buckets" that Will suggested are typically cylindrical in shape.
As a result, it is easy to keep track of volume of the contents. (BTW,
often, they are marked.) Because of their (nearly) parallel sides, a
doubling or tripling of the height implies a doubling or tripling of
the volume...

Have fun,

--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

"Dave Bell" > wrote in message =
ea.net...
> On Tue, 10 Aug 2004, xkeitarox wrote:

> > By the way, I've got a digital camera, and was thinking of posting =
pictures
> > to share on occasion - Is there a limit to how big they should be?

To show bread, images do not need to be large. Seems most people do not
know how to make their images small, so, unless they have a cheap =
digital
camera, like I do, that is too bad, except for people with broad-band =
hookups
or for people with plenty of time for downloading.

> As far as I know, this is a text-only newsgroup, and you shouldn't =
post
> them here. I have been using ZippyImages.com lately; they are free, =
take
> images up to 1 MB, and only say that "Inactive images will be removed
> after 6 months." Upload there, and post a link...

Tried it. Works good! Here's my yesterday's bake:
http://www.zippyimages.com/92529.html
But its only good for six months since last activity, so people combing =
the=20
archives in some future year may never see it.

I am still making bread according to the instructions at
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...structions.doc

Funny thing: the flour towards the end of my 50 LB sack has become very=20
dense so cup measure was giving very low-hydration bread which did not=20
knead or rise well. Here I got my groove back by using less flour. The =

apparent hydration is 59%, but I could not prove that the flour took up =
no
moisture from the air as it settled down to higher density. Nobody =
going
for the big holes should be interested in this fluffy bread. Contrary =
to some
slanderous innuendoes, it is moderately sour and well flavored.=20

--=20
Dick Adams
<firstname> dot <lastname> at bigfoot dot com
___________________
Sourdough FAQ guide at=20
http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html

"Dick Adams" > wrote in message
...





I am still making bread according to the instructions at
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...structions.doc


Dick, I am confused. I read the instructions at the url link for your sour
dough bread. I am a little puzzled about the time involved. I thought that
sourdough had to be made with a sour dough starter (prepared over days) but
it seems your instructions are for the sourdough starter actually being for
a time period of 10 hours, 4 hours, 4 hours, and then going on to making the
bread. As your sourdough starter recipe fermentation is only approx 18
hours, I thought this is the time period for a polish, biga, whatever, not
sourdough. Could you enlighten me about the recipe; perhaps I am missing
the addition of the "older starter"?

Thanks so much,
Dee


--

"Dick Adams" > wrote in message
...





I am still making bread according to the instructions at
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...structions.doc


Dick, I am confused. I read the instructions at the url link for your sour
dough bread. I am a little puzzled about the time involved. I thought that
sourdough had to be made with a sour dough starter (prepared over days) but
it seems your instructions are for the sourdough starter actually being for
a time period of 10 hours, 4 hours, 4 hours, and then going on to making the
bread. As your sourdough starter recipe fermentation is only approx 18
hours, I thought this is the time period for a polish, biga, whatever, not
sourdough. Could you enlighten me about the recipe; perhaps I am missing
the addition of the "older starter"?

Thanks so much,
Dee


--

At 07:08 AM 8/28/2004, Dee Randall wrote:
....
>is only approx 18
>hours,

.....

with 18 hours and a generation (doubling) time of 1 1/2 hours, you get 12
generations and this multiplies it:

2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 times.

That should do for a decent sourdough started with a teaspoon of starter.

If the baker's yeast critters can do same - probably so, I would think they
are less stable, though and who wants to do that anyway?

Samartha




===



remove "-nospam" when replying, and it's in my email address

"Dee Randall" <deedoveyatshenteldotnet> wrote in message =
...

>I thought that sourdough had to be made with a sour dough starter=20
>(prepared over days) but it seems your instructions are for the=20
>sourdough starter actually being for a time period of 10 hours, 4=20
>hours, 4 hours, and then going on to making the bread. As your=20
>sourdough starter recipe fermentation is only approx 18 hours, I=20
>thought this is the time period for a polish, biga, whatever, not=20
>sourdough. Could you enlighten me about the recipe; perhaps I am=20
>missing the addition of the "older starter"?

I am using the procedure described at=20
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...tarter.html=20
for getting the starter ready for use in=20
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...structions.doc
The refrigerator culture is Carl's.

It is a procedure which works very consistently for me, although
the times vary somewhat depending on conditions and on small,
unintended inaccuracies and variations. The two-stage refreshment
of the starter prior to each bake leads to very good average=20
results compared with those I used to achieve by using the=20
refrigerated starter directly.

I am updating the file Instructions.doc, and the present one may
be more clear than the one you are using. I am about to add the
advice that the last cup of flour for the dough be added slowly
until the dough just balls on the hook, since I found my flour=20
growing denser on sitting around and settling down in our moist=20
New England summertime.

--=20
Dick Adams
<firstname> dot <lastname> at bigfoot dot com
___________________
Sourdough FAQ guide at=20
http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html

"Dee Randall" <deedoveyatshenteldotnet> wrote in message =
...

>I thought that sourdough had to be made with a sour dough starter=20
>(prepared over days) but it seems your instructions are for the=20
>sourdough starter actually being for a time period of 10 hours, 4=20
>hours, 4 hours, and then going on to making the bread. As your=20
>sourdough starter recipe fermentation is only approx 18 hours, I=20
>thought this is the time period for a polish, biga, whatever, not=20
>sourdough. Could you enlighten me about the recipe; perhaps I am=20
>missing the addition of the "older starter"?

I am using the procedure described at=20
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...tarter.html=20
for getting the starter ready for use in=20
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...structions.doc
The refrigerator culture is Carl's.

It is a procedure which works very consistently for me, although
the times vary somewhat depending on conditions and on small,
unintended inaccuracies and variations. The two-stage refreshment
of the starter prior to each bake leads to very good average=20
results compared with those I used to achieve by using the=20
refrigerated starter directly.

I am updating the file Instructions.doc, and the present one may
be more clear than the one you are using. I am about to add the
advice that the last cup of flour for the dough be added slowly
until the dough just balls on the hook, since I found my flour=20
growing denser on sitting around and settling down in our moist=20
New England summertime.

--=20
Dick Adams
<firstname> dot <lastname> at bigfoot dot com
___________________
Sourdough FAQ guide at=20
http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html