Cultivating a wild yeast starter from flour and water is easier than I thought it would be. These posts show how I did it.
After nineteen days, my wild yeast whole wheat sourdough starter is active, bubbly and percolating along just fine. Time to make some bread! But first, I use some of my excess starter to make whole wheat banana nut muffins with just the right amount of sweet and tang.
The top has a few large bubbles as well, and is puffy with gasses percolating beneath the surface. The yeasty sourdough scent is stronger, too.
The sponge rose so well from the discarded starter that I am heartened. In just two days, I can try my first loaf!
For the first time today, we clearly see that the starter has risen, then fallen. I’m mighty encouraged!
I can’t help wondering if this success is because I switched back to using freshly-ground flour,
Curiously, the discarded starter seems much more active than the cultivating starter
The starter appears not to have risen overnight, but when I lift out a couple of tablespoons starter, I am gratified to see it is frothy and full of gassy bubbles.
I cull two tablespoons of watery starter, to which I add two tablespoons freshly ground flour, two tablespoons filtered water, and a few drops vinegar. Then I draw a line outside the jar at the fill level. Crossing fingers the bubbles return!
Before putting the starter to bed for the night, I drew a black line to show the level right now. Tomorrow morning, we will see how much the starter has risen overnight.
I decided to try another experiment: Feeding the discard jar a little flour each time I dump more starter.
