Y Tu Mamma Tambien

Day 10:

My starter was still separated, flour on the bottom and a yellow, unappetizing liquid floated on top. The bag of grapes looked disgusting and unappetizing. Stems poked out of the cheesecloth and an orange-ish slime grew on top. If there was any doubt as to whether this rank, liquidy sludge was alive though all one had to do was look closely and see the bubbles that danced up from the bottom of the container. The starter, despite its potentially toxic look, smelled sour, good sour, intriguing sour...

Today is a big day. Today is the day to remove that grotesque, rotting bag of grapes and put the starter on a regular feeding schedule. Unfortunately, since I’m leaving town for a few days – I can’t jump into the feeding schedule, which is supposed to be 3 times a day for 5 days in order to strengthen the starter. I thought about hiring a baby sitter to do this – but I’m much too paranoid. I’ve put so much into this sourdough starter, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that someone else was responsible for it’s care and well-being. So, after consulting a few bread making gurus – we decided that it should be ok to begin feeding the starter and then refrigerate it for the duration of my trip. I’ll resume the feeding schedule when I return – and then, it’s bread-making time!

Following the instructions in Nancy Silverton’s book, I removed the bag of grapes. There were a lot of seeds and grape skins that had come loose from the cheesecloth bag and were floating on top of the starter, but after removing the bag of grapes (and giving it a good squeeze into the starter), I gave the starter a stir and poured off a large portion of it (otherwise, with the feeding, I would have truck loads) and ran the remainder that I’ll be working with through a strainer. It looks 100 times more appetizing now that it’s been cleaned up.

The starter is the color of my morning Soy Chai Latte, creamy-pail-beige-ish for you non-soy-chai-latte drinkers. The texture after I mixed it was that of a thin custard, like crème anglaise – it would nappant a spoon.

I fed the little bugger – it’s weight in flour and warm water – and it instantly came to life. Little bubbles forming as the yeast gobbled up its food. I fed it once again this evening and then loosely covered it and stuck it in the fridge where it will sleep until Wednesday.

I am so excited to make some bread. Just a few days away! I can’t wait!!!