NickyNick Today is day 4 and my starter is ready too. I will set aside some and put the rest in the freezer like you suggested. Im looking foward to this. My new toaster oven for baking will be here tomorrow too. Im excited to finally have found a toaster oven with no nonstick... no zinc powder coating..no aluminum coating.... just pure stainless steel! Took me forever to find one. I think it will be perfect for baking bread. Ive been wanting to make my own for a long time...so this thread is very special to me...esp since i love fermented foods and believe they are much better for you....not to mention that it takes you back in time to pioneer days. My culture has the smell of yeast bread! It is bubbly and no alcoholic smell..

oh and for this culture i did NOT use the grape must for staring.. just yeast in air. I will try with the grapes next try.

Looking at those pics of yours, I'm not sure actually if you have got yeast working there or not. Mine definitely did because [ quoting from my previous post ] " ... it had a dried crust on top, and below that was a pasty doughy layer full of holes ... "

The "doughy layer full of holes" was spongy and appeared just like a sponge would look - the tiny holes were from carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) given off by the yeast

see > Wikipedia > fermentation starter
see also > Wikipedia > fermentation

Your starter should look much more bubbly than that. It should look like the pic from Wikipedia "fermentation starter" (posted below ☟)

And a sure sign of fermentation is the presence of fruit flies drawn to the starter from the scent of fermentation, just as they are drawn to the scent of vinegar

Just add a few of those grapes you showed previously to the mixture you already have - crush about 4 or 5 nice big fat grapes that have that whitish powdery "bloom" covering them, and add them, skin, seeds and all, and you should see a difference shortly - it should look VERY bubbly



image from Wikipedia

Sacredorigin, I hope you have better luck baking bread in a toaster oven than I did. It was a less than desirable end product.

AnnaZ said:Sacredorigin, I hope you have better luck baking bread in a toaster oven than I did. It was a less than desirable end product.

Thank you! good to know it might not be that great. I can do it in a regular size oven too. Maybe i better start there. What experience did you have with it?

[quote="NickyNick"]Looking at those pics of yours, I'm not sure actually if you have got yeast working there or not. Mine definitely did because [ quoting from my previous post ] " ... it had a dried crust on top, and below that was a pasty doughy layer full of holes ... "

Thanks NickyNick!
agreed! i actually did just that. I made a new culture and i added some of the crushed grapes to the current one....now waiting patiently. Watching both. I will let it crust over.

Thanks for confirming this! Will update soon.

It should be a couple of days yet ... watch for fruit flies, a sure sign ☺

Sacredorigin, it did not look like a nice loaf of homemade bread should, or even taste good. The reason I tried it was I knew I was going to need a countertop one in addition to what I call my "crappy RV oven" to make my breads and rolls for sale when we wintered in Texas. Ithink the one I had was an Oster. I got it quite a few years ago to bake potatoes in so I would not have to heat up the big one. As an aside, i find microwaved baked potatoes less than desireable. Anyway, I sold it and bit the bullet and bought a Breville. It has 9 functions including a "proof" setting and an air fryer setting. I love it, it makes wonderful breads, rolls, and cookies. Air fries great too, so I sold my air fryer.

If your starter gets real watery on top, like mine did, add some flour and stir it in until the consistency is like pancake batter (a little on the runny side). As it ferments, it should rise, like a frothy batter full of tiny bubbles. Sometimes in hot weather (like it is here now) it will develop a crust on top.

If it's too hot to be baking (which it is right now) as soon as the starter is ready, put it in a jar with a lid, and put the whole thing in the freezer. When you take it out again, you should have enough flour ready to make bread with, and you should be ready to bake the bread also. The starter will have to thaw out and get back to room temperature so the yeast can become active again. Then you should have your bread dough made and ready to add the starter to it. After working the starter into the dough, the dough has to rise, then it is ready to bake. So that's the next few steps.

Once my starter looks like it's ready, and if I'm not ready for it, into the freezer it goes …

Yes NickyNick.... mine got watery on top. I will try the mixing more flour. So good to know that you can freeze to preserve. I got my toaster oven today. im eager to bake! I think by tomorrow my starter might be ready. I will keep post when it seems so. I know toaster oven might not be best option... im not looking for perfection. Even if it ends up a flat bread, ugly or lopsided... im ok with that... Im just really into making my own and learning how to do this pioneer bread!

I added more flour to mine yesterday and today it's watery again on the top, and it shouldn't be. I think I may have to dump it and start all over. It's been too hot on the patio where it's at, and that probably had a lot to do with it. The weather is supposed to be cooler after today, so I'll probably just start again. I've got 2 jars of starter going - the original and a second one with some of the starter from the first batch added to it. I just gave them both a stir. If it gets real watery on top again, I'll pour all the liquid off, stir it, and see if it gets going again like it should. If not, I'll just dump them both and start all over.

With yours, add some of your starter to some dough and see if the dough rises. You have to incorporate the starter in the dough by repeated folding and kneading of the dough until its all blended together - put the dough in a mixing bowl and cover with saran wrap or something like that, and wait until the dough rises (a few hours). If it rises, put it in a baking pan and away you go (into the oven).

If the dough does not rise, mix about a teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) with a little water and blend it into the dough, then immediately into the oven. The baking soda will go to work immediately and cause the dough to rise a little as it bakes. Then you can try again with the sourdough starter - make a whole new fresh batch and have everything ready to follow through with all of the next steps.

10-4 on the restart NickyNick. Mine is starting to really bubble a lot. im going to freeze it and try that frozen starter for fun... when you are ready. Before i freeze I will try to see if it will help dough rise. if its at right stage and not overdone... look forward to hear when your new starter is ready. I got my toaster oven 2 days ago and its ready to go.

Don't wait for me! Go ahead with yours and let's see what kind of results you get. The starter should make the dough rise. You need to mix it in really well and set the dough aside for a few hours, and if it rises, then into the oven it goes. The dough should be covered with saran wrap or plastic as it's rising. Replenish the unused portion of the starter with more flour and water, is all. Once it starts to ferment again, it has to be used as before, leaving some in the jar to activate your next batch. It would probably be a good thing to get 2 jars of starter going so you can freeze one, just in case the first one fails.

I had to throw out 2 jars of starter since they both kept getting watery on top, instead of fermenting. The first time I made the starter with flour, water and a few ripe grapes (for the yeast on the skins of the grapes), it went really well, but I wasn't ready with enough flour yet (a lot of other things going on at the time) so instead of using it for the dough, I started another jar of starter with it, and that's where things "went south" for me - during the hot weather, both jars kept accumulating liquid on top (instead of a frothy batter) so they were not fermenting. You will know with experience if your starter is actively fermenting or not, and how to keep it actively going while using a portion of it daily. It has to be done on a daily basis: when a portion is used, you have to replenish it - and you have to use it once it gets to the stage of active fermentation, or else the alcohol build-up will stop the fermentation. So it has to be kept at an active stage. The only way to "put it on hold" is to freeze it.

I can't wait to see how the bread turns out.

Me too! I hope sacredorigin gets some baked ♨ ☺

I'm waiting to see how hers turns out first! I know mine will turn out OK since I've done it thousands of times ...

ok im going to do it! i will keep everyone posted on progress.

yipee ☺

Not doing sourdough, but I'm going to try sprouted grain bread today. I found some sprouted grain flour at a large Mennonite bulk food store.

You are lucky, Anna, to have the Mennonite bulk food store. We have nothing like that anywhere nearby.

Hello everyone ~

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here, but now I'm ready for action!

See my recent posts in :

Crown Apple Tree
Pacific Coast Gardening forum

I have lots of GOOD apples now, and I am beginning to slice into them so that I can make my famous "apple bread" which I've made hundreds of times before. As I slice into my first Crown apples, I will post a scan of how these apples look inside. The old original tree, from which this new tree arose from a root sapling, used to have marbled and pink or reddish colored areas on the interior of the apples, so I will be looking for this as I progress.

Instead of using my harvested grains, which are still un-threshed in bags, I will be using Bob's Red Mill spelt, to save a little time. I will have to wait until daylight to grind it in my Corona grain mill though. Currently it is 12:20 AM (Pacific Daylight Time) 6 October 2019.

In the meantime, I invite you all to join me in the Dragon Lounge Café :

Nick's Quips
Sandbox forum
(go to the last page and scroll way down to the end)

… where I am "broadcasting live" beginning right now, although I have posted all of the playlist in advance

See you all there ~

☺