Sourdough Starter: Day 10

Finally the starter is done fermenting. Day 10 involves removing the grapes, throwing away most of the culture, and then feeding the rest with flour and water. That's just what I did today.


I started by removing the grapes and really squeezing them out into the starter. I was able to extract a lot of liquid from them. I was surprised when I opened the sack of grapes -- some looked just like grapes, others looked like rot. Curious, I thought.


Then, I mixed the culture really well with my hands. I wanted to make sure I got everything off the bottom.



It took a couple of minutes, but wasn't a big deal, really. When everything was mixed, the consistency was kind of like milk. Perhaps you can tell from the photos...

I then poured off 1 lb 2 oz of culture. Silverton says to throw the rest away.
I saved a small container for backup. I popped that in the deep freeze with a note that says "Do Not Throw Away". Hopefully I never need it, but if I do, it'll be there waiting for me. It's probably a good idea to stash away a little every few months.


I washed and dried my culture bowl, then added the small amount of culture back to it. Then I added warm water (78F) and flour and again mixed with my hands. Many of the lumps didn't break up, despite my best efforts. I really tried to squeeze the little pearls of flour, but there were just too many! This mixture was thicker than the previous culture, and not even all the flour dissolved. This was more like heavy cream.


The smell is still horrific. The family is describing it as cheese, but I'm smelling vinaigre. Hopefully now that the grapes are out, it won't be so vile. Although, I did smell the grapes closely and they smelled like.....grapes! I wanted to eat one. I have to keep feeding until day 14. I'm supposed to feed thrice daily, but I don't see that happening. I am supposed to wait 4-6 hours between feedings, but I'm not getting up in the middle of the night. I'll feed twice probably -- before and after work. And on the weekend, I'll try to do it three times. But I might skip ahead and bake bread on Friday, especially if my supplies arrive in the mail. Oh yeah, I dropped $200 on supplies (including a $100 thermometer -- of my own choosing). This bread better be great.