In the beginning...starting with the Starter.

So this is my first day of blogging.  I am a bit overwhelmed about setting up this whole thing.  Mostly I just want to get to writing about the exploration of cooking and such.  But I will press on.  Since I am the only one reading this at this time, it gives me quite a sense of freedom.

What's going on in the kitchen?  Right now I am exploring the process of making a sourdough starter.  Honestly, I have always loved sourdough bread.  Unfortunately, my sweet wife is unable to eat it, due to a medical condition she has.  But I decided that I at least wanted to try it anyway.  My baking friends (one is an attorney, one is a consultant, and one is a doctor), referred to as the Amateur Baking Guild, have told me that it is very easy to do, but it the whole yeast growth thing seemed out of my league.

So here we are:

I am on day 4 of the creating the "seed culture", using a recipe found in Peter Reinhart's great book, American Pie- My Search For The Perfect Pizza. 

In his book, he gives you a crash course in what a sourdough starter is, and how it works scientifically.  I am not going to go into the detail on this one, but suffice to say, you create a small bit of sourdough starter and you can keep it dormant in your fridge for very long periods of time.  Then, when you need it, you reactivate it, and voila, you pull a piece out for your sourdough project.

In this case, it is for sourdough pizza.  This is a French method that he illustrates in his book.  You begin with a simple mixture of pineapple juice and whole wheat flour which begins the fermenation process.  You mix it and let it sit 24 hours.  Then you cut it in half (throw half away), add a bit of high gluten flour and water and let it sit another 24 hours. Eventually, the blob will start expanding and take life.  As Reinhart says, "a culture medium made of primarily of flour and water will become the home to thousands, perhaps millions, of living wild yeast and bacteria cells."  That translates to a bread, or in this case, a pizza with a bit of a tang.  Yes.

I have to admit, this has been confusing to me.  First of all, I started this project last week.  My wife saw the jar on the counter and insisted that I put it in the cabinet while we had guests over.  I totally understood, because it looks like something gone bad, and someone has simply failed to throw it away.  It is, in fact, something that is going bad, just in a controlled way.  So after Day 3 of the seed culture, it went in the cabinet.   About 4 days later, I rememebered something about working on a sourdough starter and cringed as I opened the cabinet to see what was there.  Well, it was not pretty.  My starter was wearing a wool cardigan sweater and was running a high fever.  So, into the trash can it went. 

I started over this week.  I am on Day 4, which is a repeat of Day 3- cutting it in half, and adding the flour and water, and letting it sit for 24 hours.  I am waiting for it to double in size.  Mine has not.  In Reinhart's book he has this disclaimer for people just like me.  "In rare instances, you will have to continue this seed building for a few more days."  Well, I am all about rare instances.  Thanks, Peter.  On to Day 5, a repeat of Day 4, a repeat of Day 3.  Also, he refers to is as "the dough".  Mine kinds of looks like overwatered oatmeal.  I am committed to start the Starter, however.
(P.S. I also learned something about myself that I will share with you.  I did not like throwing half of it away on Day 2.  So I took the other half and started a second starter to give away.  Do the math yourself.   I think based on the days it will take to complete my project and my inability to throw parts of it away, I think by the power of compounding, I should have 4,653,355 starters to give away by the time it doubles in size.  Starter anyone?