This Sourdough Starter project is turning out to be an ordeal.  I don’t think it’s the starters fault.  It’s only a simple mixture of flour and water.  I think the ordeal came in when I became mostly obsessed with my starter.  See,  I took my starter out of the fridge yesterday to feed it, and hopefully make delicious sourdough pancakes in spite of my ridiculously busy schedule.

The starter sat on my counter untouched, and just as it came out of the fridge, the hooch had separated from the rest of the starter.  No big deal, right?  Well, it was no big deal until, at room temperature, my starter started to bubble!

AAAHHHHH!  Seriously!  I was totally not prepared for this!  I was not expecting little bubbles to come up from the bottom of my starter, reach the top and burst.  I am simultaneously horrified and fascinated.  I couldn’t tear myself away from my starter all night.  It was so creepy.  I think I would scream in excitement and disgust every time I took another peek.

Granted, I don’t have photo documentation of this.  You just have to be there to be totally freaked out by it.

Now, I have no idea if this is normal.  My starter smells sour but not totally icky and well…. I think it’s alive.

Are your starters marinating in the fridge?

Here is a sneak peak of the sourdough pancake recipe I’m using.  It’s another overnight deal.  I suppose that this whole process isn’t for the faint of heart.  It requires a serious love for pancakes.  And after all this, would you believe that I’m too lazy to make cinnamon rolls!?  That just doesn’t make any sense at all.

If you missed the whole Sourdough Starter extravaganza, you can catch up here:

Sourdough Starter: the beginning

Sourdough Starter: day one

Sourdough Starter:  day two and three

Sourdough Starter: day four and five

Sourdough Starter:  takes a break in the fridge

Here’s the Sourdough Pancake recipe I’m going to finish up tomorrow.  So far, one cup of the starter is marinating with more flour and water on my counter.  I can already see it puffing a bit with gasses.  Tomorrow I’ll add eggs, milk, sugar, and baking soda and call it pancake batter.

With the remainder of my starter, I added one cup of water and one cup of flour, stirred it and threw it back in the fridge.  I’ve had all the bubbling I can take for one week.

Sourdough Pancakes

recipe from Glass House

Night before:

Mix 1 cup of starter, 1.5 cups warm water, 2.5 cups flour (a mix of white and wheat is good) cover with foil and let stand overnight. I put mine in the oven with the light on; it’s the perfect temp. The next morning:

Mix 1 egg, 2/3 cup milk, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Whisk into the mixture from the night before, let stand for five minute and drop onto griddle. I love ‘em with blueberries. Seriously, these are awesome, they’ll spoil you from bisquick cakes for life.

We’re still talking sourdough starter!

Need to catch up!?  Here’s Sourdough Starter Day 1 and Sourdough Starter Day 2 and 3!

Mine seems to be happy and growing.  It might almost be time to preheat the griddle for those pancakes.

Jump on over and see the results of days of flour, water and bacteria.  

Here’s a step by step reminder of the Sourdough Starter Dump and Feed Project.

1.  Stir your starter.  This might mean stirring the hooch (the yellowish liquid layer) back into your starter.

2.  Remove one cup of starter and either use it in a recipe, or if your starter is new, discard.

3.  Add 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water to your remaining starter.  (I accidentally added a cup of both flour and water.  I wasn’t thinking straight, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.)

4.  Stir.  (I usually stir until most of the lumps are gone, but I don’t have the patience to get  all the lumps out of my starter.  It still seems to be happy.)

5.  Put the lid back on your starter, making sure to leave the lid ajar to let some air in.

Are you having trouble with pesky fruit flies trying to get at your starter!?  Oh no!  You might try draping a clean, thin dish towel over your jar, over the entire jar, with the lid underneath the towel ajar.  Does anyone have any better ideas?

Now we’re cookin’!  

Above is Day 2 of the sourdough starter.  You can see a layer of yellowish liquid running through the starter.  That’s the hooch.  I just stirred the starter well before its feeding.  

Below is Day 3 of the “situation starter”.  Now it’s starting to get going.  I’m totally excited!  It smells slightly sour but still mostly floury.  I can see the bread at the end of the tunnel!

After a swift 24 hours of sitting on my counter with the lid ajar, here are the (less than exciting) photographic results of my sourdough starter.  

This is the starter just before it’s first feeding.  

I know this isn’t terribly exciting.  

I promise I’ve got some lovely recipes in store for you. I won’t make you suffer through watching bacteria grow for too much longer.

How are your starters coming?