yet another sourdough question..

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know where I can buy pre-made sourdough starter? I know it is sold dry and in tubs, I think I'd prefer the tub variety. I tried to make my own using dry yeast and that went badly... but I think if it was already right and I just had to keep it alive, I could do that.

I do have a car.

Comments

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I did. it started out fine, but then after a week it turned bad and got really weird and gross. so I tried it again, and that time it just up and died. I think my house is a bit too clean.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

What do you mean by "weird and gross?" Some interpretations of that are normal. Once it's started to foam and smell like sourdough it should really go in the fridge.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

it started to foam and smell like sour dough, and I continued to feed it since it hadn't grown has tall as the directions said it should, and then it started to get more and more alcoholic, which to a degree is good, but then it went brown and odd. the directions I had did not mention refrigeration, which likely would have helped.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

If you're talking about the brown liquid that forms on the top, this is called hooch and, although it's kind of gross, it is perfectly normal. You can either stir it back into the dough or, if the dough is already too moist, you can just pour it off. It's OK though. It won't hurt the final product.

Theoretically refrigeration is only necessary if you don't think you'll be able to feed it for a few days or more, so that alone really shouldn't have caused a problem for you. I suspect what you're seeing is just one of the more gross-looking possible byproducts of the process.

Most recently I've been using this website (http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm) as guidance. I haven't made any bread from the resulting starter yet, but an experienced sourdough-making friend of mine corroborated the story about the hooch.