Let me tell you a tale about how I really screwed up my sourdough starter…

First of all, I’m planning on gathering my sources and writing up a more in-depth post about sourdough and my starter, but I think that will have to wait.  I was thinking of that more in-depth post when I snapped a few shots of my sourdough starter:

Let me tell you, there are few things LESS exciting to photograph than sourdough starter.  You can see it has risen and sunk back down– ready for another meal of flour and water!   I usually keep it out on my counter under that (*lucky*) towel.

My Mom and Dad came up to visit recently and I couldn’t wait for them to taste my sourdough bread and my sourdough pancakes.  In fact, I was so excited that I made pancakes with ALL THE STARTER.  I know everyone says you can start a starter with what’s left on the spoon or bowl, but I was nervous about the eggs and sugar and everything…  My starter has only ever been flour and water!  Plus, I had a tiny bit of dried starter that I had put away a few weeks ago, so that seemed like the better solution.  We were going out of town so I mixed up the dried starter with a little water and flour, put it in the fridge before we left and hoped for the best.

Nothing happened while we were gone!  I was n.e.r.v.o.u.s!  Alas, this story has a happy ending.  I took it out of the fridge and fed it and the next day it was bubbling away again!  And in a few short days I was even able to pack up a little starter for Mom to take home and play with!

Happy sourdough-ing!  I’m making a loaf of bread tonight!