Denver sourdough starter

It's the most powerful sourdough starter around.

And I mean it. No brag. Just fact.

This is a little bit easier in summer than this time of year. The ideal temperature for yeast is around 95° so the oven is kept on low, below warm setting, low as it goes, then the jar of starter is kept stovetop covered with a towel like a tent. This keeps the starter at about body temperature.

The starter is frozen chunks smaller than aquarium pebbles, near powder. It was formed a few years ago by spreading thick foamy starter sponge at the peak of its activity across a baking tray covered with cling film. Left to dry, the chunks broken to flakes, the flakes smashed to powder, then frozen in a tiny wasabi tin.

A niece in another state is interested in trying her hand at sourdough so I sent her a few tablespoons of dry starter. She's not feeling it. She's not one with the starter. She's on her second attempt, having copped out on her first try. There was no need for that. She didn't kill it, she just lost the rhythm of feeding and freaked out.

I decided that I'll do it too along with her. What the heck. This was started 3:00 p.m. day before yesterday. Within 12 hours it produced liquid on its surface three times. First a little then a lot. The liquid was stirred in each time. The last time, the culture after stirring was much thinner with scant bubbles. The slurry was slimy and exhausted.  I started with one cup in a pint jar. It must be fed and I want to keep it small. I poured out half then doubled the remainder with fresh water and fresh flour. So then it was restored to 1 cup.

When the 1 cup of starter foams to the top of the pint jar by regular feedings then it is ready to make bread. At that point it is sufficiently active to work as leaven for bread on its own.

8 hours after its second feeding, that is, after its first feeding after its activation from the freezer, this starter had foamed to the top of its jar. It was ready.

It's ready already.

That is amazingly fast for sourdough. Usually it takes at least a few days of feeding in regular cycles to build up to this level of bubbling foaming activity. This starter did that with just two feedings well before the time set for its third feeding. Only two cycles BLAM! Just like that. Ready to be used.

Instead of pouring out half to keep it small, it is fed again and doubled in volume to make it large. The 1 cup of starter is now 2 cups of starter. It's put in a quart size jar. I did that just now.

Within 8 hours it will peak again and foam up to double in size (but not weight) to reach the top of its new larger jar and it will be ready to be fed a fourth time a little later this morning. It will be fed but with much less water and enough flour to stiffen the sponge and form dough with salt to turn it to bread. Allowed to double in size again this time as bread in a bread pan. Then baked.

Usually I would take the bread dough and refrigerate for three days to ferment. But this time I won't do that.

The bread will have outstanding complex character but very little acid bite that comes with fermentation.

Over a decade ago I had become spoiled by my own bread. Bread jaded. I asked my family about unfermented sourdough bread that I brought to the house, "Can you even tell this is sourdough?" My sister's family all lit up and answered at once, "Oh yeah. We sure can." Then they spread butter on their own Wonder bread for their spaghetti. Even unfermented and lacking built up acid that comes with fermentation, actually the whole point of sourdough, the bread was too different, too strange, too strong, too unpleasant for them. They didn't even consider it for dinner.

What a bummer!

This niece was one of the group who responded that way.  So I'm surprised that she's even interested. This whole time I had been thinking, what a bunch of bread-duds.