Mother Starter

I hadn't touched the starter since I made bread last weekend. To refresh it I took a 3.5 ounce piece (discarding the rest) and repeated the directions for the mother starter.

This picture was taken 6 hours after I mixed it together. I let it sit for a full 8 hours, then kneaded it back into a ball to degas it. Now it's covered tightly and in the refrigerator.

Tomorrow night I'm going to make the soaker for the bread I'm baking on Saturday. The soaker and part of the starter gets combined with the remaining dough ingredients to make the final dough.

This was my seed culture 7 hours after the beginning of phase 4. I was really happy to see some activity. I refrigerated it overnight and this morning I started making my starter.



Start with 3.5 ounces of the culture (about half) in a large bowl.



Add 10.5 ounces flour and 8 ounces filtered water.



Mix with a spoon for about a minute until it forms a ball. Let it rest for about 5 minutes.



Knead (with wet hands) for a minute until smooth.



Transfer to a clean container, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and leave at room temperature for about 4-8 hours, until it doubles in size.

As I was making this, I noticed that it smelled really familiar, but not like dough. Then it hit me. It smells like raw butternut squash. Weird.

By the end of the day my starter will be ready to use. I plan on baking my first loaf of 100% whole wheat bread on Saturday.