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Step 5The weekly feeding and dealing with hooch
In the last picture you may have noticed the sort of brownish layer of fluid on top of the starter. That is called hooch, and yes it is slightly alcoholic. Please don't try to drink it.
I cannot be held responsible for anyone silly enough to try drinking hooch.
A week or less has gone by and your starter is just chilling out there in the refrigerator. Time to bother it again.
If you have a ton of hooch on your starter: go ahead and pour some off. You want some though.
Throw half of your starter away (or use it to make bread, which will be covered in the next few steps).
Go ahead and stir that hooch in with the water and then stir in the flour. Remember, between 2:1 and 1:1 flour:water.
If you aren't going to make any bread any time soon, go ahead and put the starter back in the refrigerator.
You now have a living, eating colony of organisms living in your refrigerator. Hooray! Don't forget about your starter and take good care of it. It will last forever, so long as you give it love and flour.
Experimentation:
This is just a basic starter. At this point you can do whatever you want. I recommend saving that half of your starter that you were going to just throw away and put it in its own container. Feed it and try adding weird things to it. I know people who add potato flakes and milk. Try using only wheat or rye flour. Do whatever. Different kinds of starters will produce different kinds of bread.
I cannot be held responsible for anyone silly enough to try drinking hooch.
A week or less has gone by and your starter is just chilling out there in the refrigerator. Time to bother it again.
If you have a ton of hooch on your starter: go ahead and pour some off. You want some though.
Throw half of your starter away (or use it to make bread, which will be covered in the next few steps).
Go ahead and stir that hooch in with the water and then stir in the flour. Remember, between 2:1 and 1:1 flour:water.
If you aren't going to make any bread any time soon, go ahead and put the starter back in the refrigerator.
You now have a living, eating colony of organisms living in your refrigerator. Hooray! Don't forget about your starter and take good care of it. It will last forever, so long as you give it love and flour.
Experimentation:
This is just a basic starter. At this point you can do whatever you want. I recommend saving that half of your starter that you were going to just throw away and put it in its own container. Feed it and try adding weird things to it. I know people who add potato flakes and milk. Try using only wheat or rye flour. Do whatever. Different kinds of starters will produce different kinds of bread.
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