Mr. Picklepuss

I know I haven't posted in a while. And I have lots to post (just no photos to go along with the post since things seem to get consumed really quickly once they are made). I've had a few projects. One of which is a sourdough starter which has been dubbed Mr. Picklepuss. He lives in a recycled mason jar. He's about a week old now so is ready to be tested out for bread.

To make a Mr. P of your own it's dead easy. All you need is 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of tepid water. That's it. Combine them in a jar or other non metallic container. I used a bit of cheese cloth and an elastic to keep him covered. It needs some air circulation so punching small holes in the lid or using a bit of (clean) old cloth will work too. I would dampen the cloth before covering the mouth of the jar. Then you leave it somewhere fairly warm like on the mantel about the gas fireplace like me or in your kitchen if that's a fairly warm place.

When they start out your starter is pretty high maintenance - it needs to be fed everyday for the first week or so. To do that you dump about half of the old mixture and add about half a cup of flour and a bit of water to make a thick liquidity mixture. In a few days it'll start to smell sour and be a bit bubbly. This is good.

After that week it's good to go. You can store it in the fridge and feed it once a week.

I'll see how my bread turns out when I make it in the next few days and let you know how to use the starter.