Sour Culture Day 4

Good Morning Bakers,

We are almost to the final step of the process!

Today, I want you to open up the container and observe the culture.  What do you see?  What do you smell?  What does the culture feel like?

My culture had a nice dairy smell to it, almost like a container of yogurt. It had a creamy yellow color to it, about the same color as a quality organic flour.  I also noticed the formation of bubbles on the surface, a good sign of life.  At this point, you should be seeing signs of life in the culture.  If you are not seeing signs of life, I would suggest starting over.  It felt very wet, but with some tackiness to it.  It coated my fingers when I pulled them out of the culture.

Now that we have observed all the changes, lets get setup for for feeding our culture.
MEP today is just about the same as yesterday!  The only change is in the amount of culture to be used, it is now doubled to 227 gr or 1 cup.

MEP List:
1. New Bowl (Wash the container)
2. Scale
3. Water (113 gr or 1/2 cup)
4. Flour (113 gr or a heaping 1/2 cup)
5. Culture (227 gr or 1 cup)

The process will stay the same for mixing.  First, the 227 gr of your culture goes in the bowl, add your 113 gr of 90 deg water on top and give it a quick stir.  Put your  113 gr of flour on top and mix until fully incorporated.  Once everything is incorporated, place the culture back into the washed container.

The culture should look the same as yesterday, even with the extra culture.  The reason for doubling the amount of culture in the mix is: to increase the acetic acid levels and to increase the amount of yeast that is producing in the culture.  We want to have as many yeast cells as possible creating CO2 and alcohol.  This CO2 production is what gives us our leavening.  So, the more cells the larger the loaf size.

That's all I have for today.  Enjoy the Labor Day weekend and I will see you back here tomorrow!

Bake that Bread!

Josh