George is back!
Yep, not sure if it's with a vengance, but he's back nonetheless.
I started him up again by mixing one cup plain flour (just ordinary, cheap, nasty wheat flour) and about three quarters of a cup of water. The water (ordinary tap water or out of the kettle) was about blood temperature to get things happening quicker. I mixed it together in a bowl, then poured it into his glass jar (glass so that I can see what he's up to in there), and left the lid propped open just a little. I've not tried using mineral water, as some recipes recommend.
He's back on top of the stereo which I have just turned on to keep him warm. I'm anticipating that in the morning, he will have started to bubble (active and starting to ferment). Sometime after he starts to bubble, I will add another half cup or so of flour, and just under half a cup of warm water, stirring until well combined. Add a little more or less water depending on what consistency you prefer.
I prefer to make my starter thick, as opposed to a really thin crepe-like batter. I also don't discard any of the starter. You will see a lot of starter instructions telling you to throw out half of the starter. I don't see the point. Just add less feed (the flour and water), and use him up when you bake. If you will be baking a lot, then add more flour and water (ie, maybe a cup of flour instead of my usual half cup).
Also, I never fed George every twelve or twenty four hours. Sometimes I would feed him every day (sometimes twice a day if he was really warm and active and I wanted to bake a few loaves in quick succession), but I often neglected him for a couple of days here and there. The longest I left him unfed was about five days. He wasn't very warm (almost dormant, but not in the fridge), and all that happened was a dry crust on the surface. I peeled that off (threw it out) and gave him a feed and some warmth. Happy as Larry. Or George rather. Every couple of feeds I would scoop him out of the jar into a clean bowl to feed, and I would give his jar a wash. It doesn't have to be sterile (I've never sterilised anything before in my life!)
The recipe I used calls for two cups of starter, which in the one litre jar I use, is perfect. When the starter is all bubbled, I give it a stir with a spatula to collapse the bubbles, then scoop it out into the cup measure. It leaves enough starter in the jar to give another feed (whenever you want, you don't have to do it then and there), and keep going.
The creature you will create in your George is capable for living for thousands of years apparently. Under the right conditions of course.
The recipe I use for baking bread from my George (bear in mind that I HALVE the recipe and still get a full size loaf): Ooops, nearly forgot, I usually add about a tablespoon of sugar (white/caster I don't know which it is!) to my dough.
from bio-oz websiteSpelt or Kamut Sourdough Bread
4 cups active starter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup water
2 teaspoons sea salt
6 cups spelt or kamut flour
Mix all together and knead into ball adding more flour or water if necessary to get a firm but not too sticky dough.
Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough into greased heavy duty good quality bread tin, cover and place in warm area until dough has doubled in size.
Place in moderate hot oven for 40 – 50 minutes. Remove hot bread from tin, tap bottom of bread, if it sounds hollow it’s cooked, if it doesn’t sound hollow put the bread back in the oven straight on the oven rack and cook another 5 or 10 minutes. Allow bread to cool on a biscuit rack.
I highly recommend anyone interested in making their own George to look at the bio-oz website. Just google bio-oz, click on the recipes tab, and then on the sourdough tab underneath.
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