I Feel like An Old Wizard: Hooch And Bubbles In the Ref.

 Maybe I should be joining the witches in the Scottish Play? 

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble".

 

The Scottish Play

Of course there is this small difference; my toils and troubles, small as they are, are in the good cause of low blood sugar and great bread.

After years of baking bread, I have decided that it is time to go down the rabbit hole of sour dough bread starter. 

Hooch refers to a brown liquid that forms in the starter. Bubbles, well they are indicators of fermentation.

This is where the rabbit hole enters the picture. Fermentation is life and it will behave as it feels is right.  All risen breads live a unique life. Sourdough starter is part of that unique life.

The recipe states that the original creation should take about a week. But it could take 3 weeks! As with wine fermentation, sourdough bread starter requires one to follow the rules and make what adjustments are needed.

The recipe also suggests naming the 'starter'. Apparently, there are recorded instances of starter being passed down generation to generation! So, Until further notice this starter be named Bread Monster and it shall soon live in a jar in our refrigerator. 

 "The oldest known sourdough starter is believed to be over 5,000 years old¹. However, the oldest sourdough starter that we have on record today is Blackley’s sourdough starter, which was created from 4,500-year-old yeast²³.

There are also some other very old sourdough starters. For example, Alaska claims one of the oldest commercial sourdough starters dating back to the Gold Rush era over 120 years ago¹. A family in Belgium has a sourdough starter that’s 125 years old¹.

It’s fascinating to think about the history and tradition carried in these starters, passed down through generations and across continents! 🍞(Copilot, Research Assistant, Librarian)

That I'm now part of this tradition, albeit a miniscule parr, I do find satisfying.

Brian