Good morning. Its Sunday, the 3rd day of our fermenta project. Lakes take a peek at whats happening. I lfted the lid and the light cloth and what Im seeing is lots and lots of tiny bubbles. There is also this interesting smell coming from it. This is good. This is a positive sign that its working perfectly. A couple of notes for you. Number one, ONLY USE FOOD GRADE PLASTIC OR GLASS. Do not use metal. If you did start with metal, just move it to another container. It should be fine and Im not really sure that a good quality stainless container is bad, but thats what I understand. Moving along though. If you opened your project and it looks flat, or doesnt really smell like anything, or has a kind of smell like alcohol, maybe a little liquid floating (heres where I lost it and nobody could help me) DONT WORRY! I cannot emphasize it enough. This doesnt mean it isnt working, it just means you need to work it a bit. There is no set time for this process. Might take another day, might not. You still need 4–5 days AT LEAST for it to develop, so be patient. Its worth it. Now, either way, lets start working again. Firstly, take your wire whisk and gently stir you fermenta. If its just flat or seems to not be responding when you opened it, it might produce small bubbles (a few or a lot) as you whisk. As you do, you will probably get a whiff of it. To me, this is just great and very encouraging. Theres also the chance that it really took off and started expanding and bubbling like mad. Thats great. This stuff is very hardy the chances that you will kill it are slim to none. But dont be fooled into thinking its ready now just because its very active, because its not. Ive had this same reaction and had it go completely flat making me think it was dead. Again, no answers from all the “masters” hence, this blog. So, your project is flat, busy, smells like alcohol, whatever the case, whisk it a bit bit and lets feed it. Here, you dont need to feed it much, maybe a large tablespoon of flour whisked in BEFORE you add water. You want to check consistency of it before you start adding any water. Too much water and it turns to soup. This might slow it down. You want it to be like pancake batter, maybe a bit thicker. If its like thick goo that wont lay back down, then add a bit of water. Rule of thumb is equal WEIGHTS of flour and water. Well, maybe. If your project was very watery on day 3, maybe it only needs the flour. If you ad the flour and the consistency is good, then maybe water isnt necessary. You judge. Go ahead, its ok. You arent going to kill it. After you have fed it, cover it up and let it go. I will post again shortly after I have fed my project and can see the result. Dont go away.

OK, I whisked the growing culture gently and reincorporated the liquid that was floating there. You saw the bubbles before, so we know its just fine. I fed it a large tablespoon of flour and re-whisked it, no water at all yet and you can see in this picture the bubbles that are forming again. This is carbon dioxide from the little bugs that are feeding on the flour. This is very good. If you do this and its flat, DONT WORRY, its not dead, just… slow. It will come around. Just remember, this is a Wild Yeast culture and has no set schedule. If you added flour and its seems to thick and sticky, add a tiny bit of water, I mean maybe half a teaspoon, whisk and see. You dont want it to be watery and thin. OK? Tomorrow is day 4 and if we have been diligent, we should be seeing some good activity. I have already made a starter a couple days ago and have a dough thats risen and ready to become bread today. I will post a pic for you to see next before we call it a day. Stand by.

I made this dough yesterday and let it sit out all day to rise, covered with a cloth. Since I didnt make bread from it yesterday, I simply covered it and put it in the fridge to “sleep” overnight. Putting it in the fridge slows the rise and allows you to store the dough for a longer time. You can make several batches to use during the week. This is a “no knead” recipe from my buddy Fionn Machugh. It couldnt be any easier to make. After this fermenta project is ready, I will do another story on how to make the starter and then we will make actual bread. As this current dough “wakes up” and starts rising again, I will post another pic of it for you. It will look quite different and hopefully keep you inspired. Just try to imagine a fresh warm loaf of sourdough bread slathered with butter and maybe a bit of honey!? OK, enough for now. tend to your project and I will see you on day 4 for another feeding and to see how our projects are developing. Have a wonderful day.