that ironically started from some of Bob's toss off!
Today is Day Five with our starters. You may have noticed this morning it probably didn't have the huge rolling bubbles of the past few days.
Also, if you didn't have a layer of hooch yesterday, your probably had one today.
The smell of the starter should also be definitely sour and vinegary. After you stir in the hooch and give him/her the first feeding, it will be bubbly but again probably not as foamy as in previous days. Don't worry, this is still all normal. As long as you don't have odd colors or really awful smells (spoiled chicken, wet gym socks) your starter is just starting to settle down while it adjusts to the AP flour.
Before the second feeding, the starter may have developed another layer of hooch.
Again, just stir it back in and give the starter its second feed.
You will notice in my second feed that I didn't completely stir the flour smooth. The lovely thing about sourdough starters is even if the flour isn't stirred in smooth, the yeasties will still attack it. Take a look tomorrow morning! Not a lump of flour will be in sight.
Tomorrow, we'll talk about what to do with toss off because on Friday night you can prep it to make something on Saturday. I'm also going to answer a few questions from the comments on the previous Starter Watch posts.
OK, Judges Table on Top Chef Chicago is happening so time to kiss your starter good night.
