That's how my 2 year old described the smell of the starter this morning. It's pretty funky.
It had two distinct layers all throughout the day. So I've been thinking all day about what's the top? Is that the waste products of the bacteria and yeast?
Today, I read part of Peter Reinhart's book on baking with whole grains, and he mentions stirring a starter several times a day to get better results. The big jars are easy to just give the mixture a swirl when I would walk through the kitchen. Also several times today when I walked into the kitchen the dish towel was on the counter rather than on the jar. I don't know if the carbon dioxide was building up and pushing it off, or if a cat or human kept removing it.
After feeding the starter, it is so bubbly.
Looks great, but it still smells pretty funky.
It's hard to think about throwing a cup of starter away a day, so I've also put some aside so we can have sourdough pancakes in the morning to see if it's ready for baking.
I found out about this course via Culinaria Eugenius. I'm delighted to see you are doing detailed daily posts. I've decided to join in, inspired by this, and a need to use up a load of whey, so the Big Guy will let me make more cheese. At the moment I'm sharing my efforts on facebook, as I'm not yet sharing original content, but I am linking to relevant posts. Thanks to all three of you blogging course leaders for such inspiration.
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