Okay...here we go! Day 3 of our bread experiment.
Today, as we were preparing to feed our starter, Abi decided she wanted to have her picture taken with it...
After its first day going 24 hours...this is what it looked like:
Not too much different from yesterday's picture...but it did seem a bit drier! I was concerned that it would overflow at the rate that it was doubling yesterday, but after a few hours, it slowed down considerably and went dormant. (Today we are trying a different spot in the house to see if it will 'grow' better...it thrives in the oven with the light on...but my light isn't reliable...having a mind of its own as to when to it will turn on and when it will turn off.) So today we will try the inner hall by the bathrooms.
Also, today we divided the starter into two sets. We put a one cup portion into a mason jar as a back up and we'll start feeding it tomorrow. The other several cups will remain in the glass bowl until Day 5 when we start dividing it out (using some for baking and the rest for regenerated starter).
Here is a picture of our divided starter:
As for the bread: WELL>>>>I wasn't thinking straight about the time frames and so it 'set' a little too long. According to the instructions, if you let the sponge set TOO long the bacteria starts to destroy the gluten. SOOO...I got up VERY early to see if I could salvage the bread. At first I wasn't so sure....it was kneading VERY hard...but after letting it rest and trying again...I have hope! It became MUCH more malable and tacky like it said it was supposed to be!
I said all that to say that the bread is currently set to rising and we will see what it does...I'm planning on having it baked for lunch! I'll let you know....
