Only a quick update today. After yesterday’s massive activity, we’re back to a normal amount of starter action today. Maybe a small amount of growth during the day, but nothing major.

I threw out 150g of starter and added 100g each of water and AP flour. It’s sufficiently liquid now, so I’ll plan on doing something like that every day from now on.

Hopefully, your starter is starting to have a distinctive smell. To me, it smells like a good sourdough baguette, so I know I’m on the right track. The starter culture is likely finally growing now, but isn’t enough to leaven a bread on its own.

By now, you might be wondering about all the waste that comes from this process. It’s true, there is a lot! Happily, there are a lot of things we can do with that waste that are tasty and easy. One of my favorite options are pseudo-scallion pancakes. Cut up some of the green and white parts of a scallion or two, add starter discard and some sesame oil. Add enough water to get it to a pancake batter consistency. Then fry it (ideally in a nonstick pan) for a few minutes on each side to get a tasty snack!

Tomorrow, we’ll keep an eye out for more rising and falling from our starter and hope it’s getting close to stable enough to use.