Thursday, July 9, 2009

Thought I killed it!

I thought I killed Baby Bobby.

I decided to make a sourdough bread and it took all but about 12 grams of Baby Bobby. Not only that, but I'd decided to clean Baby Bobby's crock, so what little I had to go into a clean, fresh container. That was the smallest amount of reserve I'd ever had. It was scary.

I added 20 grams each of flour and water, and let it work for a while. That evening, without discarding, I added 50 grams more each of water and flour, then refrigerated as usual.

When I checked it the next day, it didn't look so good. And instead of its usual clean, sour smell, it smelled like old gym socks.

I decided Baby Bobby needed to be placed in sourdough ICU. I brought it out on the counter and fed it twice daily. The kitchen, for a change, was fairly warm. Then I got REALLY worried when it made lots of fine little bubbles (like soap suds) instead of its usual big bubbles that stay in the sourdough instead of floating on top. It was much more liquid than usual--not billowy marshmellowy like usual.

I thought it must be infected, and considered abandoning it in favor of my dried or frozen insurance starters. How could I have Baby Bobby's bread blog without the "real" Baby Bobby????

Fortunately, the people on The Fresh Loaf encouraged me to stick with Baby Bobby. And I'm glad I did! I kept feeding and it started to smell better. Gradually, I began to realize that Baby Bobby was simply being more active than I'd ever seen before, perhaps because of the warmer temperatures and the fact that it is no longer a baby starter. It was doubling quicker and rising higher.

Baby Bobby has become a teenager.

Now I understand the gym sock smell!

Next thing you know he'll want me to call im Bob and ask to borrow the car!