sour dough {edited}

Right now I'm in the kitchen trying to convince my sour dough starter to grow, grow, grow.  I have yet to be successful in my sour dough ventures, but I have feeling that maybe my patience has been the problem and not my starter.  This notion was brought about after I spent a little time on the Cultures for Health site and watched some of their wonderfully informative videos.  Did you know that when the brown liquid rises to the top of the starter, that means your starter is hungry?  I didn't!  What helpful information!

impromptu backyard picnic

So while I'm in here growing bubbles and bacteria, my loves are in the backyard welcoming the sunset.  I love to peek out the window and see what they are up to.  On my last check, Moonpie was walking around the backyard trying to balance a bucket of water on her head while singing a song.  Always a song on that girl's lips.  I love her creativity.  I could see it in her face that she was somewhere far, far away.  I kept my peeking to a minimum in fear of ruining her moment.  Her private moment wrapped up in her wonderful mind.  I walked away from the window so grateful that I get the chance to share this life with these two precious people.

edit:
This morning I got up ready to feed the starter and make sour dough pancakes.  There were bubbles, but only on the surface.  And the starter had a distinct odor.  The kids were grossing out, but I pushed on.  Sure, it smelled like baby poop, but I've never had a successful starter, what do I know?  Maybe it's supposed to smell really awful and then miraculously turn into pure delciousness.  Let's just say that was bad thinking on my part.
After more research on the Cultures for Health site, I've realized that I'm not supposed to start a culture with freshly ground flour.  Can anyone give me any pointers on this?

(I should add that the culture I'm using is not from Cultures for Health.  This particular brand did not note if I was to use white flour or whole wheat.  I'm assuming at this point that it was probably intended for white flour.)

catching yeast

i don't know if i've mentioned it here, but i'm on the path to becoming a master herbalist. i am 5 units into my studies, and really enjoying it! most of it has been based on nutrition, and that's always interesting to me, even if it's not exactly new information. this week however i did learn something new- the importance of eating fermented bread.

i have been grinding our grain to make our homemade bread for quite some time now. while i prefer the nutritional quality and taste of homemade, i still felt heavy after eating it. so we just don't have it around much. i had been thinking here lately though that it would be nice to have bread on hand more often. for late night snacking, or that 4pm witching hour when everyone is "starving" and cranky.

so, here's what i've been learning:

there is yeast all around us. especially concentrated in kitchens that lots of baking goes on. you can catch your own yeast for making your very own sour dough breads. the yeast you catch will not be the same strand found in baker's yeast. by allowing your natural yeast to ferment your flour you are breaking down phytic acid (the bad guys that block your bodies ability to absorb certain minerals). it pre-digests the gluten, allowing gluten sensitive people to digest it more effectively. here's something i think is so amazing and shows god's hand even in the small things- fermented bread has more usable zinc, magnesium, and iron. but the phytic acid would block your body from using it. so the fermentation breaks down the phytic acid, increases the bioavailability of the minerals in place, therefore allowing your body to use them! that is great design!

fermentation also allows good bacterias to be present. these good bacterias protect the wheat while it is fermenting to keep it from spoiling. commercial yeast causes rising to occur too quickly and doesn't allow the bacteria to grow (this takes about 12 hours). this bacteria creates a healthier food for our bodies.

so that's what i know so far. you can probably tell that i'm still trying to sort all the information, to make it a permanent part of my thought process so i can better explain it, but i'm getting there!

catching yeast:

day 1- 8:30 am

1 cup rye flour to 1 1/2 cups room temp filtered water

cover and put in warmish place (on top of the refrigerator works well for me)

12 hours later, feed the yeast!

1 cup rye flour to 1 1/2 cups room temp filtered water

i woke up the next morning and found this:

IT'S ALIVE!!!

seriously- it was alive! it was hissing and spitting at me. so cool! i'm basically following this same method of feeding every 12 hours for about a week. at that time it should start smelling fermented- like wine. at every 4th feeding i'm dumping half of the batch. that way it's not waaaaay out of control.

i'll update as soon as it's done!

and in non-yeast news, my aunt just added some new items to her etsy shop. she creates such beautiful quilts, and the best quilted cards. give her a peek!