You wrote on Sun, 9 Mar 1997 to the bread digest
Re Subject: Sour dough starter
<<I use Nancy Silvertons starter made from grapes. It is incredibly active;
climbs right out of the jar.
>>
I tried her recipe, too, but wasn't successful. Perhaps you can make some
suggestions.
I started with organically-grown grapes and things looked very promising.
But after the starter became really bubbly, it died in short order.
On the first attempt, the starter was very *winey* smelling so I wondered if
it had fermented, but of the wrong kind.
My next several attempts were each made with a different batch of grapes but
they too failed. On these, I had removed the grapes as soon as the starter
was lively. I also tried feeding them at different stages, but while each
one was still lively. I figure I didn't overdo the feeding as I've been
successful with other homemade starters.
Here in urban So Calif, I have to purchase my grapes, but did so at a health
food store where the grapes are labeled organic. So, I wondered if the
grower's practices, the region where the grapes were grown, or how the grapes
had been treated/handled before they were sold had anything to do with the
starter's failure. I was truly disappointed because, as you noted, it looked
like it would jump out of the bowl.
TIA,
Jean in Long Beach, CA
Jrnatter@aol.com