Not long after I moved to the island, I tried making sourdough starter. I’d left my starter on the mainland as importing live cultures to the archipelago is frowned upon. The starter I ended up with had a very nice, tangy flavor, but almost no leavening power — my bread ended up pretty flat. I tried supplementing the starter with regular baking yeast, but the starter even suppressed the leavening power of the yeast (not that unusual an occurrence).
I started a new starter (a re-starter?) a couple of days ago. We’re no longer burning gas in the kitchen, so we no longer have any pilot lights or warm places to ferment the starter. I decided to put it in the west window sill, where it will get warmed by afternoon sun and otherwise be out of the way. The sill is somewhat narrower than my working glasses, however, and the precarity of it worried me. I put a small cup hook on the window upright and used a long twist-tie to stabilize the glass.
This is day two, and it’s starting to have a pleasant aroma and foam a bit.
—2p