I figured it was time to give sourdough another go. This time, it worked like a charm. I used pineapple juice for the first two days of building the seed culture, just like last time; and just like last time, on day 3 I saw evidence of bacterial activity but not yeast. I followed the instructions PR had blogged for remedying this problem and stirred the seed culture every few hours to keep it aerated. It took an extra day, but I eventually got the doubling I was looking for. I made my barm, which in turn foamed and bubbled after a few hours just like it was supposed to, popped it in the fridge, and used it for the starter of my bread the very next day. My starter doubled perfectly, and I put it in the fridge overnight. The next day, I mixed, kneaded, fermented, shaped, and proofed, and then stuck the the proofed loaves in the fridge to develop flavor over one more night. On the final day, I allowed the loaves to sit at room temperature for a few hours and then baked them, hearth style.
These turned out perfectly. It was very rewarding to complete the entire process and have everything work just right. The bread was good. J4 liked it more than I did; I think I may just not really care for sourdough. I can eat it and I don't mind it, but it's definitely not my favorite. My plan now is to keep my barm active and motor through all the other sourdough formulas and be done with it. Maybe by the end I'll like at least some variation of sourdough better and decide to keep making it, maybe not. Either way, I should be pretty comfortable with the process by the time I'm done. I did freeze half of my barm when I refreshed it to start on the next formula, and PR says it should be good frozen for 6 months, so I can always pull that out and defrost it if I feel the urge to revisit sourdoughs down the road.
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