10/22/2023
Sour dough is the outcome of a battle - a battle between bacteria and yeast. In the end, you want the winners to be a specific kind of yeast and bacteria. If you follow the process you were given for 10-14 days, the winner very likely is exactly what you are hoping for.
How is the battle going that you're watching?
At the start, you get a quick rise due to the awesome power of bacteria. Bacteria reproduce every 20 minutes. Nobody can beat them! They'll blow everything out, if given enough food and a chance - and they're fast, much faster than yeast. But they'll flame out just as quickly.
To get your sour dough, you'll need the bacteria to calm down. In After the bacteria flame out, come the yeasts. They're much quieter than bacteria - no blow outs there. This is where you think that your sour dough is dead. It goes on for a few days that way. But keep going.
As long as you see a few bubbles here and there, the Ye**ty Boys are working on establishing a working community for you.
The bacteria are trying to make another run for it as soon as they gather themselves again - and it will take about 10 days for this battle to play out.
You just keep feeding and encouraging. The Ye**ty Boys will do the rest. They'll establish a collaboration with some bacteria in the process and you're going to appreciate them for it.
Image is a random bacterial culture under a microscope. I took that picture. I have looked at my sour dough under the microscope before. It's very interesting to compare it to a suspension of instant dry yeast. I'll have to post pictures once I get them.
