So, my starter was growing along, happy as a clam, and people in my house started freaking out. "BOTULISM BOTULISM!" was shouted. A few times.
So, sadly, I killed my little yeasty baby(which had just been flour and water), and started again with a safer method: pineapple juice and whole wheat flour. Something about the acidic nature of the fruit encourages yeast and discourages other little bacterial beasties. We'll see. I was hoping to bake bread today, but that seems to be put off for 5 to 6 days.
Will check it tomorrow to see if anything's going on. Hopefully there will be signs of life after 24 hours rather than 48. My patience is thinning, probably because I was all hopped-up on the idea of baking authentic wild-yeast bread today! Alas. Sad. Sad sad.
Oh well, if it grew once, it will grow again! And it will be even more awesome because of the wait.
Or something like that.
Wow, botulism, really? Wouldn't the baking process kill the bacteria? Oh well, it's much better to be safe than sorry. My friend got botulism from a jar of Russian jam and she almost died. Stay safe and happy baking! :)
ReplyDeleteYea, that's pretty much what I thought, too, but t was totally easier to start over and have people NOT flipping out. I went all Science Girl on them, "Check out these facts about bacteria and pH and stuff." I don't really think it was possible for the other combo to have sprouted harmful bacteria, but I didn't start pounding Google until after I'd tossed the first batch. So far, no signs of life, but I'm crossing my fingers for Day 3!
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