Basic Country Loaf: Day 3

After coming home to yesterday's culture explosion, I was a little nervous at the unveiling of my culture this morning. It's been a balmy 77 degrees here in the apartment, and it's just perfect for me...and apparently, perfect for my culture. It's really quite bubbly and happy. And smelly.

So when you feed the culture to train it into a starter, you throw away most of it. But here's what the book doesn't tell you: You definitely do not want your discarded culture hanging out in your trash. Out in the open. Without protective kitchen towel. So I emptied mine in a bag.

I ended up double bagging this and throwing it away in the dumpster outside. I'm pretty compulsive like that. I blame my mom.

Now on to the feeding. You replace the discarded culture with equal parts of flour and water.

And mix. With your hands. Did I mention it's warm? Like bath water warm. Takes some getting used to. As tempted as I was to whip out a spoon, the bacteria on your hands helps your starter along. Yup, bacteria. No red velvet scented antibacterial gel here...well, maybe later.

Say hello to my starter in training. He's still smelly, but hopefully with time he will turn out to be more "milky and fresh" in scent.

And finally, when is a cupcake not a cupcake?

When it's vegan. With avocado "buttercream".

"Buttercream" without the butter is a sad thing.

Emphasis on the " ". They cupcakes baked up pretty, with little domed tops, but they are a little on the dry side, but summer's just a few month's away, so I better get used to these. Or salads.