in today’s episode of odin’s epicurean adventures we continue to work on the process of creating sourdough ; today, it was time to create what is known as “firm starter”.

odin helps out by holding the stirring spoon while kris adds flour.

you’ll notice that he sees his reflection in the mixing bowl.

since he enjoys mirrors this makes him very happy.

moments after noticing his reflection in the mixing bowl and getting excited, odin decides to really get into mixing in the flour.

since it’s his very first time mixing flour and he’s excited about seeing the baby in the mixing bowl, it doesn’t take very long for him to get covered in flour.

he’s looking at cadence who has rushed over to see what all the commotion is about.

i can’t believe this photo turned out because kris and i were both laughing uncontrollably and it was hard to keep the camera still.

as you can see, he’s a bit stunned by the flying flour, but he recovers quickly enough.

i think he’s a natural born epicurean adventurist!

hopefully this will only be the first of many messes he contributes to in the kitchen over the years.

after cleaning up and doing a little more mixing, we find ourselves with a nice looking batch of “firm starter”.

there are innumerable processes for creating sourdough, some more time intensive and finnicky than others. we’re using a system outlined in the bread baker’s apprentice which has worked well for us in the past, but we still suffered through three failed attempts at propagating a seed culture before we produced one that was “lively”.

we’re following a “3 build” process which means there are three steps that must be followed before one can actually create the final loaf of sourdough.

first, the seed culture was created over 4 days by adding unbleached flour and water to a base of organic dark rye. after the seed culture you create what’s known as a “barm” by adding more flour and water to the seed culture.

the barm can be refreshed indefinately by “feeding” it flour and water every 4-7 days. we’ve known people who have kept their barm going for over 30 years, so it’s possible that odin wil someday be able to make someone special a loaf of bread.

after letting the barm mature for a day or two, you create the “firm starter” by adding even more flour and water and letting it sit on the counter until it doubles in size. after that it goes into the fridge overnight.

finally, after we let the firm starter mature overnight, we’ll be able to bake our first loaf of bread!