Growing my own natural yeast starter

Okay, I'm finally doing this. I have been reading about cultivating my own starter dough for a long time and just don't have the time to finally commit to doing it, cos it's something that takes patience and time, two things that I am not gifted with. I'm neither a patient person nor a person that has a lot of time. But when I saw Nadia stating this in her blog, 'Sure, you can make bread using instant yeast – I did, for many years, but once you taste a loaf crafted by your own hands that was made by a  home-grown leavener – or raising agent – you won’t want to go back. Instant yeast makes for decent enough bread  but because it has little “character,” and the bread rises so quickly and doesn’t have the time to develop its own personality, the flavors are one-dimensional and bland compared to the wonderfully nuanced, tangy notes produced by a genuine sourdough starter.' .. I'm compelled to make it. So here are the two blogs, ie this and this,  I'm referencing to cultivate my first ever starter dough. Firstly I'm growing my yeast from apples. Wish me lots of 'yeasty' luck! :D

To grow my natural yeast, I'll need

• 150g freshly cut apple
• 30g honey
• 300g clean filtered water

*I also add in 1tbsp oligo.

To grow:

1. Sterilize the glass container with boiling water and air-dry.
2. Cut apple in little cubes. *There is no need to remove the skin, cos there are lots of nutrients from the skin that aids fermentation. (I didn't even remove the stem or core)
3. Place the apple, honey and water into the pre-sterilized glass container. Stir to combine with a clean chopstick. Cover with wid. Store container under 26-28degC. Remove the lid everyday to remove the gas and cover up. Gently twirl the container.

DAY 0

 

 

DAY 1

 

Small amount of bubbles noted on the surface. Yay :D

Open up the lid, release the gas generated. Noted a nice fragrance of apple and little alcohol.  Cover up with its lid. Gently twirl.

 



 

DAY 2

 

Small amount of bubbles noted, a little more than day before. Smell of alcohol is stronger.

Open up the lid, release the gas generated. Cover up with its lid. Gently twirl.

 

 

 

DAY 3

 



This practice requires lots of patience and determination. Every morning, I look forward to the moment I open up the lid to soak in the beautiful fragrance of this natural yeast-in the making.

As you can see from the photo, there are more bubbles. Activity is getting busier in this container. The inside of the container has fogged up a little, possibly due to the temperature difference between the inside of the container (mild heat from fermentation) and the outside ambience temperature. When shaken, more bubbles get generated.

The smell of alcohol is pretty strong at this stage. Smells like a nice apple wine.