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We need to figure out if our starter is ready to use.

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So there's a few things we should be looking for when we are trying to determine if our starter is ready.

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So I have a starter here that I fed yesterday with about 30 grams of flour and water.

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And then I let it sit for about 12 hours and go take a look at that.

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You can see how it's a little bit fluffy, a little bit jiggly.

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Let's see a little bit of those little air pockets that are in there and it has grown substantially.

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So this looks like visually that it is ready to go.

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Let me just give it a little bit of a smell, has a nice little vinegar smell to it, as well as a little

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bit of a sour smell to it.

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So I know just from the smell and from the look of it that it's ready, but you might be struggling

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with how do I know that it's ready?

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And so what you could always do is you could always do something called the water test.

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So what you could do is take some water, take a spoonful of your starter just like so, and drop it

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into that water.

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If the starter floats, which it is, you know, that it's ready to use, if the starter sinks, that

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means you still need to give it a little bit more time.

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Now, another indication that you can tell the starter is ready is just by how much it's grown.

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So when you first feed your starter, you want to look at the side of the container.

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OK, I've got to do this quick and then see how much it's grown to show that it's gone up about twice

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the size.

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OK, so there's a few indicators, right?

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Twice the size.

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Does it float in water?

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Does it have a little bit of a sour or a slight vinegar smell?

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And do you see those air bubbles?

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Of course, the longer you leave your your starter, the more sour it's going to get.

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And choosing your starter at the right time is really critical if you want to get a consistent flavor

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out of your sour dough, as well as making sure that you don't get something that is too sour because,

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you know, depending on the flavor profile that you're looking for will depend on how much time you

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want that starter to sit by for.

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OK, but we know that this starter is ready to be used.

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So let's go ahead and let's use that starter.