Spawn of Dudley! (or beginning a sourdough bread from the starter...)

So, I'm thinking Dudley is mature enough to reproduce. I'm hoping he's got enough character developed, but if not yet, well, then next batch should be better. I'll be using Peter Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread to guide me along the way. So, what you want to do is, before you feed your starter, take out 4 ounces (about 2/3 cup) and set it aside. Then weigh out 8 ounces of your starter and feed it as usual. You will also need: 4 1/2 ounces of unbleached bread flour (or high gluten flour if you have it) and 1 to 2 ounces of water (1/8 to 1/4 cup).

(4 ounces of Dudley, 4 1/2 ounces bread flour, 1 to 2 ounces h2o)
This is for the "Firm Starter" which is just a fancy way of saying a less hydrated bit of starter. You want to mix these ingredients together to form a ball. You only need knead (I've been waiting to use that) this for a little bit until the flour is uniformly hydrated and there are no discernable lumps.
You will then put your spawn of -insert the name of your starter here- in a container that allows it to at least double in size (spray the container with some pan spray), cover the container and allow it to sit out for 4 hours at room temperature (or until it doubles in size..it may take longer or shorter than 4 hours).
After which you will put it in the refrigerator overnight. I'll post photos of the Spawn of Dudley in about 4 hours before he goes into the fridge.

(when we last saw Spawn of Dudley, he was looking like this:)


(and now a bit shy of four hours later, he looks like this:)
(that is his proud papa "Dudley" behind him. Dudley tends to triple in size or more now when I feed him).

Stay tuned tomorrow for part two of the Sourdough Bread!

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