I let Vitale sit in the refrigerator for a few weeks. No feedings. No attention. Just neglect. And when I pulled her out, she had a thick layer of hooch sitting right on top. ⚠️ That’s not failure. That’s chemistry doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. I did this on purpose. I wanted to show you what a neglected starter actually looks like, because too many bakers panic when they see hooch and think they’ve killed their starter. You haven’t. She’s hungry, not dead. 🥣 Here’s what I did: • Poured off the hooch• Discarded almost everything in the jar except 30 grams of dregs• Built her back up as a stiff starter with:• 30g starter• 100g water• 200g flour That’s it. No fancy Rescue. No starting from scratch. 👀 And here’s where it gets interesting. I’m running two experiments at once. 1️⃣ First, I’m bringing Vitale back to life so you can see exactly how a neglected starter responds. 2️⃣ Second, once she’s showing signs of life, I’m splitting off a portion into a separate jar and treating it like a brand-new sluggish starter. That one gets fed with pineapple juice, the trick Candy mentioned in our live chat last weekend, to show you how the acid can rescue a starter that just won’t get going. 🧪 Two scenarios. 🫙 One jar of dregs. 🎥 Real footage of what actually happens. Stay with me on this one. I’ll be posting updates as she comes back to life. Perfection is not required. Progress is. ~ Henry ⭐🔥

Ran out of bread last week for brekkie. I was craving for English muffins. I used the high gluten flour and added some wholewheat. I was being creative again in my safe and happy place, my kitchen. I made the muffins too large and still getting use to my high gluten flour. The first tray was too dark. The second, experimenting and baked it lighter. I only had 12 rings and ended up with 14. I pan fried the front 2 in the first dark baking pan as I ran out of rings. I made these before I got sick. I tried being creative as usual as did not want to slave over the stove frying them. Tropical weather here and so hot and extremely humid. It was 90 F. I decided to bake instead of frying them. I covered them with another baking pan on top. Trying to be innovative and thinking out of the box. Here is the recipe I used and halved the recipe for 12 English muffins. Please do try as they were such great tasting English muffins I have ever tasted. I used active starter as I had extra that I had made. Bim’s Sourdough English Muffins Recipe 1,200 g. Bread flour 760 g. Milk 300 g. Discard one week old 80 g. Honey or sugar 22 g. Salt 3 eggs Mixed everything I large bowl followed with 4 sets of stretch and fold in every 30 minutes (2 hours) Proof another 2 hours or until it rises 70% at 25-27 degrees Celsius Option one same days baked cut the dough into 110 g. Or your preference size and bake Option two retard over night, cold retard give the bread nice flavor and also give you a good benefits for your health 🥰 In the morning cut the dough in to size of your preference and mine are 110 g. (24 English muffins) making ball I use a lot of flour to handle them, rest dough on the counter top to proofing another 2 hours or until double in size. Heat up the pan on medium low, put muffins in and covered the lid for 4-6 minutes each side or cook until golden brown, then transfer the English muffins in to the baking tray and bake in the oven or air flyer another 4 minutes at 190’c This way is to avoid uncooked inside English muffins.