Twenty-four hours in. The grapes are sitting in their water bath, doing what fruit does when you give it time and patience. No bubbles yet, no dramatic activity. And that’s exactly where we should be on Day 2. Here’s what’s happening inside that jar right now. The wild yeast living on the skins of those grapes is waking up. The sugars in the fruit are starting to feed it. The water is pulling flavor and microorganisms out of the skins. This is the quiet part of the process. Don’t let the lack of action fool you. The work is happening. What I did this morning: gave it a gentle stir, put the lid back on loose, set it back on the counter out of direct sun. That’s it. That’s the whole job today. What to watch for over the next 24 to 48 hours: tiny bubbles forming on the surface of the grapes. A slight cloudiness in the water. The first hint of a fruity, slightly sweet smell when you open the lid. If your kitchen is on the cooler side, this might take a day or two longer. Warmth speeds it up. Patience does the rest. If you missed Day 1 and you’ve got a handful of grapes or a small box of raisins sitting in your kitchen, you can still jump in. Start your jar today and you’ll be a day behind me, but you’ll still bake by next weekend. The journey is the point. What you need: A clean glass jar. About 1 cup of fruit, washed, skins on, no wax or preservatives. 1 to 1.5 cups of non-chlorinated water. Optional teaspoon of sugar or honey to give the yeast something to grab onto early. Loose lid or cloth on top. Drop a photo of your Day 1 or Day 2 jar in the comments. Tell me what fruit you went with. We’ll watch this come alive together. Henry ⭐🔥

After having just baked my best loaf of authentic artisan sourdough bread ever, see pictures below, 80% hydration ciabatta type dough, shaped into a beautiful batard, using my warm fast fermentation system, one would think I should repeat it, replicate it, right.🤷‍♂️ But that would be way too simple. Let’s do this… the same recipe with considerably less inoculation, considerably gentler gluten development, no slap & folds, no stretch & folds, and do it all with room temperature water and room temperature bulk fermentation.😎 I have 2 batches already in bulk fermentation… a 5% inoculation batch & a 10% inoculation batch. Room temperature is 72°f. Remember Grandpa never gets in a rush. So if Hank and his millions & millions of microbial buddies get mad at me for not putting them on there favorite Mr Heat Pad partner… I can wait them out.🤨 Here’s the play by play so far… we’re already in bulk fermentation now so I’m going to give my family a ride to the airport soon. Hank can handle it I’m sure. Sourdough experiments… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ May 11, 2020 High hydration experiments… 80% hydration at low inoculation, 5% & 10%, and room temperature bulk fermentation, instead of my warm fast method. Ambient temperature is now 72°f. I’m in no rush because I’m not going to bake any of the 4 loaves included in the two batches of dough today… so I can very patiently wait for Hank and his millions & millions of microbial buddies to work slower because Grandpa didn’t put them on their favorite heating pad. Hank was fed last night with cold tap water 1:5:5 with 50% High Gluten flour + 25% Whole Wheat flour + 25% Dark Rye flour. It’s now 12:30pm and he’s been at peak for a couple of hours without starting to collapse so he’s Rocket Fuel powerful right now. Batch 5% B FORMULA: 100/80/2/5 Total flour 1200g 5% recipe: 2 loaves 727g High Gluten flour 325g AP flour 100g Whole Wheat flour 902g water… room temperature. Hold back 52g water to dissolve the salt during Fermentolyse