Explosions

The explosion occurred approximately at 9pm. Damage assessment: guts all over the kitchen, what a mess.

The question: how did this all start?

I had been experimenting again in the kitchen when the accident occurred. About 2 weeks ago I captured a living organism in a large canning jar and had been feeding it since. Every day it needed to be fed and every day it got larger. Dan suggested to me that I shouldn't give it any more food because he said it was getting too big. It devoured every thing I fed it---it particularly liked sugar. Once I fed it it would ooze with satisfaction. I kept it in the bathroom due to it's desire to be in a dark, warm, moist area---I should have known that it was up to something in there, spending so much time in the dark.

Yesterday I went against what my husband suggested and fed it. It had tricked me into thinking that it was starving, due to it's confines in the refrigerator the other day. I knew I didn't have time to feed it Sunday and so I placed it in the fridge to stave off it's insatiable appetite. Monday when I looked at it, it had become small and sunken in giving the illusion of starvation. Feeling remorse that I had not fed it Sunday and seeing it's condition Monday I fed it. I fed it with more than 2 cups of food and water.

Within two hours I heard suspicious sounds coming from the bathroom. When I went in to investigate the sounds I noticed a small puddle underneath the bottle and that the bottle was filled to the top. I was worried that the organism was escaping, but was comforted to noticed that it was only liquid coming from the bottle. I found a bowl large enough to place the bottle in so that if the organism decided to try to escape it would only be able to go as far a the bowl--surely it wouldn't know how to climb the bowls edge.

Several hours later I noticed that the organism was in the bowl, but still not worried that it would escape.

After my husband came home and we were eating he asked me if I heard any odd sounds coming from the house. I didn't notice any sounds so we continued to eat. Dinner time was done and I went into the bathroom to check the laundry (our machine is in the bathroom) and there on the counter top where the bottle and bowl (containing the organism) was hissing loudly. The lid was bulging. The organism wanted to be set free.

The organism calmed my troubled heart by reassuring me that it didn't want to be set free but it just needed more fresh air. It felt like it was suffocating. It would calm down if I would just open the bottle just a little to get fresh air.

I took the bottle (and bowl) into the kitchen and preceded to open it. At first I couldn't open it due to the pressure on the lid. In desperation I took a towel around the lid to help me get a better grip on it. Finally I felt the lid give way. A force that I could not stop exploded out of the bottle and the organism was free---it exploded onto the wall, stove, cupboard, sink, mixer, can opener, clean dishes and all other surfaces in the area.

Thank goodness it was only sourdough and it was fairly easy to clean up.

If you want to capture your own sourdough here is a nice video that will show you how to do that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cusjbAtGzvg
If this way doesn't work for you try my cheating way, the same way that bread makers make it for Ciabatta Bread
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX_6l2bmvQI

This is what sourdough starter will look like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw8T-h0tcpI&feature=related



The different types of recipes that I have made with this starter are; pancakes, biscuits, muffins, and bread. If you Google sourdough recipes, you'll find tons of things to make with your starter