Thank you to all who put the issue to rest. I will now have no fear when
touching my "starter" or "dough" with stainless steel. (Can you think of
anything kinkier?)

Now... about clean up.

Unless I alone have some unique flour, water, yeast & salt, I suspect all of
you who don't have live-in kitchen help have discovered that some "dough"
has another property... properly marketed it could put Krazy Glue out of
business.

Holy jeez, folks. I can't get it off my hands, counter, bowls, implements,
sink, or anything else it touches. I soon learned not to try to clean up
using the sink scrubber!

Someone suggested I try using a paper towel along with soap and water.
Yes... this, at least, saves on sink scrubbers, but it's still a major chore
to remove starter or dough from anything.

How about it folks... is this just the topic that no home baker "dares speak
it's name," or do you all know the secret that I have yet to learn. Care
sharing it with a newbie?

Thank you.
Richard from Canada
(frozen solid and getting colder!)

"RAE" > wrote in message
news:Ig5Ib.863875$6C4.671569@pd7tw1no...
snip>
> Holy jeez, folks. I can't get it off my hands, counter, bowls, implements,
> sink, or anything else it touches.
snip

or do you all know the secret that I have yet to learn. Care
> sharing it with a newbie?
>
> Thank you.
> Richard from Canada
> (frozen solid and getting colder!)
There are a couple of inexpensive tools that are very helpful. One is a
bench scraper. A flat piece of steel about 4x6 inches with a wooden dowel
along the long end. Use this item to help you turn sticky dough on your
counter(bench) as you begin to knead to avoid getting the dough all over
your hands. Also use it to lightly scrape the counter for cleanup
afterward. Another inexpensive item is a bowl scraper. This is a somewhat
flexible piece of plastic with dimensions slightly smaller than the bench
knife. One long side is slightly curved. There is no handle. This item is
cupped and curved by the hand to scrape gloppy stuff(dough) out of a bowl
onto the counter. Afterward, use it to scrape the bowl and if necessary the
hands almost totally clean. Put the scrapings into the trash to avoid
stopping up the sink. The thin film that remains in the bowl responds very
well to a light scrubbing with a paper towel and luke warm water. A bench
knife is easily found in most kitchen ware areas of stores these days. Here
is the one King Arthur sells http://tinyurl.com/29yos The bowl scraper
may be a little harder to find. You don't want the little hard plastic bowl
scraper that is about 2x3 inches, but rather one that is about 4x6 inches
and flexible. You may have to seek out a restaurant or bakery supply to
find this. Here is the one that King Arthur sells http://tinyurl.com/2z5lz

Hope this helps.

Janet

Richard wrote
> Holy jeez, folks. I can't get it off my hands, counter, bowls,
implements, sink, or anything else it touches. o you all know
the secret that I have yet to learn. Care sharing it with a
newbie?
> Thank you.
> Richard from Canada

Richard,
I use the following procedure.:
1. I keep my starter in a container that will hold about 1 1/2
cups.
2. When I have a container full of activated starter I dump it
into the mixing pan of my bread machine, add a cup of flour and
enough water to make it a little wetter than pancake mix. Turn
on the bread machine, stir it a little and let it set overnight.
(If you want to add a couple of Tablespoons of dark rye to
improve sourness now is the time).
3. Add a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of water to the
starter container and mix it up with whatever starter is left in
the container and set it aside for next time.
4. The next morning I add 1 ts salt and enough flour (about a
cup and a half) to the bread machine to make a dough the
consistency I desire and run it through the kneading cycle. (If
you want to add 1/8 ts ascorbic acid for a better rise now is the
time). Grease a bowl, put the dough in the bowl and turn it to
coat it and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
5. After the dough has raised about 2 1/2 times in size, I reach
in and start pulling the skin of the dough and stuffing it into a
hole I made with my thumbs. When I have a nice smooth skin on
the dough I seal the hole.
6. I place a sheet of Super Parchment on the counter and place
the dough on it. I spray the plastic wrap I used to cover the
bowl with an some Pam and cover the dough.
7. When the dough has raised I put a baking stone in the oven and
a cast iron skillet with 1/2 cup of water and pre heat the oven.
If the dough is a little flat I use a setting of 375 F for the
first 15 minutes to get better oven rise, otherwise I use a
setting of 400 F for 35 minutes.
8. I remove the plastic, slash the bread, slide the Super
Parchment onto the stone and bake the bread.
There is very little mess or clean up using this method.
Ernie.

In article <Ig5Ib.863875$6C4.671569@pd7tw1no>, "RAE" >
wrote:

> Thank you to all who put the issue to rest. I will now have no fear when
> touching my "starter" or "dough" with stainless steel. (Can you think of
> anything kinkier?)
>
> Now... about clean up.
>
> Unless I alone have some unique flour, water, yeast & salt, I suspect all of
> you who don't have live-in kitchen help have discovered that some "dough"
> has another property... properly marketed it could put Krazy Glue out of
> business.
>
> Holy jeez, folks. I can't get it off my hands, counter, bowls, implements,
> sink, or anything else it touches. I soon learned not to try to clean up
> using the sink scrubber!
>
> Someone suggested I try using a paper towel along with soap and water.
> Yes... this, at least, saves on sink scrubbers, but it's still a major chore
> to remove starter or dough from anything.
>
> How about it folks... is this just the topic that no home baker "dares speak
> it's name," or do you all know the secret that I have yet to learn. Care
> sharing it with a newbie?
>
> Thank you.
> Richard from Canada
> (frozen solid and getting colder!)
>
>

Someone else suggested a plastic dough scraper, and I also find that
works great for cleaning counters, bowls, utinsels and myself. Also,
flour plus warm water equals glue so use cold water instead.

I think the only thing that dries harder than starter is baby cereal.

marcella

THANK YOU to you all. Your suggestions are now etched in stone... er,
perhaps that tablet was my last attempt at a free form loaf that valiantly
rose to 2" and then, exhausted, fell back to about the height of a tortilla!

I was doing just fine (beginner's luck, no doubt) BEFORE I started reading
about how I should be caring for and feeding my starter. Ever since I got
"educated" my starter's been on life support! About the only bubbles that
now appear are those made when the two or three lactobacilluses still alive,
FART.

Richard from Canada
(heading for -35c tomorrow... I can hardly wait!)
--------------------------------------

"Marcella Tracy Peek" > wrote in message
...
> In article <Ig5Ib.863875$6C4.671569@pd7tw1no>, "RAE" >
> wrote:
>
> > Thank you to all who put the issue to rest. I will now have no fear when
> > touching my "starter" or "dough" with stainless steel. (Can you think of
> > anything kinkier?)
> >
> > Now... about clean up.
> >
> > Unless I alone have some unique flour, water, yeast & salt, I suspect
all of
> > you who don't have live-in kitchen help have discovered that some
"dough"
> > has another property... properly marketed it could put Krazy Glue out of
> > business.
> >
> > Holy jeez, folks. I can't get it off my hands, counter, bowls,
implements,
> > sink, or anything else it touches. I soon learned not to try to clean up
> > using the sink scrubber!
> >
> > Someone suggested I try using a paper towel along with soap and water.
> > Yes... this, at least, saves on sink scrubbers, but it's still a major
chore
> > to remove starter or dough from anything.
> >
> > How about it folks... is this just the topic that no home baker "dares
speak
> > it's name," or do you all know the secret that I have yet to learn. Care
> > sharing it with a newbie?
> >
> > Thank you.
> > Richard from Canada
> > (frozen solid and getting colder!)
> >
> >
>
> Someone else suggested a plastic dough scraper, and I also find that
> works great for cleaning counters, bowls, utinsels and myself. Also,
> flour plus warm water equals glue so use cold water instead.
>
> I think the only thing that dries harder than starter is baby cereal.
>
> marcella

RAE wrote:
>
> THANK YOU to you all. Your suggestions are now etched in stone... er,
> perhaps that tablet was my last attempt at a free form loaf that valiantly
> rose to 2" and then, exhausted, fell back to about the height of a tortilla!
>
> I was doing just fine (beginner's luck, no doubt) BEFORE I started reading
> about how I should be caring for and feeding my starter. Ever since I got
> "educated" my starter's been on life support! About the only bubbles that
> now appear are those made when the two or three lactobacilluses still alive,
> FART.

Whatever you've changed, have you stopped doing it and gone back to what
you were doing before?

B/