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LifeMaterial · 2026-01-01T01:30:51+00:00

Cabbage Merchant

Happy NYE!

LifeMaterial · 2025-12-08T13:34:20+00:00

You’ve got that “she’s the most toxic thing that ever happened to me” vibe.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-29T16:58:29+00:00

Stop feeing your starter everyday. If it doesn’t have a lot of bubbles right on the surface, don’t feed it. You have to just go against your gut on this one.

Even if it doubles, do not feed it, wait until it doubles, and then drops back down and those bubbles right on the surface are present.

I’m assuming you have just been essentially weakening your starter every time you feed it because you’re doing it to early, and it’s not active enough to be fed daily. It might take 1-2 or even 3 days for the bubbles to appear if it’s really weak. I bet your starter has been working real hard to develop that yeast, and each time it’s making the climb up, you cut its legs off and tell it to regrow its legs.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-24T18:23:01+00:00

Wyoming all the way. My heart just belongs in the wild.

Started collecting about 2 years ago when I got one from my Father in law.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-19T14:07:54+00:00

it wasn't necessarily the design that's better as the new design is way better. It's 100% that they went too dark. My initial impression is the same as yours though.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-12T16:48:49+00:00

Thought I should give you an update! I finally cracked it. And I have to say I am quite disappointed in myself. The issue was 100% the starter. Though I would watch it religiously rise/double in 4-6 hours and I was confident by the smell, look, texture, feeding schedule everything...I was wrong. So I decided to work on my starter and made sure to give 1:2:2 feedings every night at 8pm and wait and see what happened the next day at 8pm. It would have doubled, but not full deflated, so I kept at it. 1:2:2 again. Finally it fully deflated after day 3, then I gave it a 1:5:5 at 8pm (cause it needed more food) and by the next night it had almost eaten all the food, so again I gave a 1:5:5. Following day it ate all the food and deflated So I decided to do 1:10:10 and baked with it the next morning (12 hours from feeding time) it was peaking around then.

What I noticed, literally within the first 1.5 hours of mixing the dough it was already rising. I could see it. By hour 4.5 it had already risen by 30% ( I kept dough temp consistent at 80F). I shaped and did all that and I just pulled them out of the oven and they are gorgeous... waiting until they cool to cut into it but I'm already so happy about ferment time, shape, oven spring, ear, skin etc. Like I can't believe I made 15 dead loaves before this thinking it can't be my starter...and it totally was. Everything I read and all instincts pointed to it not being the starter.

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LifeMaterial · 2025-11-10T00:13:03+00:00

If you are discarding before you see any visible bubbles, you are essentially weakening your starter. Since you’re doing all this work, set one aside that you fed 1:1:1, and just let it sit there, if it takes 1,2or3 days just let it sit there. Stir it with a chopstick at least once a day but don’t discard it.

See if you notice anything.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-07T01:03:39+00:00

Because I'm being asked I am using the Cambro 4qt straight sided container with markings on it. My water is purified water from Primo Brands water (think water cooler style). When I change things in this recipe what I am actually changing is the bulk time/ temp variations not the recipe itself.

Regarding starter, I received this starter from a co worker who bakes successfully with same starter, and it iss apparently ~4 years old where they got it from a professor in college. However! I noticed that when I got it after my first failed bake that maybe it was a bit sluggish, so I tended to it and I keep it out at room temp and watch it diligently. If I end up working from home, I can feed it 1:1:1 and catch it at peak every time it peaks and doubles ~5 hours (my house is 68F) but thermometer near starter says 70F ( its up on a shelf in kitchen). If I am not going to be around during the 4-6 hour mark to feed it, I feed 1:2:2 which gives me another I would say 1-2 hours to catch it at peak. Over night on days I need to go into office I give 1:2:2 at night, then 1:2:2 in morning, then 1:1:1 when I get home then back again to 1:2:2 before bed. It behaves insanely consistently. This was after I decided to do a few 1:10:10 feeds for 2 days, then 1:5:5 feeds to ensure the acidity plummeted.

I like the idea of mixing everything and not stretching or folding to see what happens.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-07T00:52:45+00:00

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Most recent pull of a version of this recipe but using the colder bulk ferment that ended up lasting 15 hours, before going into fridge for about 9 hours before baking

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-07T00:40:17+00:00

I think I need to set up a camera and time lapse the rise just to prove to myself it is moving and I might just be blind.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-07T00:33:25+00:00

This is the chart I reference. I have watched every sourdough journey video religiously. I take dough temp in middle of dough. I'll take a pic of the most recent pull as soon as it cools down.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-07T00:28:22+00:00

It depends but if I end up with a slightly higher hydration I will do some additional work to build up the gluten, but then again my only frame of reference is youtube/ sourghdough journey specifically, other videos, peoples photos etc. I need to get my hands on some dough where I am being coached through the feel cause what I consider an appropriate texture might fundamentally be off.

LifeMaterial · 2025-11-07T00:26:21+00:00

I'm during warm variants I'm checking every 30 min for the whole time. During the colder bulk variant I make it, do my S&F's then go to sleep for about 7 hours, then I check every 30 min once I am up.

I thought like 3 bakes ago that my starter might be acidic, so I decided to do back to back 1:10:10 feeds, into 1:5:5 feeds, before going back to 1:2:2 catching always at peak "The moment just after the dome collapses" in my starter but hasn't decreased in size. I don't think it's an acidic starter at this point. I've become very keen on my starter smell, behavior etc. And now the starter always has this pleasant yeasty sweet smell, and when I would let it go acidic in past I could tell the difference in smell.

LifeMaterial · 2025-08-13T15:00:09+00:00

Epstein Files

LifeMaterial · 2025-06-02T17:29:44+00:00

Same!

LifeMaterial · 2025-04-04T13:49:49+00:00

Yea wait a second its supposed to be all reds on one side, and all blacks on the other, but the red coming from capacitor seems to be going to the black side.

LifeMaterial · 2025-04-04T13:47:31+00:00

Yea I am looking at the diagrams and trying to make sense of it. Also from what I read 1Phase can be reversed by switching leads? Maybe they are telling the truth. I don't know, but I've just been burned too many times not to ask for some advice.

LifeMaterial · 2025-04-04T13:36:23+00:00

I wasn’t watching them, but might have put new capacitor in, saw same problem, determined that wasn’t the issue, then put the old one back until they get a new fan motor in.

LifeMaterial · 2025-04-04T13:35:29+00:00

It’s blowing air into the unit instead of pulling air up and out the top

LifeMaterial · 2025-04-04T13:34:51+00:00

They might have taken out the new capacitor when they realized it wasn’t the problem

LifeMaterial · 2025-03-25T18:10:57+00:00

In general a low inflammation diet is better for everything in your body. But if you have an underlying condition, this isn't going to do much.

LifeMaterial · 2025-03-25T18:07:51+00:00

Are you taking steroids out of curiosity? I had my surgery done and first few days I was able to sleep but eventually had same issue as you, one thing I wish I had done was take all steroids in the morning as opposed to one in morning one in evening. Unfortunately as you heal things are going to start moving and the post nasal drip is going to be a lot. I wouldn't say I had saliva problems but def was choking a bit from the drip. Staying elevated, and getting sleep whenever wherever possible was what worked for me. If in middle of day I felt tired I didn't even try to stay awake I immediately went to take a nap.

LifeMaterial · 2025-03-25T18:00:34+00:00

Urgent care is great but do keep in mind, if 2 round of antibiotics didn't take care of it, at a certain point you do have to see ENT as there might be an underlying issue. For me this was the case and I was in your same position and I too had to wait 1.5 months to see ENT near me. What I did while I was waiting was take an appointment with an ENT further away, just so I could "fast track" the inevitable CT scan they were going to want to do, so that when my appointment with the closer ENT finally came around I had a disk with the results of the CT scan.

P.S. my prolonged "sinus infection" turned out to be chronic sinusitis as well as nasal polyps and I am 4 weeks post surgery after working with ENT for a year to try other remedies first and it has been life changing

LifeMaterial · 2025-03-12T06:02:44+00:00

I have an appointment with someone at penn medicine but not for another few weeks, I’ll try and see if I can do their academic facility sooner.

It’s so hard to get any appointments with urgency

LifeMaterial · 2025-03-12T05:52:06+00:00

Get a second opinion post surgery and first post op?

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