maxp68•6d ago

The county fair demo that almost set off the fire alarms

I did a sourdough demo at the county fair last month and a kid asked if I could microwave the starter to speed it up. Before I could stop him, his dad actually put a jar in the microwave right next to the judging table. The microwave ran for 90 seconds and the jar literally popped like a corn kernel, dough everywhere, plus a burnt smell that set off the facility alarm. The fair manager made me pack up early, but the worst part was losing 3 hours of planned bake time and my starter took 2 days to recover from the shock of that jar exploding. Has anyone else had a well-meaning spectator do something wild at a demo, or am I the only one who now brings a locked cooler for my levain?

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the_tara1d ago

Honestly, that dad did you a favor. 90 seconds in the microwave and your starter turned into an actual science experiment, people came running. That's way better than sitting there watching you knead dough for three hours. Sounds like your demo got more attention than it would've if everything went smooth. And you lost a little starter, big deal. You know what actually needs to recover for two days? The people stuck watching someone mix flour and water. Plus, that burnt smell probably covered up whatever boring demo smell you had going on. You should lean into the chaos next time, skip the lock and bring popcorn.