I have a maybe stupid question: what do you do to clean up your sticky sourdough mixing bowls and things? No matter how I try I can’t seem to get enough of it scraped out to avoid really gumming up any kitchen washcloth, scrubbie, brush. I can only imagine what kind of gumminess is building up in the plumbing! What should I be doing?
I haven’t been baking sourdough for long, but have found a technique that works well for me, except for this issue.
Some people let everything dry and knock the dried dough vs starter into the trash vs compost. I don't like leaving dishes and prefer to clean up right away.
My usual approach: put a full sheet of paper towel in the bottom of the sink over the drain. Rinse utensils in the mixing bowl and get the dough off them. Then pour the mixing bowl contents over the paper towel. It acts like a coffee filter and captures the sticky bits. Sometimes the water doesn't want to drain well and I need to lift the paper towel slightly. But by then I can see where the dough bits are and keep them contained.
I let them soak for a while and they dissolve easily.
First - work on getting the utensils as clean as can be - then soak in water. Of the 2 (yes - i only use 2) it's only a 5 min cleanup. Enjoy!
Once the hard bits have been wet and softened a bit, I find that a thin plastic bowl scraper works well to pop the bits off. Nothing else works as well. After they are gone, rubbing the remaining smears in the bowl with the fingers seems to work better than anything else for me. Soak, scrape, rub, in that sequence.
TomP
including your hands until everything is off. Then drop the dusty bits into the trash bin. I use a plastic dry wall scraper as a bench scraper and scrape right into the trash bin. Wash first with plain cold water. Repurpose a veggie or fruit net to scrub if needed.