Slow starter help
Hi!
I'm new to bread making in general, and new to the forum which has been very helpful so far – so thank you for that! I'm having what I think are some problems with my starter and though there are similar topics to this on the site, I couldn't find an explanation for my situation so I thought I would post here.
I'm following the Tartine Bread book – as described I made a 50/50 mix of bread flour and whole wheat flour (both King Arthur brand) which I mixed 50/50 with water (bottled Poland Spring). I placed the mixture in a jar, covered with a dish towel, and let it sit for a couple of days which resulted in lots of bubbles and some rising. At this point I began feeding it once daily by removing approximately 80% of the starter and adding water and flour. I'm keeping around 25-30g of starter and adding 50g of water and 50g of the flour mix. I've been doing this for about two weeks.
After the first bout of activity, things slowed way down – small bubbles, little to no rise for 7-10 days. But I kept on feeding it once per day. The last few days there has been some bubbling, and after about 10-12 hours the starter has risen (roughly) 75% before it starts to go down. The starter is being kept at temperatures normally 65-75 degrees, though sometimes it gets up to 80. Humidity is rather low in the house due to a woodstove, if that matters.
I guess my concern comes in for a couple of reasons:
1. Despite rising, the starter doesn't look frothy / bubbly / aerated like many of the photos I've seen of successful starters.
2. The rise time is not 4-8 hours to double, but rather 10-12 hours to rise only 75%.
and my questions are:
Is this normal? If not, what should I be doing differently? Should I be feeding it more than 1x per day?
If useful I can take photos tomorrow and post here.
Many, many thanks!
and when you smell yeast, wait another day and resume discarding and feeding. When you do get to feeding again, feed just before the room warms up and let it ride thru the cooler temps of night. :)
Hi Mini,
Thanks for your help! A couple of questions –
1. What characterizes a yeast smell? I only ask because I think I would characterize the current smell as that, and perhaps somewhat acidic. Just trying to understand what I'll be looking for.
2. While letting it sit, should it be stirred regularly? After about a day it tends to get a crust formed on the top.
Thank you again!
Mini gives wonderful advice. I defer to her wisdom, though I will add, based on personal experience, that the more stirring the better as a starter gets going. Also gives you something to do as you keep watching the nascent starter and obsess about its development. As for your question about the yeast smell, I would describe it as a bread-like aroma.
cover it up a little tighter. Not so tight that gasses can't escape. Stir all you want to.
So I've taken your advice and not fed the starter it's daily dose of flour and water. At this point just waiting to see what happens. It hasn't risen at all, thought there are some bubbles at the top, and there are more acidic/sour notes than before. Normally after feeding the consistency of the starter is rather thick, but by the next day it has become somewhat runny. Because I haven't fed it, it's still in a more liquid / runny state. Is that normal? Thank you again!
and a sign to feed it. Try a one to ten feeding. During the warm part of the day feed 10g starter to 100g water and 100g flour and watch it starting with about 6 hrs (lag time) after feeding. Note times and temp. Don't stir. Keep the starter at normal room temps. There is enough flour to keep the yeast replicating, especially the faster ones. Average temp should be around 75°F or 24°C. When this starter peaks, use it, mix up a dough, keeping about 20g to feed.
Watch the starter, when it peaks, reduce and feed it. Depending on how much flour you feed it, you can time for the next feeding to suit your schedule. More for a longer time, less for a shorter one. It's a good exercise in understanding your starter and how long it takes to ferment under various conditions. It also builds yeast.
and just thicken it up with additional flour to a soft dough. Cover and watch. We can compare the two starters. It can be that it doesn't rise much because it is too thin to rise. We will soon see.