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Submitted by panpan on October 18, 2008 - 9:35pm Wild Starter Help - Underfed, then died
I've made natural leaven once before, but never got around to baking much bread and ended up throwing it away. I'm trying to get a wild starter going again, but ended up killing it. These are the steps I went through: 1. I mixed fresh ground wheat (hard and soft spring from wheatmontana) with bottled water 50/50. 2. Left it out at room temp (around 65F) for about 3 days 3. It started bubbling on the third day and I started feeding it with store bought all-purpose flour (only once a day). It had a sour smell with a hint of odor (probably anaerobic bacteria) 4. By the 5th/6th day it started to have a pleasant sour/sweet smell, but wasn't bubbling very much. I placed it in the oven overnight (without the light on) and by the next day it started having this weird smell. The next day or two the smell intensified and it smelled like dirty feet. I think I killed the starter.
I dumped most of it out and am starting all over again (reusing a little bit). Right now its been 3 days since I started anew, but it doesnt seem to bubble at all. It kind of has a yeasty/dough like smell but no sign of life. It doesnt smell bad at all either. Should I continue to feed it twice daily? Or should I wait till it starts bubbling and hooch forms?
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