SourdoLady,
I recently made this starter from directions given to me by another baker and was amazed to get a very active whole wheat starter using pineapple juice poured and strained off a can of pineapple chunks. It took several days for the starter to get going and I was getting impatient with it. But it did jump to life on about the fourth day and I was thrilled! I never would have thought to mix whole wheat flour and pineapple juice together to make a starter.

Thank you, SourdoLady!
Teresa

Thank you, Teresa, for your nice comments. I am passionate about sourdough and I really love to help people learn how to make and use their starters. The pineapple juice makes the starter just about foolproof as it eliminates the possibility of mold growing and ruining it before the yeast gets going. The other factor I can't stress enough is, make sure your whole grain flour is REALLY fresh for the best results.

Sourdolady, very interesting starter method and excellent explanation! I also believe that the yeasts etc we want are on the grain rather than just floating about in the ether. There are lots of things in the air - mould for a start - but I want those kept OUT of my starter, not included in it!
I've seen a starter recipe very similar to yours, but using live yogurt with water to lower the pH level. It also introduces some lactobacillus which assists the sour flavour later in the bread process. Mine was just water and rye - and as you say, it looked very perky by day two, then went dormant for almost a week before the yeasts got going well and it really developed. Excellent starter though, made last May, and it seems to just get better and better.

Andrew

Well Sourdolady, after four or five abortive attempts over the years I've finally got a lovely sweet-smelling yeasty starter - your starter recipe worked first time (oh, by the way, I incorporated Floyd's tip about using raisin-water) so many thanks. Bread in the next few days I hope . . .

Bernie

Congratulations, Bernie, on your new starter! I'm glad it is working well for you. When you start baking just remember to be patient. Sourdough takes longer to rise than commercial yeast. Don't rush it. Have fun and good luck!

Hello,
I'm very new to sourdough starters and have a question. I've tried to make the wild one above with your measurements, but 2 tablespoons rye and two tablespoons juice creates a thick paste. I assume it should look more 'liquidy' like in your photo, but mine is just a thick paste which invites mold. I feel I should add a bit more juice, but don't want to destroy anything. Why equal ratios?

Thanks so much,
Mahlon

Just to reiterate that there isn't really a pressing need for juice - just flour (rye for choice) and water will make an excellent starter, using sourdo ladies method as above. Rye isn't required after about the 3rd feed, unless you want to make a specifically rye starter.

The bacteria which make the bubbles by about day 2 or 3 will lower the pH perfectly well and then the it will go dead looking. If you continue to feed though, it will come back by day 6 or 7 and then it is the yeasts you need for bread. I'm quite sure the sourdours produced over the past 6000 years or so in Europe and the middle east didn't use pineapple juice or anything other than water! The bacteria and yeasts needed are present in the flour - especially rye to start it off.

happy baking!

I agree with Dulke - a thicker starter keeps better in the fridge. It can go WEEKS without feeding, then when you refresh, it's ready for baking after 2cnd feed. I use quite a lot more flour than water- typically 30 grams starter, 30 grams water and 50 grams flour, which makes quite a thick paste, but it slackens off after a couple of hours as it begins to ferment, at which stage I put it back into the fridge.

I used this recipe for starter using freshly milled hard white flour and fresh squeezed o.j. I am currently on day 8 and it is bubbly and yeasty. But I need the actual bread recipe. I will be using freshly milled flour and will adjust the recipe to accomodate that unless you already have one using freshly milled flour. I'm so excited to have an active starter on my first atempt. Thanks for the help. freshmilled

I'm making my very first starter using the flour and pineapple juice method. Today (Day 4) everything looks absolutely perfect, except at the top of the bowl near the saran wrap, there was a little dough residue stuck to the side of the bowl that now has mold spores on it. Does this mean I have to throw the whole batch out? The main dough itself doesn't show any signs of mold so I'm wondering if I can wipe off the sides of the bowl and keep it going.

Thank you!

I'm currently on Day 3 of your recipe and there still aren't any bubbles. It does smell deeply of alcohol though (which indicates to me that there is yeast in there). I'm using Bob's Red Mill Dark Organic Rye Flour and Dole Pineapple juice. Am I doing something wrong, or should I just be patient?

Everybody has a different experience with getting a starter up and running, but slow starts seem to be pretty common.  It always feels longer, too, when you want it to be ready right now.  So, hang in there.  Yours will bubble and froth, when it feels like it. ;-) 

Just look at it as a practice round for the long, slow ferments you'll be doing with your sourdough breads.

Good luck and happy baking!

PMcCool

So on Day 4 the starter sprang to life and I was able to build up enough starter to bake a few loaves today. I used Reinhart's standard sourdough recipe from BBA. The crust browned nicely and the crumb was slightly open, and airey. The flavor was exceptional! It was both creamy and pleasently sour.

So thanks, SourdoLady, for this starter recipe. I was close to abandoning sourdough, as I hadn't had any luck with various other starter recipes.

 

Loaf 1:

Loaf 2:

 

 This is my first  sourdough loaf. To me it looks great and it tastes even better.

Thanks for the starter recipe SourdoLady. I'll keep trying! 

 

Hi, all.

 I followed the above recipe for a starter, and, much to my surprise, I have one.  In a one quart mason jar, I have about a cup (or a half a cup if you knock all the gas out of it) of whole wheat starter that I am still developing with daily feedings; saving out a quarter cup, cleaning the jar, replacing the reserved quarter cup, and feeding it with a quarter cup of bottled water, and a quarter cup of whole wheat flour.  It is about 8 days old and I would like to bake with it this Sunday, in about two days. 

.

Should I increase the amounts of water and flour for the feedings, and, if so, by how much, to get a greater amount to work with, or will the quarter cup left after I reserve and feed be adequate? 

.

What I have read on this site suggests that the quarter cup should be good enough, if you do not mind long ferments/proofings, which are supposed to be good for flavor development in low sugar, or sugarless, breads.  The recipe I'm using is just water, yeast (or starter, in this case), flour, and salt.  I have no problem letting things take their sweet time in the risings.

Thanks,

Ray

Somewhere under the clouds,

Nahiku, Hana, Maui

Great looking loaves of bread, you guys! Keep up the good baking.

 

Ray, you can feed the starter as much as you want in order to increase the quantity for your recipe. You can also adjust the amount of flour to water to get the consistency of starter that you prefer. Keep in mind that when you use a recipe the original baker's starter may have been either wetter or thicker than yours so adjustments are often necessary. It is always better to err on the side of wetter dough as too much flour makes for tough bread.

Hi SourdoLady,

A few weeks ago I decided to learn about making sourdough bread. I located your starter procedure after doing a Google Search.  I was able to find a box of whole grain, stone ground rye flour at Wal-mart, oddly enough, made by Hodgson Mills and I already had some small cans of pineapple juice on hand so I gave it a try. It worked perfectly! Before I went to sleep at the end of Day 2 there were one or two little bubbles and I thought it would probably take a while, but when I woke up the morning of Day 3 the level had doubled in volume, was FULL of foamy bubbles, and smelled heavenly. I'm on Day 4 and will continue working with it.

Now the hard part, learning to make the bread. I'd love to make something like the beautiful loaves at the top of the page that you made with your first attempt at your new starter. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Eric

Remember also to look after the starter! The flavour / activity just get better and better as the months go by - so treat it as an heirloom in the making!

I've learned so much in the last week wandering this site, and now it's time to ask the dumb question:

 I'm on day 4, and everything is going well with whole wheat/pineapple juice starter.  I've used a paper towel over a 1qt mason jar to allow breathing and kept it on the fridge.

 Question 1:  can I put this outside, uncovered in an attempt to capture more wild yeast?  

Question 2:  When I'm ready to bake...if following directions, I have a 1/4 cup worth of starter.  Can you walk me through the point where I just discarded all but 1/4 starter and making the dough for the bread (use your recipe, as an example).  I'd assume I'd add more flour and water to make the recipe.  Say I add enough flour and water for 2 cups of starter.  How long does this need to set for?  Overnight?  2 days? At room temperature or in the fridge?  Then, once baking, I take out 1 and 1/2 cups starter for the recipe.  Do I discard all but 1/4 at the same time and continue with the starter feedings like before?  

 

Question 3:  How long can this be left out to develop before going bad?  you mention a couple weeks, but is there a time that's too long before being refrigerated?

 

Thanks for all your help!

Shaun 

Sorry I missed your post in December. How's the starter going? Leaving it out at room temperature for 2 weeks is just to get it established and growing well. During that time you must feed it at least once daily, but every 8 hours is better. Before feeding, dump out all but a very small amount. I would recommend saving only a tablespoon and then feeding it with 2 oz. each of flour and water. At this stage you don't need large volumes of starter. Once it is performing well and you have baked successful loaves of bread with it you can start storing it in the fridge between bakings and feeding once a week or so. You can go much longer between feedings, and especially if you keep your starter thick, but your starter will perform better if you keep it fed frequently.

Hi,I've been trying to make a starter since Jan. 10th. I started with Bob's Red Mill Organic Med. Rye and orange juice. On the 4th day I poured off all but 1/4 cup and added to that using white flour and water. So far I've had a couple of days of small bubbles (very small) or no action at all. Today I added 1/4 tsp. of cider vinegar as you suggested on another post and 1/4 cup flour and water. It smells winey. Any idea what I can expect? Will it ever bubble up? My kitchen is cool but I keep the starter in the warm corner. Thanks for any suggestions or help. weavershouse

I've only made and have since maintained one starter in my life, so I can't speak from to much experience but it sounds like it's going fine.  It's only been a week.  Just keep throwing half out and feeding it with flour and water.  I personally don't believe there is any reason to use anything but white flour or vinegar/oj.  My feeling is that if it can be done without vinegar or oj, than there is no reason to put them in there at all.  But there is a million ways of making/maintaining a starter out there and nearly all of them will work.  If your leaving out on at room temperature I think it's best to feed it daily even if it appears to not be doing anything.  But if it smells winey like you said, it should be well on it's way. A few more days and it should be ready to store in the frig, if that's what you plan to do with it.

demegrad

http://www.demegrad.blogspot.com

 

Re SourDoLady Starter

        I am in day 5 so I am discarding all but 1/4 cup and adding 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water repeating this for day 6 and day 7. (making 3/4 cup) Then how do I get to 1 1/4 cups of starter for the recipe and still leave enough to keep starter going. Do I add 1 cup flour and 1 cup water on day 8? Sorry for probably a lame question but this is my first starter.

 

 To do it right, do it yourself.

Rick, once the starter is bubbling well and obviously active you can increase the amount you feed it to obtain however much you need for your recipe. In the early stages you would just be wasting flour if you fed that much. Many people like to feed their starters by weight, for instance = 4 oz. flour and 4 oz. water. That would make a starter with 100% hydration. You can feed it as much as you want to in order to make the quantity that you need. Your starter doesn't care if it is thick or thin--it just likes to be fed regularly. Do it how you prefer, but always dump out most of the old starter before feeding. You still have a few more days to go before you will have an active starter so be patient!

I started a new starter using your recipe with pineapple juice. I am on my Day 3 and when I went to feed it tonight it had mold on it. I scraped out the starter that looked like it did't have any mold on it and put it in a clean bowl and fed it. Was I right to do this or should I throw it away? I had very few bubbles in it and I'm hoping to see more tomorrow.  TerryB

Hi

Well I just started mine. But have a question or two.

"Once your wild yeast is growing, the character and flavor will improve if you continue to give it daily feedings and keep it at room temperature for a couple of weeks longer.
After that time, it should be kept in the refrigerator between uses/feedings."

Qt. What are the daily feedings?

The same as day 4, Stir down, measure out 1/4 cup and discard the rest.
To the 1/4 cup add...
1/4 cup flour*1/4 cup filtered or spring water

or is it; 2 T. whole grain flour
2 T. juice , as in days 2 & 3?

Is it this again and again?

Jim

 

 

 

 

I enjoy cooking with wine. On occasion I even include it in the recipe.

SourdoLady,

 

So are you saying that you shouldn't use a citric juice?  I do only water and flour.  At first I tried equal amounts, but because of the altitude, I had a bit more water.  Just as I have to increase my liquid when I make the dough.  I tried adding commercial yeast, but (as S. John said would happen) some "sourdough snobs" pooh-pooh'ed that saying 'NEVER add commercial yeast to your starter.'  And that's okay, since I didn't get great results from that either.  When I finally got my patience, or lack thereof, under control, it finally performed as desired.  After using it, I inadvertantly (I wasn't paying attention at the store) used bleached AP flour.  It would double, then die.  Some said use it anyway.  I did when I made my stromboli.  Worked well.  I still don't know why the bleached AP died, but oh well.  Anyway, I've seen recipes using honey, sugar, commercial yeast, and orange or grapefruit juice.  If the acidic juice brings down the pH, isn't that a bad thing?

 

Steph

Steph, the juice is only used in the first few days when you are creating a brand new wild yeast starter. Once the yeast wakes up and starts to grow you should switch to water and continue to use water thereafter. As for the bleached flour, I really can't say much. I only buy unbleached. I have read that the bleaching process can leave residues that are harmful to the yeast, but I am sure that once your starter is well established it wouldn't kill it. Sourdough yeasts thrive at a low pH (3.5 to 4), so NO, the juice isn't a bad thing. After your starter is established it will naturally maintain a low pH all by itself with no juice needed.

Hi Sourdolady, I'm a Baking student here in Orlando Florida and I actually came across this recipe for your sour dough starter and decided to use it for my class test grade. We are being graded on making and maintaning a sour dough starter and then bringing into class and using a recipe to make a loaf. I would really  like to do well and my professor chef mackie wants us to be creative and use a new an interesting recipe with our starters. Well here's my question what recipe goes great with this starter. Something fruity and sweet or what? Please help! I need an A badly!

 Thank you & Hope to hear from you soon, Sara

Both recipes the cinnamon swirl and the Naan Bread sound great...I doubled this started required by my teacher so I can try making both. Can I please have those recipes...thanks for your help guys!

Today is day number 6 for my starter. So far it has not gone flat. The original instructions say:

"It is not unusual for the mixture to get very bubbly around Day 3 or 4 and then go completely flat and appear dead."

As I said, this is day six and it's still quite bubbly, it's never gone flat. It smells nice, tho not exactly 'yeasty'. Is this normal?

Thanks, 

HH 

Tomorrow will be day 6 with my starter and I am not seeing much activity so I want to add some vinegar.  Do you have to use apple cider vinegar since I have every other type of vinegar that is available except the apple cider vinegar?

My starter is performing very nicely as of Day 7.  On day 11, I have to go out of town for 5 days.  If I give it a good feeding before I leave, will it survive in the fridge until I get back?  Should I do anything special to revive it when I return?  Thanks.

-Pam

I've been following the directions given here for making the wild yeast starter...and trying to be patient.  Last night was Day 11, and the starter had lots of bubbles in it, and had risen (at one point) a little bit (maybe 1/8 inch) above the mark I put on the side of the container.  This is the first time I noticed any rising.  It also tasted nice and sour.  Anyway, I fed it as mentioned in the directions (as per Day 4), which I have been doing all along.  I've noticed that it gets more bubbly when it's thicker in consistency, ie. I mix in a little less water than flour when feeding.  It's been sitting on my kitchen counter, where the temperature stays pretty much at 70° to 73°, maybe a little higher, like 75°/76°, if I use the oven.  I've not yet put the starter in the refrigerator.

Some questions -

At this point, should I be feeding it more than once per day?

Is it at a point where I can use it for baking?

How do I get it ready for use in baking?

Thanks in advance.

when, after 17 days, and following all the directions above (except adding the apple cider vinegar, I haven't done that yet), my starter has less bubbles than the Day 3 picture and has never risen?  I'll probably add the vinegar tonight when I get home from work, but at this point I'm not really holding out much hope for any change.  And to answer questions, before they're asked...

Yes, clean utensils and containers.

Plastic container.  Plastic and/or wooden spoon and spatula.

Stable temperature, 70° to 73°, with an occassional short-term rise to around 75° when I use the oven.

Starter was started with whole wheat flour and pineapple juice. 

Water used is bottled and basically distilled water.

I've had these same results when in CA.  I'm now in NY.

I'm at a total loss and very frustrated that my starter isn't doing anything it's supposed to be doing.  I'd hoped to be baking bread soon, but...I don't see that happening.  What am I doing wrong?

I have wanted to get some of their starters from around the world, but wanted to know if their claim that the starters will persist as when purchased is true, or do they morph into what ever you would end up with if I started my own in my own little corner of the world? Another way of saying it is, will the San Francisco starter remain the SF starter for years/ever, or will it not?

I tossed the first try, bought all new flour and started over.  I also put it in a smaller container to make it easier to see any rising.  And I'm happy to report that on Day 6 the starter had bubbles and froth, and smells faintly like beer.  LOL  So it's working.  I also got my San Francisco sourdough starter (purchased from Sourdoughs International) going, so for the past few days I've been able to compare the two, side by side.  The wild yeast isn't as...active as the San Francisco, but then the SF starter has been in a proofing box, where the wild hasn't.  Am I correct in guessing that this may be part (most?) of the difference between the activity levels?  At any rate, I'm looking forward to my first loaf of sourdough bread, which I began last night using the SF starter.  It'll help me be patient while the wild starter gets going enough to begin using.  Thanks for all your help.  And SourdoLady, I think I may know you from another cooking forum I used to participate in a couple years ago.  My name is the same in both.

Yes, I remember you from the other forum. I think I once sent you some dried starter, didn't I? Sounds like your wild yeast starter is going well. Just keep on feeding it for a few more days and it should be strong enough to make some bread. The proofing box does make a big difference. The warmth makes the yeast grow faster. How did the SF bread turn out?

Yes, you did send some dried starter.  Unfortunately, due to circumstance both in, and beyond, my control, I had problems with it.  No fault of yours, or the starter, at all.  My bad.  Putting the wild yeast starter in a smaller container has helped me to see what it's doing.  In the other container, all the risings and such were going out (ie sideways) instead of up.  Smaller container and they're going up now.  Much easier to see. 

The San Francisco bread was, in a word...wonderful.  The flavor was exactly as I remember from so many years in the Bay area.  I used the no-knead recipe, which fits very well around my crazy work schedule.  It didn't rise as much as I'd have liked, but I think that has more to do with my inexperience working with sourdough than anything else.  And the crust is a bit too hard.  But when I first tried the no-knead recipe using commercial yeast, I had the same 'hard crust' problem.  It took some fiddling with the cooking time to fix that.  I'm guessing the same will apply with the sourdough.  I'm looking forward to making more.  Thanks for all your help.

Hello,
Can you tell me how much this makes and how to grow it large enough to make two-cups of output every week or so?
Thank you

I am a newbie on this forum. I've posted a few pics of the Challah's I've made with success, but have decided to jump right in and try your starter tonight and hope to use it in a recipe after it's ready. I thank you very much for your starter recipe. I hear it's a good one to use, soooo, wish me luck. :)

Luv4Country Soaps
http://www.luv4country.com/catalog

A simple question: The consistency of the sourdough in the pictures is like that before you stir it or after? Before you added the daily feeding or after? Is just that I've been feeding my sourdough for 7 days and doesn't have that much bubbles on it (and I see the bubbles only when I stir it, sorry for the "simple" question).

With the 7th feeding (yesterday) I added 1/4 tsp of organic apple cider vinegar as suggested, but I don't know if my sourdough is behaving like is supposed to.

Oh, by the way, I've been feeding my sourdough with organic whole wheat flour...

Thanks for the help...

With great advice from you all, I have now fed my starter for 14 days.  In the middle i had to switch from rye to unbleached bread but it's still rising and falling.  Since the recipes were for rye, I forgot my generalizing skills and decided I needed to find a recipe for white.  I bought the Bread Bible and, OH NOOO it calls for stiff starter.  Deciding to forgo the challenge of reviving my once above average math skills long hidden and probably disintegrated into brain dust, I just kept kneading in flour until the starter was a stiff dough.

My question is... now that I have JUST made stiff starter, can I act as if this is the first feeding of the starter as if beginning the bread recipe, (wait 8 hours or doubled and then do the second feeding, then put together the rest of ingredients for risings)) or do I have to feed this stiff starter for a day or 2 every 12 hours and then start the recipe?

In the meantime I have made the millet-sunflower seed bread in King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking book and it is fabulous; tastes like bread is already spread with nut butter! 

Sourdolady, I am new to sourdough bread making.I am on day 3 of the starter.The starter has no bubbles and there is something white & mouldy looking on the top.But the starter is smelling yeasty..Should I throw the starter away?Should I keep it?Please suggest. Thankyou-Ruchir.

Actually, I have the starter made from just wheat flour & water.I live in India, so  I couldn't get the pineapples as they are not in season,& finding canned pineapples in Pune is not that easy.They are  available in the malls.But the can is prohibittingly expensive(may sound strange to you!).As it is the rainy season, it is very hot and humid before the rains, and cold after it rains.It rains heavily every day.Then can I use the whey which comes with yoghurt after making it, or do I use diluted yoghurt?If so, how do I adjust the proportion of water? Thankyou-Ruchir.

Can I use a vinegar instead of the juice?

Either I am *lucky* or just a purist at heart.  I've always  had success using just unbleached all purpose flour and well water to get a culture.  I think today's lifestyle of *fast food* has ruined the majority of people's attitude toward taking their time to develop a good starter.  It takes some work and some nurturing, but it is well worth the time and efforts.  Sourdough is not a fast food, if someone makes it out to be so.. then it isn't really sourdough, it is then a non-traditional mutation.  Real sourdough goes through several stages and this takes a couple weeks to capture the yeastie beasties and get the right ratio of yeast to bacteria for a good healthy starter.  Sourdough is part of the Slow Food Movement, let's fight to keep it that way.  :-)

Enjoy the week and happy baking to everyone!!!

Chris 

Hi SourdoLady,

Do you continue to feed your starter equal parts water and flour?  I'm saving a copy of your deluxe sourdough bread recipe, and want to have my starter about the same consistency the recipe expects. 

Also, for the lemon juice - is bottled OK?  I keep fresh lemons around when I can, but not always. 

Hey there,

 This whole Sourdough thing is new to me but I just have to try.

Not sure if it's going to work or not as it's the end of November and colder (mid 40s) this time of year. We keep the house on the colder side as well. 

Anyway, here is how I am starting.

I did not have Orange juice, so I thought I could just use freash.

I put 2 Tbs of each in the jar and mixed. (it's more of a paste).
I put the lid on the jar.

I guess I wait until tomarrow to do the same?

 

 

 

Oops

"After that time, it should be kept in the refrigerator between uses/feedings."

I just re-read your blog... Doh!

The juice definitely does help, even though many people from the "old school methods" refuse to admit it or even try it. Peter Reinhart even uses this method in his new book, "Whole Grain Breads".

Ok, Will do.

 I am making more bread now.

I have been using a bread machine in the past (including last night).

Tonight I am not using the bread machine and this will be my first time making bread the "real" way.

Right now the two loafs are in the oven with the light on and have more than doubled in size so far.

They look so cool.

Next time I will make a better shape

 

Hi! I just discovered your site, and really enjoy reading it. I've just today made my first sourdough starter, and am anxious to see the result.

Though I didn't use your recipe, i thought maybe someone here might be interested in following the progression.

I cleaned a plastic container with boiling water and added:

1/2 cup sifted rye flour

1/3 cup of rough wheat flour (sry, don't know what it's called in english)

1 tsp of corn flour

2 tbs of shredded wheat shell (again, dunno what it's called)

2/3 cp of lukewarm water

1,5 tbs of turkish yogurt, made from fresh sheep's milk.

 

I mixed it to a thickish paste and placed it in the container sealing it so it's air tight. 

These directions were really great.  I have made a successful starter and baked a loaf of sourdough bread with it:

 

 To see more of what I'm baking with sourdough, take a look at my food blog:

http://playingwithmyfood.blogspot.com

I started a starter using a slighlty different recipe: just flour, water, and a bit of sugar.  It is only pre-milled all purpose flour, but I got the recipe from a friend who had brilliant sucess with it---she still has the starter and it is 3 years old!  It has been 7 days now, and nothing is really happening: it definatly smells sour, and produces a yellow layer of wine-smelling hootch, but absolutely NO bubbles or rising.  It is covered with a tea-towel to prevent large things drifting in. 

Could it be the time of year?  Its the middle of our Pacific Northwest winter.  Average termperature inside, with the fireplace going all day and night, is about 15C.

Any suggestions?  Have I killed it somehow?

Hello

I'm at day 6 of the sourdough starter (wholewheat flour then white strong flour). Everything has been going fine.  However now my starter is separating and it has a layer of liquid/water on top.  The mix does not look frothy anymore, althought it has some bubbles.  It smells yeasty.  Is this normal?  When can I use it?  I want to make no-knead bread (which I usually make with instant yeast). 

Thanks for you help

amx

I am on day 4 of using sourdoughladys starter receipe of fresh wwflour and pineapple juice to get a sourdough starter. I have a white fuzzy mold growing up the side of container. I will starte over today. If anyone can tell me what I did wrong or how to prevent this I would be greatfull. I am new to baking and have never done sourdough befroe.

Thanks,

Paula

Well, I should have read more post before I wrote the above. I read sourdoughladys answer to someone elses mold problem. I had not thrown out mine yet so I was able to get 1/4 cup that was not touching the mold and put it in a diffrent clean glass container, I then added the 1/4 cup AP flour and 1/4 cup water. I used my well water. I also used a clean damp paper towel to clean the sides of the dish so no dough smears were there. I have it covered with the glass lid of the bowl. Is that ok or should I use a clean towel?

Sourdolady,

I wanted to thank you directly for the great starter recipe and for your help.  The starter is taking over my kitchen and I'm thrilled.  I made my first loaf of bread last night- also using your advice- I converted a recipe I use to make sandwich bread. It was delicious and is GONE!  I have some rolls rising now and plan to make your Deluxe Sourdough tonight.

Thanks again,

Marni

Hey Sourdough lady,

Thanks for all the great insights.  I started a starter by your directions with rye flour and orange juice last Friday and have been feeding it regularly with half water and half high protein bread flour.  So last night was day five, and my starter looked very much like the day 7 picture you have posted here.  One thing though, when I smelled it it smelled VERY strongly of beer, like a dark beer smell, and the fumes caused an almost wasabi like effect on the sinuses when I first opened the container.  It about knocked me over.  Am I cultivating something besides regular wild yeast here?

That's a normal smell of fermented sourdough. It  just needs to be fed (dump out most of it before feeding). If it is growing well you should probably start feeding it twice a day instead of only once. Do this for a few days before you start storing it in the fridge.

I have two starters currently failing (or so they appear). The first I started approx. 9 days ago, just bread flour and water. It looked like it was working around day four, but since then, it hasn't changed at all. I feed it every day. What's going on here? Also, should I taking some of it out of the bowl? I was doing 1/2 cup of each for a while, now I tried dropping down to 1/4 cup just in case I was overwhelming any yeast that might reside there. (I also tried adding a pinch of active dry yeast to kick start it...)

My Second starter is your recipe for the wild yeast. I'm on Day 3, and I haven't seen any bubbles... am I a yeast killer? I long to have 4 year old yeast growing in my fridge (four years from now) but I just can't seem to get it going.

HELP!!

 

Day 3 is too soon to expect much. Give it a few more days. It usually takes about a week to get it going. Patience is the key with sourdough. Oh, and by the way--don't add commercial yeast to a wild yeast starter! It won't do you any good and it will probably just cause you more trouble. Wild yeast WILL grow, you just need to be very patient.

Ok, I can be patient. At what point, after adding 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 water (if it takes a week of doing so, every day) should I save 1/4 cup and throw the rest away? And how much starter equal 1 package of yeast? How much do I use in a typical french bread recipe. And this wild sourdough yeast starter can technically be used in any recipe, right?

 

Thanks sooo much for all your time and help!!

 

 

From Day 4 onward you should be discarding all but 1/4 cup and then feeding that 1/4 cup. When your starter matures enough so that you want to start baking with it, then you can increase the feeding amount so that you have a larger quantity of starter to make your recipe.

I would recommend that you start out by using a recipe that is written specifically for sourdough rather than trying to convert a non-sourdough recipe. It is just a lot simpler for you and there are several posted on this site that you could use.

Very interesting and helpful posts! I am on day 6 of the posted starter method. (I used whole wheat). My starter smells great, isn't growing so I'm being patient and have added the vinegar

I use very clean utensils for adding. However, am ***I supposed to be washing my container each time I discard before I replace and add back in? I have not been doing that.***

FYI, I'm using a rigid plastic clear container with a vacuum seal type lid (from Target - you may have seen the type...Michael Graves-designed with the butterfly-type closure on the lid to create a seal.)

Stephanie in Very Hot Almost Mexico
Visit my blog: http://bikebookandbread.blogspot.com/

Hi, SourdoLady and thanks for the recipe. Do you cover the bowl with plastic wrap, aluminum foil or a tea towel? If you use a towel does it need to be damp or dry?   Your loaves are so beautiful and the crust is so shiny and crispy looking. That's just what I'm trying, very unsuccessfully, for. Do you coat the loaves with eggs or something just before you put them in the oven to bake? I notice some posters are talking about emptying and re cleaning the container the starter is in. So, do you have to take the entire thing out of the container or bowl it's in every time you feed it and transfer it to another (very clean) bowl and then clean the original container or bowl you had it in, dry it and place the starter back in the original container or bowl? Also is cleaning the container you're going to keep the starter in with dish liquid soap and hot water enough or do you have to rinse it with boiling water or something? Sorry for all my questions. I'm brand new to bread baking, sourdough or yeast or any kind of bread baking. My first two attempts, one a whole wheat bread made entirely in a bread machine and the other a rye kneaded and left to do one rise in the bread machine and then baked in the oven, were failures. Both came out itty bitty. They hardly had any rise and the crusts were nothing like any bakery bread I've ever had. Then I found this site and I'm going to try making bread all by hand and retire the bread machine.   Thanks again for all the help you're all giving people, especially newbies like me that really have no idea what the heck we're doing.  

 

YW SourdoLady, :). Thanks so much for more tips. I haven't done the starter yet. I want to try to bake some more bread probably next Thursday or Friday and I didn't have everything I need yet so I think I'll start the starter tomorrow or Tuesday. Sourdough bread is my favorite so I can't wait to make another attempt. I think too in an attempt to maximize the fiber and nutrition of my loaves I went too heavy on the whole grain (KA white whole wheat and Bob's Red Mill whole grain rye) and too light on the KA AP flour. I'm going to go with much more AP flour this time and go for taste first and then nutrition and fiber. I think it will be a fair compromise.

 

I think I did kinda push the flour down into the measuring cup when I leveled it off. Thanks again. I'll be careful not to do that next time.

 

I followed what my bread machine book said and used water, tested with an instant read thermometer, between 80 and 90 degrees. The book said the water must be added first and the yeast should never come in contact with the water. Now I wonder if the about 85 degree water I used could have cooled too much by the time I added all the other things and turned the machine on. I'll also be careful not to get it too hot. I guess 100 degrees is about right. I see people on this board talk of using water 100 – 110 degrees, but never as cold as 80 – 90 degrees. I think the bread machine book must have been wrong. Also I'm going to do it all by hand and oven bake it. Bye bye to the bread machine.

 

But for the next one that I'll do at the end of the week I'm going to follow your recipe exactly. That is the kind of bread I'm looking for.

 

I appreciate the encouragement. I really want to become a good bread baker. While I love my chocolate chip cookies, more than baking anything else there is just something so fulfilling in baking bread. Supermarket breads have become just too filled with chemicals and awful things like high fructose corn syrup to buy and bakery breads are too expensive and you still never know what is really in them.

 

Thanks again!

  

First I just reread your recipe and I realize it takes about a week, not just a few days, so I won't be baking with it until maybe a week from this Thursday or Friday. This week I may try a yeast bread only proofing the yeast first and being really careful about how I place the flour in the measuring cup and careful about the water temperature. Thanks again for those tips.

 

What I want to ask is once you've discarded all but ¼ cup and then add more flour and water how much of this batch of the starter do you use for one 2 lb loaf of bread? Do you use it all and make a fresh starter about a week before you want to make your next batch of bread or can you make a bigger batch by say tripling the ingredients and only use 1/3 of the finished starter and keep the rest in a covered plastic container in the refrigerator? If you can make extra and keep it, about how long does it keep in the refrigerator? Oh I guess I'm assuming it can be kept cold. I guess if it has to be kept at room temperature than it doesn't keep long.

All the information you've given me is very helpful. I will begin the starter this week to bake with next week. I'm very allergic to animal dander and I have really bad asthma so I can no longer have a cat or dog but will all this feeding and tending to the starter it'll be almost like having a pet again, lol. I may even begin to talk to it like I do plants. On second thought I'd better not. I attempted to grow an herb garden and after talking to them as they grew I did not have the heart to eat the herbs once they were ready.

 

Thanks again so much SourdoLady.

I have just finished reading all of the posts to sourdolady's starter recipe.
I have seen everyone talking about various juices and vinegars and a couple of mentions of water.

My question is, I live in town, have a water softener, and connected to that a Reverse Osmosis water filter. Can I use the RO water or must I use bottled spring water?

I use the RO water in almost all of my cooking, but in feeding a starter, is there anything nutrient or mineral -wise that the starter needs? Is the suggestion of bottled spring water simply to avoid chlorination and other chemicals added by the local city water handlers?

Thanks,
Chuck

 

I have a regular water and flour sour dough starter .... it has great smell and the loaf tastes good and rises well.  My question is can I make what I have more sour with adding a little pinapple juice and rye flour in place of feeding it with unbleached flour and water?

Not sure if you will actually read this as original post was 2005, but I just wanted to say a bit thank you to Sourdolady for this recipe and all the advice from others as well. Even though you placed this recipe in 2005 it's still reaching new people!

I am completely new to sourdough, never knew what it was before, thought I'd try it as I like homemade bread but don't like the smell/taste of normal shop-bought yeast.

I started my starter using Doves Organic Strong Wholemeal flour - I actually did three:
one started with pineapple juice
one with tap water
one with bottled spring water.
Infact in the end they all seem to have worked although the water ones were definately much more sluggish to get going.

It was quite cool here (in UK) when I did my starters. My kitchen room temp was about 13C (56F) during the daytime (colder overnight). I had tried standing them on a plate above a saucepan of hot water, when I could, but as I'm at work most of the day I'm not sure that made much difference.
By day 8 the starters never seemed to have risen, so in a panic I put the starters into an airing cupboard one evening and noticed they soon sprung into life but by morning they'd gone flat again. That's when I properly understood your reason for
a) discarding most of the starter before feeding
and
b) frequent feeding.
I should have paid closer attention!
 
I then found that sitting my jars of starters next to the fridge, which gave out some residual heat, was the best place during cold weather.

I've now made some sourdough scones (biscuits) from a recipe online to use up discarded starter, which were very  successful.
And last weekend I made my first proper sourdough loaves using your milk powder/potato flakes recipe.
(The remaining starter has kept fine in the fridge now.) 

Fairly pleased with the sourdough loaves, but I think the inside was undercooked.
I have a fan-assisted oven and, although I kept the temperature lower to compensate, the loaves were getting too dark so only spent 20mins in the oven. I'm going to try another recipe this weekend and adjust oven temperature down further.

If anyone can offer advice on baking sourdough loaves in a fan-assited oven I would be grateful!

Glad to hear you are having some success, Brigette! Sourdough is just so much fun, and oh, the flavor.

I try to check this thread from time to time but sometimes I forget for awhile. The other day I tried to post several times and the site kept freezing up on me. Hopefully with the new upgrade things will be better.

Hi,  I have been doing the feedings for 8 days of 1/4 cup white flour + 1/4 cup purified water and have added the 1/4 teaspoon of cider vinegar for the last 4 feedings and the starter looks like it has a few bubbles when I open the container, but there is also a yellowish liquid on top of the mixture, so I am wondering if this is normal and if I should just keep at it until I start to see more action and bubbles + a volume increase?  I have been pouring boiling water over my stirring spoon + in the 1/4 cup measuring cups and into the container when I clean it after removing the 1/4 cup of mixture to be sure everything is clean.  The mixture smells kind of sour and yeasty so it seems like it should be working but I still don't see a volume increase or a lot of bubbles.

 

Thanks for the help!

This was my first attempt at making a wild yeast starter.  I'd seen a Food Network show about creating a wild starter and when I decided to try to make one, I found your receipe.  It looked easy, but I didn't have any of the ingredients handy, in particular the whole grain flour.  I did have grapes.  Knowing grapes are usually covered with yeast, I improvised and used about a dozen grapes in place of the whole grain flour for the source of the yeast and juice.   To this I added 2 T of all purpose flour and 2 T of filtered water.  It's now about day 6 and my starter is looking pretty good.  It's bubbly and quite yeasty smelling.  I hope to try using it soon.

Thanks for the great receipe.

I read about the sourdough starter, and it looks like a great thing to do! Here in Brazil, there's no such tradition on sourdough bread making, so I've never heard about it before till recently (internet is such a great thing, LOL).

 

But i have one question: how does the process behave on really warm weather ? I live on a place where the average temps are around 85-90 °F , plus really humid (think something like Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia).

 

Also, how does it smell? BF got interested on the process, but was afraid it would smell bad, so he didn't let me make it on his place (here at home would be really hard to explain to mom what i'm doing, LOL).

I have never lived in a climate such as yours, but I'm sure it would work just fine. You will find that your dough will rise faster because of the warmer temps. You may have to use a bit more flour in your doughs because of the humidity. Breads that rise fast have less flavor but you could counteract that by refrigerating the dough and baking it later. There is no reason to worry about the smell. Sourdough does not have a bad smell. Give it a try! 

Hi SourdoLady,

Thanks very much for sharing your starter. I began mine yesterday and so far I have a few bubbles. Sourdough rye is my absolute favourite bread and I cannot wait to make my own!

I have found that my mixture is a lot drier than 'thick pancake batter' so I added extra juice yesterday and again today. Is this going to be a problem?

Thanks again,

Hi Grace,

It is not unusual that you mixture was dry. Rye flour can absorb a lot of liquid. Adding more juice is fine. It will work either way, but wetter will start the yeast growing faster. Be sure to keep it in a warmish place, too, for a quick start. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.

Hi SDL,

I started my starter with water and rye.  With 24 hours it was really bubbly and rose quite a bit (almost doubled).  I've read that the initial rise is often caused by  "bad" bacteria.  It doesn't smell to good (not sour). Do you think I should keep feeding it as outlined above and wait for the wild yeast to take over?  At what point do you think it'll be ready?  Other than activity, what signs should I be looking for?

Eusebius

Yes, keep up with your feedings. This first bubbling is not yeast. When it is actually yeast growing, it will smell yeasty at first and then winey or alcoholic as it ferments further. Since you didn't use the fruit juice, I highly reccomend that you add 1/4 tsp. vinegar now (only the one time). It will lower the pH and make your starter activate quicker. It will also deter the growth of bad bacteria that can foul your starter.

Don't be surprised if your starter appears to be dead for a couple of days now. When it starts to bubble again, it is the real yeast starting to grow. It will start as a few very small bubbles on the surface, which will continue to grow in both number and size. From the time you first see them begin to appear it may take a couple of days before you see a lot of activity. You will know when it happens. Keeping the starter warm (80 to 85°) will accelerate activity. Have fun, and good luck!

I feel very silly. Yesterday, in a fit of vagueness, I put sparkling water in my mixture instead of still. The bottles looked the same!

The mix smells like it's fermenting. It's day 7 today and the second day of adding the vinegar. It bubbled a little bit today after feeding but it hasn't grown. It bubbled a lot yesterday but that was probably just the carbonated water! Do you think I might have ruined it?

Thanks for your help!

I doubt that you ruined it. Keep up with the daily feedings, but only do the vinegar the one time--don't keep adding more every day. You should be close to getting the starter active.

Thanks SourdoLady,

I am happy to report that it's working. I am going to try baking this evening. I will let you know how it turns out!

Grace

Hi, I just found your recipe and this great discussion on sourdough.  I started a sourdough 3 days ago or so with flour and water.  I have a question about your method.  Do you keep feeding it juice and flour forever or just for the first couple days?  My big question is how often can you feed sourdough?  My kids and I are doing our sourdough together.  They wanted a pet and so we are starting out small, with a micro-organizim.  We named it "Yeasty the Beasty".  The kids are enjoying feeding our little "pet" and I look forward to baking bread.  We fed it in the morning and then we fed it at night.  The kids have been asking me why doesn't "Yeasty" eat lunch?  How often can you feed your sourdough? Can you feed it 3 times a day, or would that be bad? 

Happy Baking!

I really liked the rationale behind this process and thought I'd give it a shot, but thought I'd punish myself by going all the way with a quasi-wild culture (mistakes are good for my learning process). <grin!>

Started two cultures about 5 days ago.  Bread-flour was the base for both, to one I added 1/4 cup organic rye (Bob's), to the other I added 1/4 cup whole wheat (King Arthur).  Then I got inventive.  The rye got 2 blueberries that had survived the last snow in our garden.  On an impulse I scraped some white yeast from the bottom of a pineapple leaf and mixed it into the whole wheat culture.  Unfortunately I didn't have any pineapple juice left, so I used just a little bit of squeezed lemon juice instead.  My reasoning on both was that the ambient yeasts on the blueberry and pineapple may be the sort that would thrive in acidic conditions, but we'll see how it works.

No results to speak of on Day 1, but small bubbles by morning of Day 2.  Subsequent feedings were only in bread flour, resulted in barely perceptible increase.  Evening of Day 4 showed a doubling in volume and many bubbles, with a bit of a head on the top of both.  The rye/blueberry combo is extremely viscous, thick, and almost gluey.  Scent is extremely fruity, hint of esters, and a little sharp.  The wheat/pineapple combo is much more liquid and very sharp. 

The smell in both is vaguely like the yeasty gack left at the bottom of a carbuoy when racking homebrew at high krausen.  I might test the cultures on a guinea pig before proceeding when they're finished.

Has anyone else experimented with "wild" sourdough cultures in this fashion?  I'll keep playing with it and will update by the weekend.  /not a chemist.  //works in pizza

Hi SourdoLady,

I'm new to baking and have no experience with sourdoughs, so I'm following this thread with great interest. I have some starter in the freezer and am ready to give it a try, but I have a few questions. What's the best way to revive it? Should I refreeze the leftovers or how long will it keep in the fridge? Why discard most of it at each feeding? Instead, could you use the extra to make more starter? For a whole grain loaf, do I need more starter? I like a very sour, chewy, moist San Francisco-type bread. How can I get that result? How did you make your first loaves so shiny? They're beautiful!

Thank you for everything you do for us newbies. Happy New Year to you and everyone!

Klutzy

First of all, I will say that I am not a fan of freezing starters. Many will not survive freezing. It is not really necessary to freeze a starter because they will keep for months just in the fridge, even without feeding, if they are healthy going in and are kept at a thicker consistency (more like soft dough).

Since you have already frozen your starter, take it out and discard all but a couple of spoonfuls. Feed it with flour/water to the consistency that you like and set it in a warm place. If it is still viable, it will get bubbly. It could take 24 hours or more to wake it up, or it may bubble within a few hours. What was the source of your starter? Did you make it, or was it given to you?

The reason for discarding old starter is that is has used up all the nutrients in the flour and no longer has any food value to the yeast cells. The yeast cells have multiplied by great numbers so you now have WAY more hungry yeasties to feed. Discarding gets rid of most of the waste and also thins out the number of hungry yeasties so you don't have too many of them competing for food. If you never threw any out, you would be feeding buckets of flour to keep them happy. Yes, you can use these discards in any other baking that you want--add to pancake batter, quick breads, etc. You don't need to save much starter for storage in the fridge. I generally only save 1/4 cup. When you want to bake with it you can build the quantity with a couple of feedings. When maintained this way, you will not be throwing out a lot of starter.

The amount of starter used in a recipe will determine the length of time it takes from mix to bake. It will also have an impact on flavor. Less starter=longer fermentation=more flavor and tang in finished bread. Whole wheat or rye included in the dough will also add more flavor and tang. Sour flavor can be very elusive sometimes. I get my best sour when I make a dough and then fold the dough every hour until the yeast starts to make the dough spongy, shape-rise-bake. You can also refrigerate the dough just before it is ready to shape OR shape and then refrigerate. Take out and continue the next day. This can add a lot of additional flavor to the bread. You just need to play around and experiment until you find the right technique to give the results you are after. For the chewy, moist bread you need a softer, wetter dough.

The shine on the crust of my loaves is simply butter brushed on the hot bread just out of the oven. This also softens the crust, so if you like crispy crusts, don't do it!

Hi SourdoLady,

I was too dissapointed to admit it, but my first loaf was a failure - I was entertaining and forgot to take it out of the oven! Then I went away on holidays. Today I baked again and the bread tastes wonderful. It didn't rise much though. I'm already looking forward to next time. Do you know why they may not have risen much? I gave them 3 hours to rise and then 2 hours to shape rise.

Thanks again for sharing.

Here are todays loaves:

I'm currently on day 2. last night, I mixed 2 tbs. whole wheat flour and 2 tbs. of lemon juice mixed with some warm water. is this okay? I didn't have oranges or pineapple juice, and I figured lemon isn't too acidic if we can use vinegar (which has a very close pH level). still, I was reluctant, so i dulled it out with some water. I hope it works.

 

also, should I leave my container a little open, or should it be closed tightly?

I am attempting to make starter from fresh pineapple after watching the Nancy Silverton PBS video where she talks about doing the same with fresh grapes. She gave no further instructions after submerging the grapes in the slurry.  My questions: 1)Is there a different treatment for this type of starter? 2) When do I start feeding? 3) Should I have been stirring the slurry once in a while?

I have just completed 3 full days with no feedings nor stirrings.  Since day 2, there have been tiny bubbles on the glass walls. The odor smells like that of fermenting pineapples and is not unpleasant.

Appreciate your help.

 

I'm just now finishing day 9, and I'm a little worried. I'm getting a LOT of bubbles, but no rising. the alcohol-like smell ceased to exist several days ago. I changed my starter from whole wheat and lemon juice to unbleached AP and water (except for 2 days in which i used bread flour, because i ran out of AP).

 

does this mean I'm doing something wrong?

i dulled out the lemon juice, and it worked after that... no rye, so i'll add WW. temp should be right, I'm just leaving it out on the counter (I live in western washington state). but how do I find out about the water? I'm using tap water.... (the tap water in washington is pretty good, though).

O Mi Goodness, I shocked myself! Both starter and bread were very successful!  I was a little shaky in places not knowing how things are supposed to go but tried not to panic and just follow the steps.  Amaaaazing! I followed her bread recipe almost exactly except for the potato flakes (used potato water for my water) and replaced some of the total flour with organic rye flour (1/2 cup and 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour) then King Arthur whole wheat bread flour for the remaining flour.  Kneaded in approx 1 tsp. caraway seed towards the end of the kneading period.  I used a 38 degree garage as my "refrigerator" overnight. Worked great!  my room temp is only 60...I am one cool cat, ha! So I put it in the oven on warm very lightly to rise the next day to kind of raise that temp a bit but not too much bec as she says you want it to rise slowly not as fast as regular bread. 

I shaped it into one big round loaf rather than two smaller ones. It turned out soooooo good, I am just thrilled and stuffed to the gills with that oh so wonderful tasting bread that I never thought I would be able to make! This has the crusty chewiness that I love. Cheers to Sourdo lady.  Hope all will use her techniques.  

Tha BreadHound

Hello Peopl!!

I am quite new here and i am trying make my own starter for secondly begin baking. I am now at day 6 or 7 and my experience shows that till when i was using an acid juice made by sultanas (till day 4 i guess) the activity of the starter was fantastic. Exactly when i´ve change the acid juice for spring water the activity has got down and there is no more bubbles and/or any sign of activity. My questions are related to this: (i)to have good results when we make bread is it necessary to havbe a strong starter with high activity right?? with  (ii) to have an always strong-high activity strater could i food it always with acid juice or in some time i have necessarily to change for water?/ What are the incoveniences of use always and acid juice instead water?? Thank you very much in advance.

   Well I started with a potato starter a couple weeks ago and it did start to work well.  It still gets bubbly when I feed it but I learned from reading various posts that I have not been feeding twice a day but every few days instead.  I haven't refrigerated but I have made biscuits once and hotcakes several times which are/were good.  My question is this, should the starter when the "hooch" gathers on top be so strong that it burns your nose when you smell it?  I've had no ill effects but am still learning and wanted to make sure.  Thanks for any advise in advance.

I wanted to throw in my two cents worth on starters since I've been baking artisan breads for about three years now. I tried a couple of drops of vinegar instead of the pineapple juice and cultivated a very good starter in about a week. I've also discovered that environment plays a big role in successful cultivation. A well used kitchen, especially where you bake a lot of bread seems to be the key. I live in a one hundred year old house that hasn't been well maintained. 

Hi!  I am truly frustrated with my sourdough starter.  I've followed the troubleshooting instructions using vinegar, I've switched back to a little rye flour from my white flour to try to get it going, I've kept the starter in a warm cooler, I've stirred it, I've been patient for days!!...I don' know what else to do.  My starter is going on it's 10th day with almost a week of discarding to a 1/4 cup and then adding 1/4 cup...It sometimes smells sour but has not grown at all and I only ever get just a few bubbles.  Could it be because I'm using boiled tap water (then cooled to rm temp) instead of bottled?  Please help.  Should I start over?

how long can I leave my mother in the refigerator without feeding it?

I'm on day 4 of my starter and it smells a bit cheesy. Not particularly good cheese, but not awful cheese either. I did not use pineapple juice, because I didn't have any. I used just flour and water.

I'm going to do the refreshment this evening, but wanted to see if this is a lost cause. I did get some pineapple juice this evening and will start another batch.

Chris

Thanks so much for this starter recipe. I've had one going for about six days now and oh lord, it smells GREAT.

Can you suggest a good recipe for a sourdough loaf? Thanks much.

SourdoLady,

Thank you very much for this thread. I do have a couple of questions.

I have a 7 year old starter that seems to be losing some of its depth of flavor.

So I want to get a second starter going and I am going to try this method.

I will be doing the day 3 feeding this evening. No bubbles yet.

I will be patient, but I was thing about temperatures. It is still cold in central Ohio and my house runs at mid to upper sixties. I am using OJ, and out of my fridge, it is also very cold.

Should I maybe let the juice warm up to room temp before feeding tonight?

Should I move the starter upstairs where it is a little warmer?

If I get no bubbles tomorrow, should I still continue with the juice or go on to the normal day 4 feeding?

Thanks, Link

Dear Sourdo lady:

After about the 3rd or 4th day of making my starter, it smelled great (just like sourdough bread), but it did not become frothy or rise. After that it "died" and did not bubble, rise, or smell at all (it looked like pancake batter). On about the 8th day, it started to smell like alcohol and it almost doubles whenever I feed it. I'm now on day 12, and it still smells like alcohol but it MIGHT be starting to smell yeasty and sour again. I've been doing so much research that I'm confused. Some sites say this is the way it should be, others say I should throw it out. What do you think? Thank you so much!

Hi there I am in the UK and only recently discovered your site and have spent the last two days scanning through and am fascinated.

One question - in the UK we use gr / ozs not cups (although these are not difficult to convert) but the T in the recipe has thrown me, is this a Tablespoon or a Teaspoon or something else completely.

Your help would be much appreciated and you never know I might be in a position soon to join in and send some pics.

Kind regards

I have not found this question above and am new to the site.  I tried sourdough with flour and water and it seemed to die.  Maybe i did not wait long enough. I tried for at least a  month making flat hard loaves that did not rise, so i got rid of it.  I would like to try your method but what kind of cover - my other was a towel moistened with purified water.  thanks

Hi Sourdolady, I have followed your instructions to make my own wild yeast. I live in NW Canada and needless to say it's very cold and dry here. Today is day 10 and I am getting more bubbles but the volume has not yet doubled. I am hoping if I keep feeding it, I will be able to use the starter next week.

How do I post a picture here?

Oh, I figured that out. Day 10 of my wild yeast starter using rye flour and pineapple juice.

I have just successfully made a sourdough starter and am anxious to try the Deluxe Sourdough Bread and your recipe using dry milk powder/potato flakes as mentioned in some of the posts, but, I don't know where to look for the recipes. Can you tell me where/how to find them? Thanks for the help

Thanks, Sourdolady!  I have started feeding the starter twice a day and today I put some unbleached flour in it.  Instead of throwing away 1/2 of the starter, I saved it for an experiment.  I fed half of the starter with the same amount of flour and water.  For the other half, I used less water (as you had suggested).  A few hours later, the drier starter did rise more than the wet one.  The wet one got more bubbles but didn't rise as high.  Truly interesting.  I use the wet starter to make a sponge and I am going to use it to make pancakes and maybe even a loaf of bread tomorrow.  Will see if the new starter have enough strengh to rise a loaf.  I am getting pretty excited.  Thanks again.  I will keep you posted.

I did it!  The wild yeast looked pretty good last night so I made a sponge.  Then this morning I made this huge loaf of Russian Black sandwich loaf.  I allowed it to rise 4 hours the first time then 2 hours the second, totally 6 hours.  It rose a lot bigger than I thought but the texture was soft like white bread, with the nice rye flavor.  We had some for dinner and loved it! Thanks Sourdolady!

 

 

The volume of the bread and your description of the crumb are 2 characteristics that I'd like to have in my bread.  Is the recipe here somewhere? I may have missed it.  I'm inspired to try it.

Thanks SourdoLady!  Next time I will take the crumb shot.  I am not sure if we will get to find out about the new flavor of this loaf.  We loved it so much that we ate half a loaf as soon as it was cooled.  LOL

Cake Diva, I actually modified a breadmachine recipe for this loaf.  It's so massive that it created a muffin top upon baking.  Here's the original recipe:

1-1/2 C water (I used less, depends on the wetness of the sponge)

2 T cider vinegar

2-1/2 C bread flour (I used whole wheat)

1 C rye flour

1 tsp salt

2 T margarine (I used sunflower oil)

2 T dark corn syrup (I used molasses)

1 T brown sugar

3 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp instant coffee granules (I used 1/2 T)

1 T caraway seed

1/4 tsp fennel seed (optional, but I use 1 T)

2 tsp active dry yeast (of course, I used the sourdough sponge)

The recipe says 12 serving,  an 1-1/2 pound loaf.  Believe me, it's a lot bigger than 1-1/2 pound loaf.  Next time I will either reduce the ingredients to make a smaller loaf or make two medium loaves.  The loaf I have is so big that it couldn't fit into a regular whole grain bread bag.

Thanks SourdoLady!  Next time I will take the crumb shot.  I am not sure if we will get to find out about the new flavor of this loaf.  We loved it so much that we ate half a loaf as soon as it was cooled.  LOL

Cake Diva, I actually modified a breadmachine recipe for this loaf.  It's so massive that it created a muffin top upon baking.  Here's the original recipe:

1-1/2 C water (I used less, depends on the wetness of the sponge)

2 T cider vinegar

2-1/2 C bread flour (I used whole wheat)

1 C rye flour

1 tsp salt

2 T margarine (I used sunflower oil)

2 T dark corn syrup (I used molasses)

1 T brown sugar

3 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp instant coffee granules (I used 1/2 T)

1 T caraway seed

1/4 tsp fennel seed (optional, but I use 1 T)

2 tsp active dry yeast (of course, I used the sourdough sponge)

The recipe says 12 serving,  an 1-1/2 pound loaf.  Believe me, it's a lot bigger than 1-1/2 pound loaf.  Next time I will either reduce the ingredients to make a smaller loaf or make two medium loaves.  The loaf I have is so big that it couldn't fit into a regular whole grain bread bag. 

Hi, I am on my second attempt.  The first try I used a store bought packaged starter, it went moldy right away.  This time I am trying the pineapple juice one.  So far so good.  Just wondering for Day 4 the instructions say to: keep 1/4 cup and discard the rest; just wondering why you have to discard and if there is something I can do with the discarded stuff?  Thanks for the tips, still learning.

 

Hi Loraleigh, I am glad to hear that you are not giving up.  Cultivating you own yeast could be a challenge yet a lot of fun once you got it right.  I could be wrong, but I think if you kept all the starter and fed it once or twice a day, and each time the volume doubled, you would soon have a huge batch to feed.  That's a lot of flour and you would need a very large container to do so.  By keeping only 1/4 cup, you only need to come up with 1/4 cup of flour for the next feed.  There may be another reason behind this but at least this is why I discarded mine in the beginning.  Once my starter begins to look active, I saved the rest and used it to make pancakes for the next morning.  We have been having a lot of pancakes for breakfast and my fmaily is loving it.

sourdoughLady,

First, thanks so much for this wonderful article. I failed a year ago to make my own starter, using flour and water, that developed mold and bad odor. Then when I read your steps here, I decided to try again, using flour of wheat that I milled myself, and OJ. At day six, it began to smell like yeast, with bubbles, and doubled in volume after only 2 hours, then 3 times its volume 6 hours after the second feed. Its amazing how your steps work very successfully the first time. I'm now on day 7, and fed 1/8 cup starter with 1/8 cup tab water and 1/4 cup white flour. This made it rise 4 times its volume in 6 hours!

btw, I found a nice idea to warm the starter: I put my glass jar behind the fridge, on top of its heating dissipation pipes, which seem to provide continuous perfect temp for the starter.

I have one wish. I noticed that, in this lengthy thread, you have revised some of the instructions that you originally gave in your starting post. This is of course natural, as you gain more experience over the years. My wish is that you write us your revised steps, so that it include any modifications that you have settled with now. This would greatly help a lot of people, specially those with limited time to go through all the posts (it took me a week to read it all).

And I also have a few questions:

I put the lid lossely on my glass jar. Is that correct? or should I tighten it?

should I keep the same ratio (1:1:2 in volume) and same quantities I'm currently using (1/8c yeast, 1/8c water, 1/4c flour) unchanged for the whole 2 weeks? This gives me a firm starter. So, in that case,

• 1- how many times should I feed per day during those 2 weeks? and
• 2- must I stir the starter between feeds? (since I started making the starter firm and thick, liquids stopped forming/separating on top). In other words: as long as bubbles are still forming, and no liquids on top, can I leave it without stirring or feeding, and feed it only when I notice the formation of liquids or the stopping of bubble activity?

I figure that it would be better to allow it to fully develop, as long as it has enough food, before I disturb its cycle and throw most of it away and force it to start over with a new feed. I could be wrong, but I compare that to when you're having a nap, and in the middle of an ongoing nice dream someone comes around and disturbs your slumber. How does that sound?

Thanks so much SourdoughLady for your detailed response

What I meant was this part:

It would be great if you add details to that part. Me and other newbies may get the impression that we repeat the same quantities and ratio as the days before. But further down the posts you mentioned that we need only a tablespoon (or is it 2?) from the starter, and discard the rest before feedings. And regarding the hydration level, newbies like me don't have personal preferences yet, so we rely on your detailed instructions. I noticed that lots of questions here evolve around that part of the 2-weeks improving period.

What is your recommendation regarding the part of starter that we keep when we do feedings during the 2-weeks period?

You're right, I should feed it twice daily, because I noticed after 12h that it went down from 4 times its size to 2 times, plus a mild alcoholic smell, so it did tell me that its hungry and needs a new feed. I did feed it again, and will continue feeding twice a day for the rest of the 2-weeks period.

I'm a week into creating a starter and I think it isn't working, but I really don't know what it should look like. I used whole wheat flour and oj as my starter. Each morning it has liquid on top. I followed your directions and recently added the vinegar, yet still this fluid topper by morning. Isn't it supposed to be bubbly? Should I not be mixing in the liquid before I measure out 1/4 cup?

Also, once I get it going (if I'm ever so lucky), is the feeding process to keep only a 1/4 cup and replenish with same? Isn't the volumn of starter supposed to increase in size? Mine is still not much more than it originally started.

Frustrated... Do you think I should just toss and start again? Thanks for any suggestions!

I've made my first loaf and I'm thrilled!  It turned out fantastic and took me right back to being a kid having frish bread and jam for a snack.  Yipee! 

I'm ready to try again, so do I throw out some of my starter even after it's established?  Or can I just take it from the fridge and give it some flour and water? 

Thank you for your sourdough starter recipe. Being a diabetic, sourdough is one of the few breads I can enjoy without a sugar spike. I have tried others without success and thought I would give yours a try. I grind my own wheat, so I used ww flour and fresh squeezed orange juice. Rather then throw out the excess starter I put it in a second container and fed accordingly, cup of flour for each cup of starter. I made it like a thick pancake batter. By the end of the first week I had a lot of starter and tried my luck. I  added  flour, water and salt, I also added a bit of wheat gluton to get a very stretchy dough.  I was delighted with the results, I got 3 large loaves of french bread that I shared with my nieghbour (also diabetic) She was also impressed and I gave her some stater. The next time I went for ww bread, to this I added half white and half ww flour, again adding wheat gluton, a T of honey, 1/4 cup of melted shortening and a t. salt. Again I had 3 large fluffy loaves.  My goal was to make a loaf as good as you would buy in the bakery, my friends and family think that this is much better then what you buy. Very light, with a tender crisp crust. It does not have a very sour taste though.  I am still having a hard time believing that I made bread without adding commercial yeast and it was better then the bread I previously made with commercial yeast. I tried to submit a picture, but I am better at baking sourdough then running the computer.

I posted this on the main bread baking page by mistake.  Here it is again. I started my Sourdough Starter and on day four I measured 1/4 cup and added 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup flour.  On day 5, 6, and 7 I did the same.  I measured out 1/4 cup and added the same in water and flour.  I don't understand how I am supposed to increase the amount of dough if I keep throwing out all but 1/4 cup.  Am i missing something?  How do I get enough to make bread?  I hope this is not a silly question.  Please advise

I'm on day four and things are looking good. Mostly, I want to thank you for a starter recipe that doesn't waste loads of flour. I found others that called for two cups to start and adding two more cups every day. Why waste so much flour?

Hi,

first of all thanks a lot for the recipe sourdoughlady!

I'm on day 5 right now, and I had the impression that everything worked quite well so far, except..... -well I used Orange juice for the starter, and I have the impression that the starter smells quite sour now (for a couple of days already), but not sour like sourdough, more sour as if the orange juice fermented and went bad.

I know that the whole idea of sourdough is the fermentation.... but I wonder whether that smell is normal. It smells like having left orange juice outside of the fridge for a couple of days. (I mean that's basically exactly what happened ;-) ).

Is that normal? And supposed to be like that? Or are there some bad bacteria(?) in there which are not supposed to be in there?

 

Thanks for your help!

I am trying to use barley as the flour for your starter. I am not alowed other kind of flour.

Should I change the ratio of liquid to flour?

would you sugest any otrher changes?

Thanks

Rony

Hi, and thank you so much for all the information you've provided here!

A quick intro to my "story": I have always enjoyed cooking and baking. I recently was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic, and to my temporary horror, I thought I'd never enjoy cooking or baking again. That set me into a whirlwind of reserch and learning about ways to do things differently. To my surprise, sourdough bread is actually very beneficial, and I can tolerate that much better (glucose wise) than I can regular breads. I've actually gotten the diabetes under control through diet, and am now returning to the kitchen armed with new recipes and skills. And, I've found I can still have FUN in the kitchen.

All that said, I want to begin keeping starter around so that I can bake my own fermented sourdough bread. In all my research, I've learned that grains such as Spelt, whole wheat, and Kamut are better options than white flour. I have taken all the information you have here - and I'm attempting a starter with whole wheat and spelt. I used half of each - with water. I did not opt for juice (as I got excited and didn't have it here and couldn't resist putting a starter together).

I am curious if you know anything about a spelt starter. Would the fact that I blended whole wheat and spelt together hinder or help the process? From what I'm gathering here, using water may make my result either - fail - or take longer. So, I'm going to be patient. After regular feedings, how many days would I wait before I decide it's not going to work?

Again, many thanks for all the wonderful information you've provided!!!

Casey

Any whole grain will work for making the starter. Since you didn't use any juice, I would recommend that you add 1/4 tsp. vinegar into the mix. This will acidify it enough so that molds will not take hold and it will also help to lower the pH so the yeasts can begin to grow more quickly. Most often starters take a week to 10 days to become fully active. I wouldn't give up the ship until it is two weeks. I am sure it will start just fine.

sourdolady,

I am confused and need your help, you have said that after the starter is working any flour would be good. Is it ok to alternate types of wheat flour? I read on another sight  that it is best to use the same kind of flour all the time for best results, something to do with keeping the same bugs present. So far I have been very lucky and have a very active starter, I thought that it would be good to feed with the fresh ground as it should keep the wild yeast very strong, but at times when I have not had a chance to grind I use all purpose. Do you think that this could cause a problem?

So far I have had great results with breads, pitas, waffles and buscuits. Thank you so much for your excelent starter recipe and tips.

Sharon

Hi, I hope this does not come through as a double posting -- my previous one seems to have disappeared.

I started 2 weeks ago with pineapple juice and ww flour. Day 4, looking good, I jettisoned half and commenced with 1/4 cup each white flour and water. I did not read to throw any more away, so I just kept adding every day. It seems pretty dead and there is separation, with a watery layer on top. pH is below 5.

Do you think this can be resuscitated or should I just start from scratch. Thank you!

SourDolady, I came here for help two months ago.  With your help I made my first SD loaf and have never looked back.  Now I bake mostly sourdough.  I have been experimenting on making different types of sandwich breads with my whole wheat starter.  So far I am lucky and all turned out very well.  Now, I am interested in making a rice flour starter.  Have you or anyone else done that before?  I would like to try using a rice flour starter to make gluten free breads.  Do you think it's doable?

I will post a thread to see if someone else will jump in.  Thanks again.

I absentmindedly picked up a stainless steel teaspoon to add some rye flour and water to my starter I had sitting out on the counter. Do I have to throw it out and start all over? I had been using it for about a month and was getting really nice sourdough bread with it. What will happen to it from using the SS spoon? I'm not gonna chuck it until someone tells me I absolutely have to. Will Sourdough Lady or someone  please advise me?

i have not tried sourdough baking before, but I am looking forward to my first attempt!!

I'm a sixth grade science teacher who also likes to cook.  I'm playing around this summer with sourdough, and discovered your wonderful site.  I've just started six starter cultures, and will be maintaining a daily log with pictures.

 

Protocol

24 ounce clear plastic containers with blue lids.

All dry measurements in tablespoons.

All liquid measurements in ounces.

Bob's Red Mill Organic Dark Rye Flour

Arrowhead Mills Organic Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour

Delmonte Pineapple Juice from concentrate

Generic bottled water

Day 1

Kitchen  temperature 72-75 F.

Culture 1--3 oz juice, 4 tbsp wheat flour

Culture 2--3 oz juice, 4 tbsp rye flour

Culture 3--3 oz juice, 2 tbsp rye flour, 2 tbsp wheat flour

Culture 4--3 oz water, 4 tbsp wheat flour

Culture 5--3 oz water, 4 tbsp rye flour

Culture 6--3 oz water, 2 tbsp rye flour, 2 tbsp wheat flour

hello

 

my friend gave me two sour dough starters (in two different containers)

 

I'm curious if I can combine them into one container... will there two cultures combine properly into one state, or is there a good chance something will go wrong

 

I ask this because they appear a little different from each other. He made them the same way, but one is bubblier than the other, which in turn smells cheesier than the first

 

-p

 

 

Thank you AnnieT and SourdoLady!

I have another question.

My starter is vigorous. If I want to multiply it's amount faster to obtain more starter for a large recipe, I've read I can up the water/flour to starter ratio.

I suppose the only consideration is that the more feed I give it, the longer I need to wait, right?

If I add 10 and 10 parts of flour and water for every part of starter... I suppose the starter won't mind but that I'll need to wait longer for the yeast to eat the extra feed... or are there other problems to consider?

 

Thanks!

I am just a beginner and want to make a batch of starter. Can I use any all purpose flour with this recipe or must it be freshly milled?
Thanks,

When I feed my starter in the fridge, If I'm not planning on using it do I just mix in the flour and water and leave it in the fridge or do I have to take it out/warm it up each time?

Althetrainer's Russian Sandwich bread looked so irresistable that I had to try it right away.  The question someone had asked was how much starter you used instead of the yeast.  I kept looking for the answer but didnt find one, so I tried to fudge it.  I figured a little extra starter wont hurt.  I think I used about 30g white and 30g w/w starter.  The dough didnt seem to rise much, so I gave it some folds a couple of times but there was very little rise.  I started at 2:30 pm so I should have been able to bake it by 8:30 or so, but by 10 when it still had not doubled, I left it out overnite.  By 7 am it had come a little over the loaf pan and I would say it had doubled.  So I baked it with steam for 8 minutes at 450F and then without steam at 400F for 30m.  At which point it sounded hollow and quite dark, so I took it out and it is now resting.  It looks good but feels heavy and I didnt get any ovenspring.  I will have to wait and see how dense or airy it is.

Q1.  Is there a formula for 1t yeast = ? starter.

Q2.  Does steam create crust or ovenspring or aids in both?  If you wanted a soft sandwich loaf with no crust, would you omit steam?

Salma

I've just started making my own bread in the last couple of weeks and I have to say it's pretty fun and a lot easier than I expected.  I did have a few hicups in the beginning because I got confused in terms of the different types of yeast.  But I got it sorted out in the end.

I had no idea that there are other ways to make up the yeast other than using a packet bought from the supermarket.  I would like to try out your recipe over the weekend because I don't feel that my bread is rising as well as it should.  Although, perhaps that's because I've become so accustomed to the airy fairy bread from the supermarkets.

April

Once my starter is in the refrigerator, can it have a lid on it?  I have a glass bowl that has a lid, but would that be too tightly covered?

 

Thanks!

Danielle

I'm on day 14 and have gotten slightly frustrated with my starter.  I've had a few days where it doubled in size, but this was always after a feeding with pineapple juice.  i then switch to water/flour on the next feeding and it shows little/no activity.  

 

 I've had activity on the past two days (pineapple/flour) and I'm wondering when and if i should switch to just water and flour.  Also, when can i start to refrigerate it?

I want to try making this starter and I'm wondering how much you use in recipes...what is the rough equivalent to a package of active dry yeast?  And how do you replenish the starter?  What do you use to replenish it and how much?  Thanks.

I think that it's soo great that you are sharing about home made bread. I live gluten free but I think that home cooking is about the best thing there is!

Bryan

from

what is gluten blog

After my starter was complete, it smelled perfect for the first couple weeks I was baking breads with it (daily).  As the weeks have gone on, my starter has started to smell progressively less sour and progressively more flour-y.  It still bubbles, rises and falls a little over the course of the 12 hours after feeding, and still seems to make reasonably sour breads.  Why does it smell like flour instead of yummy sourness and should I be seeking to make it smell more sour?  If so, how?

Hi Sourdough Lady,

I would like to thank you for the sourdough starter recipe. This is my third try to make a starter and your recipe was the best. I started my sourdough starter last Sept. 14, so this is my 7th day. Yesterday, my starter was looking so bubbly so I thought its about time for me to use it for the first time. I made a sourdough pancakes, and it was successful and good. Then I also tried to make a sourdough bread, using your sourdough bread recipe. I followed all instructions, and I saw it rise to more than double after 5hrs. Then I punch it down, folded it, placed it in a greased loaf pan to rise again. It did rise again, so after 4hrs i put it in the oven to bake at the rquired temp. To my dismay, as soon as it reached the oven it started to collapsed. I continued baking it for 30 mins but I got a hard bread that collapsed to its original size while it cooks.

My question is, whats was wrong with my bread? Did I do something wrong that it didnt turned out as it should be? Do you have any suggestion for me to make a successful sourdough bread?

I will appreciate very much if you can help me make a good bread. Thank you.

Moonpearl

I too have a sourdough starter that was very active for the first 2 days, but "died."  It is now day 4, and still no real activity.  To decrease the pH, I just added about 1/2 tsp of white vinegar, since I didn't have pineapple juice. 

What I want to know is, when you say we should continue to feed the starter, should we just add a little flour and water every now and then?  Or should we throw out half and add more like a "normal" feeding?  If so, how often. 

Thanks!

Could anyone give me the EASIEST way to make sourdough.  I am new at this, and it looks very complicated.

 

Thank you.

 

Ellen

Hello, I've had a starter going for two weeks now and I think I may have killed it when I was trying to feed it. Actually, I'm not even sure if I ever had it going or not. I thought it looked like I had some activity because I had these nice bubbles (as seen in the picture below) and when I stirred it, it had that springy texture that dough often has. It had quite an alcohol smell but I don't think I ever smelled a yeasty smell. Are the bubbles that I was seeing in the picture below the result of the alcohol gases alone or does it look like I had a starter going? If this looks good I will try again in the same way and just be careful not to kill it by what I did before.

Thanks for the advice!

Just wanted to update you that my starter has been doing great since increasing the amount of flour when feeding it! This morning it had doubled in less than 5 hours and this evening I fed it at 8 pm and by 9 pm it had already doubled! I'm so excited .. it's like my baby!

Thanks for the great advice!

I really just mixed water (tap water put through Brita) and AP flour (Carrefour brand even) and followed the instructions here:

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

I didn't do anything special other than follow his instructions carefully and I baked my first sourdough bread on the 7th day.

I live in a relatively dry area (southern Spain) so even when the humidity is high we're talking about 40-60% or so.  I'm not sure whether humidity as high as 80% is still good for sourdough cultures.

70-80 F or 21-26C is also deemed to be ideal so it might be too warm in many parts of the world as well.  You might be more successful if you tried making one in a room with 24/7 air conditioning depending on where you live.

Once you've got the starter going it can thrive in much warmer climate - but I think the trick is to create an environment where the wild yeast can win against other bacteria that might try to grow and get themselves established first.

Dear all

Interesting topic, I did try my starter couple of time sometime worked some time didn't work out. I almost give up do starter until I found this web by accident. I'm so greatful to join your community. Next time I'll share my experience. I have to run.

:)

my starter is 2 weaks old, plenty of bubbles but no lift, i have done every thing instructed   it smells like yeast i feed twice a day i did this the same way last year had a good one but let it die ,so i am not new to this, should i start over i add rye and organic wheat that I grind ...............thank for any info bill

Hi, Just last night I combined pineapple juice with the whole wheat flour, and today it is not a consistent beige color throughout, rather there was a darker brown color on the top, is that due to it not being wet enough? I gave it a good stir hoping it would dissolve..any advice? thanks in advance!!

I don't show a lot of bubbles, but there's been a visible layer of hooch for the past couple days. Is that a good sign?