January 7, 2013 - 6:44pm
Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter Flop
Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter Day 1 - Day 7 followed directions, everying went OK but it did not expand or smell, on day 15 tried using starter on live drill as prescribed in the recipe for making bread. It did not rise bout baked it anyway and have a goog hard ball.
Have continued to add flower, water and apple cider vinegar but it does not rise.
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Active starter should be able to double in volume within 6-12 hours. If it doesn't, it's not ready and something went wrong.
Were you following these instructions: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233?
Did your Day 7 starter look like the Day 7 starter photo in that thread?
What kind of flour are you feeding it? It's best to start out with some kind of whole grain, such whole wheat or rye. Once established, you can start weaning it off to white flour if desired.
What is the room temp that you are storing it? Storing it in a warm place (like an oven with the oven light turned on, around 80-85F) will help kickstart things.
Continue to feed per the Day 4 instructions for another 5 days to see if you get more activity. Alternately, consider firming up the starter: for 1 heaping tbsp of starter, feed it 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup water. I honestly don't think the vinegar is necessary.
In any case, you'll need at least 5 more days to get it going. Don't give up, stick with it and the starter will grow! Just be patient.
I suspect part of the problem was that you used white flour on days 1-3, and then switched to sprouted wheat flour of day 4. The instructions listed the opposite, start with whole grain and then switch to something else. This is because whole grain flours are generally more conducive to developing a starter than white flours.
If you continue to feed with your sprouted wheat flour, continue to do so for 5-7 days, and your starter should activate as expected. Then you can switch back to a different flour if desired, or use some of the existing starter to create a new white flour starter.
Generally it helps to keep a starter fed the same kind of food (feed a whole wheat starter with whole wheat flour, feed a white starter with white flour, etc); switching to different food creates a period of instability (and possibly poor starter performance) while the yeast and bacterial culture readjusts.
Thanks Cranbo. I like your suggestion and will give it a shot.
After a couple more tries with my uncooperative Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter, I trashed it, purchased Ed Wood and Jean Wood’s “Classic Sourdough” book, built a “Proofing Box” and was able to develop a Wild Yeast. I like it but my wife is not to keen on the sourness. But it worked! Thank you for your help.