April 3, 2016 - 10:51am
Rye starter smell. Smelled good, not anymore.
The starter is little over a week old. I used half rye half whole grain (integrale). I feed it daily with a 1:1:1 ratio and keep it at room temperature.
It used to smell great. First with hints of corn, then pleasant apple smell, but for the last couple of days I got a strong unpleasant smell, almost like nail polish remover.
Is it normal? Is it bad? Can it be fixed?
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It sounds like you have an active starter but the bugs are being starved. This can happen with the 1:1:1 ratio because you are inoculating the culture with a lot of microflora. Try feeding it 1:5:5 or 1:4:4 after dumping out ~90% of what you have. Or else you need to feed it more often, maybe every 6 hours or so, if you keep the 1:1:1 ratio.
-Brad
Thanks, I'll try the "whatever is left after pouring":1:1 :)
My starter also starts smelling of nail polish remover when its hungry. Just feed it a bit more and it'll be okay...
Toss it out and start again. You have a bad boy in there.
Weird, now my white starter starts to smell the same. Cross-contamination or delayed reaction?
I find that my rye sponges thrive on feedings every 5-7 days. My standard formula is 100% hydration and 10% culture, then let it stand at room temperature 8-10 hours and refrigerate.
The only other caveat I'd add is to never build a bread on a starter sponge that's gone more than 24 hours since its last feeding.
Stan Ginsberg
theryebaker.com
I am not a sour bread fan. After seeing Chad Robertson say he used a young starter I gave it a try. I feed my starter before I go to bed, then make my sponge the next morning (200g sponge with 1 tsp starter). I leave it around 3-4 hours while my flour autolyse. So far I like the results.