Starter starting fits and starts
Well, here I thought this would be easy...smh
I have two starters being lazy. The first I used a commercial yeast recipe from AllRecipes. It was going fine for a bit, then it just tanked. It barely peaks at all. I'm not sure if it's temperature, ratio, flour type or what...but it's sluggish. It no longer has the sourness and clean smell...it's more sweet and floury. I feed 1:2:2 (2 oz starter, 4 oz water, 4 oz all purpose, bleached flour) after discard every 12 hours and put it in a warm (75°F-80°F) oven since my kitchen is colder. I'm thinking it just didn't populate enough before feeding and I was actually just reducing the yeast population....the floury sweet smell gives me that idea. Am I correct?
Secondly, I started a "wild" starter with UNbleached flour. It's yet to really be aggressive....the smell, definitely not a clean, yeasty fermentation smell, it's got a pungent and slightly unpleasant smell. It is young, only 6 days old. The unpleasant aroma is decreasing, but it's just not thriving yet. I keep the same conditions and ratios of 1:2:2 but use only the unbleached flour. Will this eventually get going, or should I just toss it and try a wild starter using whole wheat accelerated with a pinch of rye?
Thanks
D
For the first - your probably right. Feed when you see max activity. Discard is usually unnecessary at first, unless using large amounts and you run out if room. Too thin and you may not see much rise. Keep consistency of a wet dough so it'll hold bubbles and not let them escape.
The second - sounds like it's getting there. Keep on doing what you're doing.
Adding rye or ww won't hurt, but as these were started with a different flour, work in a new food source slowly. Gotta allow the little guys time to get used to the new food.
All in all, things are well on the way. It does take a little time, and usually longer with white flours.
I'm still really new to all of this but I'll add what I've been doing (its been working).
Instead of discarding starter every day, I just add to it. So I typically have a small amount of starter leftover from baking once a week and then I slowly build it up. Usually adding a couple tablespoons of flour and a tablespoon or so of water. My starter is relatively stiff (dry). This has worked well so far. My starter is consistently rising and falling. Perhaps not getting rid of any starter may help?
I think the easiest way to make your own starter is with Debra Winks "Pineapple Juice Solution". Enter this in the "Search" box upper right corner of this page for the directions and the explanation. The pineapple juice is to maintain the proper pH of the mix during the early stages. Do not add commercial yeast!
Ford
A good read. I suspected there was a microbiological cascade, but this confirms it. My "wild" culture is probably not reaching a low enough pH
After 3 unsuccessful tries to do a wild starter, someone here suggested a 1/2 rye and 1/2 unbleached AP mix. My starter is healthy, forgiving, delicious and now 1 year old!! I mix up a tupperware container with hald rye and half AP so I can measure flour from that tub each time and not have to mix it. I build or maintain 1:1:1 and sometimes 1: 0.5 : 0.5 (both methods work well) I bake once each week, sometimes once every 2 weeks and my starter stays in the fridge for several days until I'm ready to build for a bake. Add some whole rye to the wild starter mix and I bet you're happier in 12 hours. Good luck!
For my white flour, commercially started starter, I think it got depopulated...the latest doubling took abt 30 hours (I just skipped that 12 hour feeding....not a good technique for bleached flour/single strain commercial yeast) The other variable is probably a slightly high temperature. After reading on this, it's ok to do for a one time use commercial strain recipe like the one from AllRecipes.com. But anything over 75°F for a long term attempt is likely to allow a higher bacteria to yeast ratio that disadvantages the yeast and messes with the pH...which is probably why my latest doubling was too runny. So, I dicarded, kept 4 oz starter, reduced my temps to 70°F-75°F, and did a 2:4:4 and a 2:3:3 split. Hopefully after a couple cycles, it will recover.
The "wild" is another story...we'll see. I'm going to give it more time, but at this point it isn't even achieving froth. *sigh*
I found discarding early on tends to "dilute" things. Basically, it's tossing what needs to happen anyway, if that makes any sense. No matter, you're already well on the way to starterdom. That doesn't mean you can't get another going though. Using ww and/or rye in a new starter may be ready about the same time as the current projects (they tend to be quicker, and stronger than white). Many quit at this point thinking something is wrong. The only thing wrong is not giving it the time it needs to get right. Good luck!
And, Netfan....that's probably a great option. But my wife is questioning my sanity at this point with three microbiology experiments! I have bought a digital scale, a remote digital thermometer for my "incubator," and was caught shopping for laboratory pyrex beakers with ml scales on the side (to keep track of volumes.)
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