Starter help!!
Hello,
i had a reliable, easy starter in Pittsburgh. I have been baking sourdough bread every weekend for the past year.
I just moved to Charleston SC and started a new starter with 100% fresh milled rye flour and water, the flour was purchased 1 year ago and kept in a sealed Tupperware container in a dark cabinet. The temperature in my house is 78F.
It was very active the first night (which was unexpected) and continuously decreasing in activity over the week and minimally active after 7 days. It still has tiny bubbles, and smells sour, and passes the float test but does not rise whatsoever. I read Debra’s winks blog about bacteria being the cause that could be deceiving as yeast in the beginning. If this is the case can I still fix it? Start over? I’ve tried it twice and the same thing happened. I’ve used purified water both times.
What the heck is happening!? Any thoughts would be appreciated. I’m so frustrated I miss baking.
Thanks, Jenny
I'm a complete novice for sourdough, but maybe purified water is overkill? Either spring water or tap water that has sat out to allow the chlorine to dissipate is what I've heard to use.
Thank you!
I'm a newbie to sourdough too so correct me if I'm wrong. I think I've read somewhere that you shouldn't be using freshly milled flour for a starter? I can't recall the reason behind it so I'm skeptical about it...
I have read a few similar posts about their starter not being active for 10 days, but after feeding for another week or so it came back to life. So I'd say keep feeding it and reduce the volume to 50g to avoid wasting too much flour. I'm sticking to my baby starter too!
Thank you! It’s odd it seems backwards from most people’s experience. It was overflowing out of the jar night 1 and now it’s barely rising
The only other thing I will put out there is that a few weeks ago I came here saying my starter just wasn't growing. Turns out my starter was too thin. I was following a recipe from a book, but either it was wrong, or my own human error came into play. I try to keep it one part starter, one part flour (I use a mix of whole wheat and rye), and one part de-chlorinated water.
When it was too thin, for one feeding I upped the flour and reduced the water to get a thicker batter, like pancake batter consistency when it was soup consistency before that. With that change, it went bonkers. I feed it every 12 hours when it's left out on the counter at room temperature.
Well I've had the same experience too so you are not alone. My starter went crazy on the second day I fed it, doubled its size within an hour and tripled when I check back at it in the morning. Did your starter smell foul at that time? Mine had a really bad, vomit-ish smell, so I think that's the Leuconostoc bacteria gang going. Here's a pretty good explanation about the battle within the jar: What Should Sourdough Starter Smell Like?. I used grape juice instead of water to skip this phase, but now it's starting to smell sweet, almost like sweet buns, and there's not much activity so I'm kinda stuck here too. I'm determined to keep it for 2 weeks. If it doesn't become alive and healthy in 2 weeks then maybe I'll switch back to commercial yeast for my bread (which is probably not approved by TFL lol). Please update me if yours comes to life! Let's do this together, shall we?
So this bacteria is ok and I can keep going? I figured that meant it went bad. Glad someone else is having this problem! I was so excited when I saw it growing I thought it was yeast
If you got a rise from your starter so early in the process, that is not an end product, but a step in the process of getting to a yeast you want. There are science terms for it all, but that it has slowed down is normal. It's just moving to the next stage. It takes about a week to get a starter going. Mine too 7-8 days. It's just not possible to get a starter going in a 2 or 3 days.
Your description is typical starter behavior. Starter always goes "crazy" on the 2nd day or so, and always has a foul smell around day 3 or 4—like "vomit" some people say. This is nothing to worry about, and simply means it's going through the right chemical changes. Then it seems to go into a slow period, not doing much for another day, before it finally starts to enter maturity about day 6, smelling like yeast and going up and down more regularly. Doesn't mean it's ready to make bread yet, but that in a few more days it should be.
I agree that the problem here might be that the starter if being tossed out too soon and another week might solve the problem. At the very least, if it doesn't solve the problem, then it will be clearer that new flour should probably be tried.
Thank you so much for the reply! That is very helpful info. It’s only been a week, and now there is no growth but small bubbles. I will keep feeding it for another week and see how it goes. Thanks again!!!
I've been getting fresh milled flours from a very local mill and I was told by them that the flour was good for 6 months...unless kept in the freezer, then it would stay good for a year. Maybe your rye flour is past its expiration date? Which might make your theory about bacteria pretending to be yeast correct.
Did you keep any of your old starter? In dehydrated form, maybe? I think that's a real good precaution. If you've got a stater that really works for you, always dehydrate some of it and store that away. The dehydrated starter will last for...well...there's starter from Egyptian times all dehydrated that they've brought back to life, so, for a very long time indeed.
Anyway, my advice would be to give a search around SC and see if there's a local mill where you can buy a new batch of freshly milled rye.
Thank you!! I was thinking the flour might be the problem.. it was so easy to make a starter last time it worked in a week of consistently feeding. I think something must be wrong! Thanks for the info about the 6 month expiration! Very much appreciate the time you spent to respond.
Hi,
I’m just going to be echoing what some others have said. Year old flour probably isn’t the best for feeding your starter. My starter smelled like super cheese for a couple days in the beginning, too. I adjusted the PH with a little vinegar one feeding, I forget the quantity. The smell went away and it started behaving after that. Also, I don’t know what hydration you’re feeding your starter, but I keep mine at 100%, or equal weights flour to water. I don’t even use filtered water, my starter likes it right out of the tap. Not everyone agrees about that, but seriously, mine seems less active with filtered water.
Patience is your friend. You’ll be baking again in no time!
Cheers,
Tyler