Rye starter not rising
So I know there have been a lot of posts on this and I read a few…. So I’m going to hold off on feeding and give it a stir and see what happens..
my current situation . I’m in day 7 of feeding and the starter has stopped expanding. Some small and large bubbles and that’s it. Slight sour smell which is normal.
so currently I have 70g mature starter + 50g rye + 50g AP in bleached. With 100 grams water at 85F. I have been storing it at 80F. I feed once a day and I don’t see any signs of it expanding (usually there is a skim on the jar where it stopped rising during the night). One thing I did do which may have caused a hic-up, was that I started at 78F did that for 2 days and then bumped to 80F, but figured the shock would be over by now. Is it just a waiting/feeding game or should I change my process.
thanks
With one feed as below (just once) then don't feed at all. Stir twice a day and see what it does over the next few days.
With the second feed once a day... 1/2 of the previous day and top back up e.g.
Each day take off 50g and feed 25g water + 25g flour. 78°F is absolutely fine.
So you'll have one 100g starter that you aren't feeding and a second 100g starter that gets halved and topped back up once a day.
Just curious, do you actually expect a 50:50 rye:AP starter to grow significantly? I've never tried, and I'm not sure... It won't have good gluten because of 50% rye, and it won't be as thick as 100% rye because of AP. So would it hold the gas sufficiently well at 100% hydration?
Exactly how much would depend on the starter but at 50:50 hydration it will still be quite thick and will still have significant gluten.
Thanks Abe. The stirring helped its rising again, so I’ll make sure to do that moving forward. I do like your feeding schedule, less flour used
Can you help me understand the why behind your ratios?
My pleasure. When there's little or no activity stirring and keeping warm is better than feeding. Reason being... if there is no activity then what are you feeding? Starters can show more activity in the first few days but often go through a quiet period after this. The initial burst of energy isn't always from the microbes wanted in a starter. When it goes quiet it may look like there's nothing happening but it's just sorting itself out. It's been fed so there plenty of food left but if one starts throwing out starter and feeding with fresh water and flour too much too soon then you're throwing away all the good stuff and before long all you'll end up with is fresh flour and water. As a starter matures the pH will lower and become acidic but feeding too much too soon will delay this process. So at this early stage one either wants to skip a feed or two or give smaller feeds, just to keep the microbes happy, but not to overdo it. That's why I advised both and doing a side-by-side comparison.
Once your starter(s) show signs of activity every time it's been fed then one should slowly increase the feed amount and how often. If your starter begins to bubble up every time it's been fed then switch to a healthier feed. e.g. 35g starter + 35g water + 35g flour. So now you've increased it from 1:0.5:0.5 to 1:1:1. And should it bubble up regularly within 12 hours then feed twice a day. Once your starter has no issue eating through that feed within 12 hours then increase again. But there's no need to build too much at any one time. Keep it at around 100g. So after the 1:1:1 feed has gone well and you wish to increase it to 1:2:2 then try 20g starter + 40g water + 40g flour. Once your starter bubbles up on cue every time it's been feed 1:2:2 then time to try a first test bake.
There is no one exact way to make a starter. I've given you 'precise' numbers because that's the best way to explain the process rather than the equally as good method, but more difficult to explain, feed the starter by eyeballing it and allow it to dictate to you how much and how often. for someone who is making a starter the first time this might not be as helpful. After you have made this starter, have been using and maintaining it for a while and you wish to make another one i'm sure you'll eyeball it and go by feel.
smelling sour and not rising anymore sounds hungry to me. If it tastes sour, go for a 1:5:5 feeding. You only need a spoon of starter to test it in a juice glass.
If it does nothing in 24 hrs, the starter wasn't ready for prime time yet. Discard and try later on.