Sourdough stopped rising
Hi, everyone!
My first attempt at making my own sourdough starter was successful and I have been baking with it for several months now. It's always been very healthy and active and given the bread a good rise.
A few days ago I fed it the usual amount (I ususally use white flour for the starter) and put it in the fridge as I was going away for the weekend. When I came back I took it out and did not feed it as I was only gone for 1.5 days and figured it couldn't have eaten the flour that quickly because of the low temperature in the fridge. I should have probably fed it in the evening but I left it overnight and fed it around noon on the next day. There was a little crust on top of it, cause it's pretty hot right now, but I was not worried as this has happened many times in the past and all I had to do was scoop the crust and then feed the rest of starter. And that has always worked perfectly. The thing is, the starter stopped rising at all or responding to the feedings whatsoever. It's been 3 days now since I took it out of the fridge and I have been giving it 3 feedings a day and it has some normal fermented smell. It definitely doesn't smell foul, has no mold or anything visibly wrong with it but it just suddenly refuses to do anything. I have no logical explanation for this.
Has this happened to anyone of you? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!