My starter not starting?
I've been cultivating a starter now for about two weeks according to the steps given in Tartine Bread. Today I tried the float test after a night of letting the leaven ferment. It failed the test. Book says to move to warm environment, which I did in my toaster oven for about an hour.... set to 200, then turned off before placing leaven in oven. It still failed the float test. Not one to give up easily, I added some quick rise yeast (about 4 grams) some water (about 1/4 cup @ 90 degrees), and added to the leaven... mixed it up good and let it sit for awhile before adding it to my 500 grams of flour.
I am doing a 1/2 recipe so if I blow it, I'm not wasting a lot of flour and creating more bird food.
My last attempt I used the leaven that failed the float test and my bread did not rise as expected. I believe it ran out of gas so to speak and I ended up with croutons for Thanksgiving.
Questions: If I am doing everything like the book says... feeding on regular schedule, etc. and my float test continues to fail, should I scrape this way making leaven and try something else?
My bread is currently on the first 1/2 hour of bulk fermentation as I type this.