The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Starter not rising

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Starter not rising

It's bubbly as all hell, but not really rising. I'm using the King Arthur method. Feeding 2x a day. 

I've read that this is overkill and it's not getting enough time. I'm about 5 days in. 

 

 

netfan's picture
netfan

I had the same issue with mine.  Thought it failed.  Someone said I might be feeding too often, so I left it and instead of feeding at 12 hours, I stirred.  Wow, it went crazy over the next two days and suddenly I was feeding 2-3 times each day.  Stir and watch :)

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Hey, I just stirred my sluggish starter and you're right - action! Thanks for the tip... :)

netfan's picture
netfan

I can't take credit, just passing along help I got here, but I'm really happy that it helped you out!

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Well, I'm a stickler for instructions. The problem with this, and it's starting to piss me off, is that there are 80000 opinions on how to do this. It's discouraging. I was told that it can take up to a month for it to be ready to use, and you must wait for it to get to the point where it rises before you can use it. It's not rising, just bubbling. 

 

drogon's picture
drogon

Nope. Millions and millions :-)

Just use it. Give it a go. What have you got to lose? Half a kilo of flour? Go for it.

-Gordon

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

I just stirred it. I'll see what happens. 

richkaimd's picture
richkaimd

I would like to hear from a baker/microbiologist on the issues discussed on this site about sourdough starters, including building a new starter and maintaining it.  

Are you out there?

Jane Dough's picture
Jane Dough

You might want to search out Debra Winks blog. I would say she has likely commented on, elaborated on and instructed on your topic many times. 

Arjon's picture
Arjon

That would probably help people to give you feedback that's appropriate to your starter rather than general tips.

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

So I didn't feed it last night and today till about 1/2 hour ago. There were hardly any bubbles. So if I don't feed it, hardly any bubbles. If I do feed it, it bubbles, but no rise. 

netfan's picture
netfan

What is the weight of your starter at present?

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I completely forgot the easiest way to test your starter - drop a spoonful of it into a bowl of water. If it floats, it's ready to rise a loaf of bread!

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Nope, doesn't float. :(

I guess the bubbles means bacteria but no yeast? Man this sucks. I put 5 grapes in it. I guess that's supposed to help with yeast. 

I don't know what it weighs really as I don't know what the weight of the container is, but I weighed the whole thing. This morning I did not take any out, I just added flour and water. 

 

 

 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Added a tbsp of rye flour into the mix. Shall see what happens. 

Ru007's picture
Ru007

Don't give up on your starter! I just got my first starter going this week and made my first loaf today :)

Rye flour is definitely a winner when it comes to starters. 

Check out this site it clarified A LOT for me...

http://yumarama.com/1124/starter-day-one/

Can i ask what the hydration of your starter is? It looks quite liquidy, maybe something is happening but its too wet too hold itself up. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Well today I only took a little bit out and added the same amount of flour. 1/2 cup. Before I was taking out 1/2 the total starter and adding in 1 cup. So we'll see how it goes. As mentioned, yesterday I added some rye flour, 1tbsp. Today it's not watery, pretty thick. I only added a small amount of water today. Maybe a 1/4 cup or so. 

drogon's picture
drogon

... start baking.

Try it. It's easy. Follow this: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44111/easy-sourdough-part-1

-Gordon

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Question, if you use just rye for starter, can you eventually convert to regular flour. I don't want Rye bread, but sourdough. 

drogon's picture
drogon

.. use a rye start to create any starter. e.g. if recipe wants 150g of wheat starter, then take 30g rye starter, add in 60g wheat flour and 60g water - leave 4-5 hours and you have a more or less (much more than less) wheat starter.

Andrew Whitley suggests doing just this with a rye based starter, however I keep separate rye, wheat and spelt starters.

-Gordon

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

So is the definitive answer on this whether it starts to double in size and when a tsp floats in water?

Thanks for the help. 

As mentioned, I'm getting bubbling, but no increase in size. what I need to do is remove the contents from the container, weigh the container and then weigh the starter so I know what I'm working with. 

drogon's picture
drogon

At least not in my books. Or rather in my books there are 1000's of answers, all different.

I make bread from a starter that has no bubbles and sinks in water. I also make bread from starters that are full of bubbles and float in water.

I think you should make some bread with what you have.

-Gordon

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

I just transferred it into another bowl and zero'd out the bowl on the scale and weighed what I have 405g

 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Doesn't smell as funky as the other day. But I did transfer it to a new bowl today and fed it a 1/2 cup of flour. It was 24 hours since I put in that TBSP of rye flour. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

I'm the human, I WIN. How much Rye flour do you suggest to put in? 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Wasn't many bubbles today when I woke up. So I stirred it and this is what I have after stirring.  Haven't added anything to it in well over 24 hours. 

 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Well I will if that's what you recommend. 1/2 cup? 

Smells a little bit tart, but not overpowering

 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Wont adding too much rye make it into rye bread? Or I guess only the starter portion of the bread would be rye and the rest would be regular unbleached flour. 

I got some real starter through the mail coming today. Hopefully it comes with instructions. I prefer to work with exact instructions, but I know this isn't an exact science, which is why I'm having problems with this. 

I moved the stuff next to the baseboard. It was on an end table, above the baseboard, but it's usually measuring 70 on there. Next to the baseboard, it's 74. 

Thanks for the help. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

G'dam sonn. Sh*t's happening now. Must have been the lack of heat. I had another small mason jar with rye only flour and water and what was 1/2 full is now almost popping the lid off. I took 1/2 of that out and added a 1/2 cup of regular flour and will see what it does. 

I know understand what the stuff is supposed to look like when it's ready. It's really stringy and gooey. 

 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Well I was going to do this one. 

http://hobbshousebakery.co.uk/recipe/sourdough/

Only problem is it's in grams. I'll have to convert if I use that one. I do have a scale though, that does grams. 

I have a proving basket and I wanted to do it in my dutch oven. 

Not sure of the proper temp and time in a dutch oven though. 

I do have a kitchenaid with the bread mixing attachment also. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

double post. 

I'll have to read that over. 

 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Do I need to do this step? My starter hasn't been stored in the fridge yet. 

Prepare your Starter : Night before take 30g starter and add 60g water + 60g bread flour and leave to bubble up overnight.

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Not sure what you mean by 100% hydration. 

I've watched tons of videos. 

This one in particular caught my interest as it seems simple. The only issue is he's using a stone and I don't have one, but have a dutch oven. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be57uXRf5xo

The other thing is, his starter is very watery, mine is not. 

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

100% hydration means that there are equal amounts of flour and water by weight. So, if you start with 30 grams of starter and add 60 grams of water and 60 grams of flour, your starter is 100% hydration. When it is first mixed that will seem like a moderately thick batter, but it will thin out and get more 'watery' as it ages. First it will bubble up and get sort of pillowy and stringy, then if it is stored for a few days it will get quite watery.

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Cool, thanks. This is the starter I got in the mail today. I added the flour and water it said in the directions. Does it look a little thick? Some of it I couldn't get out of the bag. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

This a one is going to sit overnight. 

 

 

Some starter porn 

Can't seem to get the temp up in my house. Reading 71 now. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

IDIOT just realized I got the wrong proving basket. I have a dutch oven, not a stone. Man this is going to be a long tough battle for me. 

 

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Don't sweat it. There will always be little bumps in the road to good bread. The trick is to learn from them. And I find that almost all of it is at least edible. At the very least you can re-use dough as pate fermentee (that is, using some old dough as a starter to make new dough, if it doesn't look like it's going to make good bread on its own), or even using baked bread to make new things (like bread pudding, or thickening stew, or croutons, or mushing it up and using it to make even more bread!). That said, I did need to bin an entire batch of 'brick' bread early on in my bread baking journey. I didn't need that many door stops. :)

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Well the loaf didn't rise or anything, it's just flat in the tupperware container. Gonna try to bake it but I think all my starter is junk. All 3 of them. I don't get what I am doing wrong here. 

netfan's picture
netfan

I've been feeding the squirrels in my back yard for two weeks now (with bad bread).  That doesn't make me an expert but I wanted you to know that it takes some perserverance to make this all happen, even if you are following precise directions (as I also try to do).

For warmer starter temps, use your cold oven with the light on.  You may or may not be able to close the door all the way (My oven reaches 100F when the light is on and door is closed and I killed a starter that way).  At 76F my starter was very happy and I kept it there (unless we were cooking, of course) for several days until it was rising and falling and being fed twice each day. I found after that I was able to leave it on the counter (our home is 68F all the time) and it was quite happy.

Sounds like you are feeling pretty down about all this.  Honestly, you are doing all the things that help you learn the process.  I walked away TWICE over the past year because I couldn't raise a proper starter.  Now I could do it blindfolded.  Every moment of evey baking session I've learned something valuable.  SOON I'll have bread that others will envy, and you will too.  Hang in there!!  And, good luck!

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

I mixed up the 3 batches of starter I have. The issue is, I think that I can't get the stuff warm enough. When I put some in a small ball jar with a lid on loose, within  a few hours, it almost was to the top and was 1/2 full prior. This is when I moved it on the floor towards the baseboard heat and next to a wine fridge. However the heat goes down at night and it's super cold 8 months a year in Massachusetts. So I'll check my oven and see if it has a light when I open it. 

I will take a pic of the starter later too. I have 3 going, 1 from breadtopia as mentioned. I cooked the loaf I had waiting overnight. It did not rise. It tastes good, but the non rising is an issue. It's the starter. I just can't seem to get a handle on what I'm doing wrong. 

So I cooked the loaf. I don't think I had it in long enough. 475 for 30 min, cover on. Then 475 for 15 min with cover off. It is a tad gooey, but with some grass fed butter, it tastes damn good. I need a chainsaw to cut it though. My knives suck :)

You can see that it's rather flat. No idea what I did wrong except there was not enough yeast in the starter. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Better pic

 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Here's the starters now. Stirred earlier today. To me, they look a tad dry. 

 

netfan's picture
netfan

I'll try to get you pics of my starters this weekend (one rye, one AP, both 100% hydration), they look very similar to yours.  Honestly I think you aren't giving them enough time in a warm enough place yet for them to thrive, so things are taking longer.  If no light in the oven you could take a small lamp and place it in there.  Anything to provide a warm consistent place for the starter.  I still think you're well on your way.

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Yes, I tend to think the same. They are both under a lamp on a table and the table is right above the baseboard heat. I have a heating pad in front of the jars too. I didn't want to put the jars right on top of the heating pad. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Why did I not see this sooner?

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Well, even though the bread didn't work out as well as I wanted (looks-wise) the stuff is damn tasty. Almost 1/2 the freakn loaf is gone already, LOL. 

jameshenry's picture
jameshenry

Well what happened was I did the recipe on the youtube video. I'll try your recipe next time

The recipe was 460g flour

300g starter, which pretty much ate up all the starter I had in that jar

10g salt

230 ml water

I mixed it together by hand a little, then threw in in the kitchen aid with the bread mix attachment and let it rip 10 min. I then made it into the rectangular loaf, which was wrong, since it was going in the dutch oven. So I made it round. Instead of rising in the round plastic container, it sort of flattened out. I let it sit overnight covered like this. 

I preheated the dutch oven @ 500 F then lowered the stove to 475, cooked it for 30 min, cover on, then 20 min cover off. 

It came out good, as far as taste, but I'm not sure why it didn't rise like I thought it would. My only assumption is that the starter wasn't ready. 

In the video, the guys starter is very watery, mine was not like that at all.