Hi folks! I was planning to be polite and make an intro post first, but I haven't had a chance to get to that and would appreciate some potentially time-sensitive guidance.
I'm making sourdough starter for the first time. I read a half dozen or guides that all said there would maybe be a little bit of progress on day 3 or 4 and to start twice daily feedings at that point. So I was very much not expecting to see this within two days.
Should I move to twice daily feedings today?
The top photo is at 36 hours, with the purple line being an approximation of the initial volume (I figured I had a few days before I needed to bother marking it). The lower is at 47 hours.
This is atta flour at 100% hydration, total mass 30g, kept at 70-71F (21C) or so. At 36 hours it smelled like wet, slightly stale flour. At 48 hours it's predominantly fermentation scents, though more pleasant-yeasty than off-putting and overall quite mild (though the small quantity may be the reason for that). I do not see any hooch.
Note that atta absorbs considerably more water than western style flours, so it looks less hydrated than it is. All the instructions I read for making starter from atta still said to make it 100%.
Please let me know if there is any information I left out, and thanks in advance for the help!
It's not unusual to see visible activity in two days, but normally the activity isn't caused by yeast - the yeast will still be dormant. As the new starter develops it will normally become more and more acidic. When it gets acidic enough the yeast will wake up and start to become active.
The general idea is this. If you are seeing visible activity then microbes are metabolizing the flour and more flour (and water) need to be added when the activity seems to die down. If you don't see activity after feeding, just stir the mixture a few times a day. If you don't see any activity for a few more days, it's likely that the acidity is still dropping even though the microbes involved aren't producing much gas. So after a few days of apparent inactivity, it's worth refreshing the mixture with more flour and water.
What you don't want to do is to refresh too often in the early stages, because that will dilute the lactic acid bacteria concentration and reduce the acidity. You want the exact opposite. You seem to be past that point, I think.
If the starter seems to act the same each time you refresh it, looks very bubbly, and smells slightly with a pleasant yeasty smell (or even no smell), then it's probably ready for use. Try making a small levain (mix a little of the starter with a little more starter and water) and see if that generates gas and rises. If it does, try baking a loaf.
Don't worry about refreshment timing and details. They aren't important. Just work with what you actually see happening, and follow the general plan I sketched.
TomP
The easy way is to follow directions - whatever they happen to be - and go from there. Just don't use it to soon - that's a familiar scenario most fall into. You'll see soon enough. Flours - doesn't matter to the starter. They react basically the same way - both the starter and the flour - only change is time. Enjoy!
Thank you both for the advice!
Tom, I appreciate the thorough explanation of the process. Between that, another reply you made to a starter troubleshooting question, and further evaluations of my starter later in the day (obvious bacterial smell), I'm pretty sure it's still in the "acidifying via bacteria" stages and the fermentation happening isn't caused by yeast yet.
Normally I do enough research to understand the underlying principles of things before I dive in, but I figured I'd have plenty of time to catch up before anything happened; I've had so much trouble with fermentation in this kitchen that I expected the only thing I'd grow would be mold.
I'm keeping on schedule with all the instructions I've read, since I don't want to excessively raise the pH before it reaches the point yeast "wake up." Hopefully I'll have some sourdough to post about in a week or two!
Good, keep us posted! BTW, since I've been emphasizing the role of low pH (high acidity), you might wonder why not start with something acidic instead of water? The answer is that this works like a charm. You get to skip those early stages where undesired or even stinky bacteria grow. BTW, a nascent starter can get stuck in an inbetween stage where a nasty microbe out-competes all the others. Using an acidic liquid will prevent that.
What liquids are good? Not vinegar, which is reputed to inhibit the yeast (though I haven't tried it myself). The classic liquid, as espoused by Debra Winks, is canned pineapple juice. I have also used pickling brine from salt-fermented pickles that I made. I've gotten a new white flour starter going in two days with it. I have gotten a starter made with masa harina (limed corn flour) going nearly as fast using the pineapple juice.
So if you ever decide to create another starter, do yourself a favor and buy some pineapple juice. People have also used yogurt liquid or just yogurt, and lemon juice.
Well that is going on my list of things to experiment with in bread making. I also have an excess of citric acid; I'm not immediately finding any info on using that to create starter, only enhance the sourness of bread, but it seems like a solution matching the pH of pineapple juice would be the place to start.
If I can accumulate enough jars I might do a side-by-side of a few acids. I'm curious if there would be much difference in the flavor of the breads they produce.
Citric acid should be good. Search the site for pineapple juice or Debra Winks. She has a long post about pineapple juice and acidifiers from long ago.
You might see a difference - but only to start. Eventually it'll be the same thing. Experimentation never hurts - but eventually you get the same thing. Enjoy!