February 26, 2017 - 4:50am
Trouble with tartine starter - bubbling but not rising
I recently bought Tartine Bread, and I have a two week old starter that I've made based on the formula in the book. I've been feeding my starter at 100% hydration every morning since around day 4. Most days, I get a good amount of bubbles in the starter, but absolutely no rise. Am I doing something wrong here?
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If by volume, your starter is too liquid to be able to rise. Try feeding it equal amounts by weight. This will produce a thicker starter that can rise.
Also what kind of flour are you feeding it? I feed mine dark rye flour and basically get a lot of bubbles but very little rise. This is what I do to wake it up as well as to maintain it. However, when I do my last feed to use in my dough, i fo 1/5 rye and 4/5 unbleached flour and at that point, i get tremendous rise.
I'm feeding 100% hydration by weight. Usually about 40g starter, 40g water, 40g flour (a 50-50 mix of whole wheat and white)
Try using 50 g of your flour mix instead of 40 and see if that helps.
As too much advice is not always a good thing. Can get confusing. If you're game for a side experiment then read on. If not then ignore what I'm going to suggest.
From your discard take 12g starter and feed it 27g warm water + 60g flour (54g bread flour + 6g whole wheat).
Mix the starter and water first till fully dispersed. Then add the flour and form a dough ball. Get your hands in there as it'll be easier. Might seem it's not all going to combine but it'll come together. When it's formed place in a small clean glass jar and leave I'm a warm place. See what happens over 12-24 hours.
I already have three experiments going. I'm open to trying another. Thanks!
still have bubbles but no rise
i have one starter at 1:1:1 feedings, one at 2:1:1, and one somewhere in the range of 2:1:.8
And can you post a photo of all 3?
photo now up. not as many bubbles as other days. again, basically no rise. fed about 12 hours ago. they're the 1:1:1, the 2:1:1, and the 2:1:.8 from left to right
your numbers are starter; water; flour right? Then your starters are still too liquid. Take Lechems advice and feed it what he says.
yea, that starter:water:flour. i followed that, and i had a pretty hard mass that didn't rise after 12 hours. is it just that it's too liquid? is it possible something else is wrong? if i try to make levain from one of these, should it work?
There is not enough structure to rise. Thats why you get bubbles and no rise. Add more flour than water. It will be a tad harder to stir but you will see the difference.
sounds good. Thanks! will feed with more flour tomorrow and update. realized that i wrote it wrong. i have done 2:1:.8 starter:flour:water. ill try 2:1: 0.4 and see
Sourdough is a combination of yeast and bacteria. I saw post where someone said that it is the yeast that gives dough the rising power. My starter could have bee too thin, but I think that with my first two attempts at a starter had the bacteria (such as lactobacillus) that caused the starter to bubble, but the starter never increased in volume after feedings.
What worked for me was to use the pineapple juice method, but I used the alternative option of substituting lemon water for the first two feedings when starting a new culture. I used one part lemon to 3 parts water. Supposedly, the acidity inhibits a less desirable bacteria and helps the yeast to get started. The sour smell took longer to develop when compared to the attempts that failed.
There could be other reasons why my first attempts failed like the thinner starter, a lack of patience, or a paranoia that I didn't have a healthy starter. I just know that I had a bubbly culture that made a loaf that was like a brick.
a formula written 1:1:1 is starter:water:flour.
Once you have thickened up you starter just place it in a warm place and leave it alone. Even skip a feed or two (or even three). Over feeding at an early stage can whittle down the yeasts within a starter. No hurry.
new starters, Too Cold need 76 - 78 F, too liquid and not thick enough, feed too often when it doesn't need it and finally don't follow the instructions.
fed at 2:1:0.5 this morning and put in the oven. 7 hours later, it's doubled in size. Thanks!!!
Oops, meant to say 2:.5:1. (starter, water, flour)
So you made a dough ball. Once this has peaked I'd like you to feed as follows...
1:2.5:5
So your starter to flour ratio is 1:5 and your water is 50%.
E.g. 10g starter + 25g water + 50g flour (40g bread flour + 10g whole wheat).
Allow this to rise and peak before proceeding onto another feed.