May 20, 2020 - 11:19pm
Struggling with my new sourdough starter
Hi, I am new the site and new to sourdough baking so any advice would be great.
I started my sourdough around 5 weeks ago and am yet to see it double in zip in less than 12 hours.
i am feeding it every 12 hours with 40g wholewheat flour and 80 g strong bread flour plus 120g filtered water.
it doubles in size at around 12 hours then drops in the jar. It also floats no problem. It has been this way for about a week now. I’m not sure what the issue is.
temperature wise it has been loosely covered in a towel and placed on the top of the fridge.
thanks in advance
Aaron
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Have you baked bread with your starter? It might be just fine or even better than fine. I've been baking for maybe 8 weeks, and my starter sounds like yours but makes great bread. I also think higher hydration (1:1) starters don't rise as much/as fast people say, and look nothing like those Instagram photos of starters overflowing jars. It's more like batter than a dough so it doesn't hold the gases as well.
Morning, thanks for your reply. The short answer is no I haven’t baked yet. Although I did try some sourdough English muffins with the discard which didn’t go too well.....
I have been reluctant to try and bake anything purely because the starter has been taking so long to rise. All the info I read suggests if it peaks in 6-8 hours it should be good.
i have literally just fed it and placed it in the microwave (off of course) but with the light on, this seems to be a little warmer than the top of the fridge.
maybe I’ll start preparing a bake when it peaks later ....
I agree that it might be OK. Mine never really gets past doubling, though it does rise in 6-8 hours. I was very worried for a while too because I was thinking of those instagram photos like Shorebake said. :-) Also, as I recently learned via a comment on my blog post from SeasideJess, whole wheat flours don't rise as much in starters (for the same reason they don't rise as much in bread) so that might be part of it?
How much starter are you putting in? I've been doing 10g starter per 50g flour, 50g water. I wonder if you have less starter, it might just take longer?
Hiya, thanks for your reply. I’m starting to think it might be ok, it has virtually been doubling in size by 12 hours. It was the length of time it takes that has been concerning me. I’ve been feeding equal parts starter, flour and water,
120g starter
120g flour
120 filtered water
I might jut give it a go and see what happens
Mine was the same for a LONG time. My house temperature is pretty low, so that might be a big factor, but it took me well over 7 weeks to get my new starter to double in 4 hours. Very frustrating.
I tried baking at its weaker stage, and it made some very dense and acidic breads - but still, pleasant enough to eat. But I just knew - based on what other people are baking on this site - it was not fully active.
I kept feeding it 1:1:1 though, and one day all of a sudden, it just doubled in a few hours.
Every starter is different, so I would be curious to see what kind of bread it produces, and I would just keep feeding.
I think I’ll give it a go and as you say keep on feeding as I am until the rise speeds up. Did you feed it when it was at its peak- say every 12 hours?
Yes, roughly every 12 hours, once in the morning and once at night. Now I finally moved on to keeping it in the fridge and feeding it once a week. Looking forward to your first bake!
Is your starter in a air tight jar? I use a elastic w/ paper towel on top and had better feeding results.
Hiya, no I have simply been putting a towel loosely over the top, I’d read that you shouldn’t fasten a lid on it
The ratio that you feed is what is important, not how much. You say you feed 120g water & 120g flour... but how much starter are you adding that to? if you are adding that to 10g starter that's extremely different than if you are adding it to 120g starter. If you are feeding a big ratio and it's taking about 12 hrs to peak, that's still a pretty active starter.
Your starter is still young. It'll continue to get stronger as long as you are careful with your feeding routine so that you are selecting for the behavior that you want.
Also, what is the temperature on top of your fridge? In some houses that might be 70F or less, in others it might be 80F or more. That will make a huge difference in how your starter behaves. My starter always goes on a growth spree when I have the oven on for any reason because it raises the room temperature a few degrees. If you have a cool house, you'll just have to accept that your starter will be a little slow, or find a warmer place to keep it (and any dough you are fermenting).
Since you are seeing a consistent rise & peak in 12 hours, I bet you can bake with it. Just be aware that your dough may require more time than is suggested in the recipe. Watch the dough, not the clock. You can speed things up a bit to account for a slightly slow starter (or cool room temps) by adding a bit more starter than the recipe calls for, if you wish, but you might like the flavor you get from longer fermenting times anyway.
Hiya, thanks for the advice, i am feeding 120g of starter with equal weights in flour and filtered water. I’ll get a thermometer for the top of the fridge, it seems warmer in the microwave with the light on so it has been there today. I will continue to feed as I am at the moment and have a go at a bake at the weekend. I shall feedback my progress
Just thought I’d give a little update, I gave it a feed yesterday with same ratios but added 20g rye flour and it literally tripled in size in around 5 hours so it looks like it is now good to bake. Watch this space... thanks again
Excellent! Looking forward to seeing the results of your first bake!