March 25, 2022 - 11:08am
Help! Sourdough starter smells like yogurt and isn’t bubbling much
Please help!!
I’ve been making great sourdough with my current starter. All of a sudden this week, it started smelling like yogurt and it isn’t really bubbling and rises (or does very little). Could someone tell me what’s wrong? I’m supposed to be baking another loaf tomorrow and my starter is persona non grata!
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A bit more history of your starter please. How old is it? What did you do after it stopped bubbling up?
I would say it’s about three months old. After it stopped bubbling up I just kept feeding it like it was normal. Sometimes it reacts and looks alive, but recently it just stays like this.
Your starter did not bubble up on cue, like you have been expecting, so to encourage it you carried on feeding it come what may. This can be counterproductive. If you feed your starter and it doesn't bubble up like expected then don't feed again till it shows signs of life. It's got enough food! If you carry on discarding and feeding fresh flour before it bubbles up then you'll be throwing away the yeasts and bacteria. Before long you'll end up with fresh flour and water. Rule of thumb is to feed your starter according to your starter's activity. If your starter slows down then so do the feeds.
How much starter do you have right now?
oh crud!! I have no idea. I just fed it again!! I now have two starters (I narrowed it down from three). One is a 1:1:1 of 50 grams each of starter, flour, water. The other one is 1:5:5 of 20 g starter, 100 g each of flour and water. both have mostly white bread flour but also some rye flour to encourage production.
Did you make two starters from this one starter? Or have they always been separate and just one is playing up?
If one is fine and the other is playing up then use the one that is ok for now. As for the one that is playing up which you have been feeding just leave it alone and stir once a day. See what happens.
Yes, I made two starters from this one starter. I change one of them around sometimes to have more or less rye flour in it, and I do a different ratio as stated above just so that I have starters at different stages of ripeness.
The thing is the one that was playing up was just barely doing so. It did not look super healthy and bubbly, so I’m afraid to use it. What do you think about a starter that has some bubbles and a little growth but is nowhere near as healthy as it should be? Should I use that one?
Also do you think these are salvageable?
And isn't bubbling up it won't make good bread. If you made two from this one starter after it had started to play up and they're both struggling then best to leave them alone for now and see what they do over the next few days. Very possibly salvageable but not good to use right now.
Got it. Thank you!
Yogurty smell is good. To add sourdough yeasts and to encourage them to grow feed your starter with whole wheat flour and warm water, making it soft but not liquid, consistency of bread dough, and leave it in a warm place, at 28-32C/82-90F. By tomorrow morning you should have it ready for baking. It would at least triple in volume.
Got it. I don’t have whole wheat, but I have rye. That will do the same thing, correct?
Rye is different. Whole wheat (or wheat bran, or whole wheat kernels) is rich is wild yeasts while rye is rich in soudough bacteria.
Since your starter is not rising even with rye flour in it, it shows that your rye flour does not have wild yeasts in it. It's nutritious, but you need to add yeasts.
Another solution, if you do not want to get whole wheat or wheat bran is to pick up some wild yeasts from the surface of unwashed fruits if you have some at home. Especially those that are not oily or waxed for commercially attractive shine but covered with whitish layer of wild yeasts.
Rub them with white bread flour, let them sit covered with flour for two hours, then collect that flour and use that flour to feed your starter.
Example
60 g white bread flour (1/2 cup)
1 organic apple
1 organic zucchini
1-2hrs in flour, then shake it off the fruits. Use that flour in your white starter that doesn't rise. Starter shown in a cup behind the plate with fruits and flour.
Sorry just saw this! This is fantastic! My starter has been a little better, but I think I’m going to do this to really get it healthy again. Thank you!