I’ve been reading through all of the recommendations, and I’m hoping someone can hold my hand just a tad, or just tell me to start over.
My starter is from a rehydrated starter and I think maybe my jar was too large, and is likely still too large even now after reading more with other issues.
The first week I was following instructions to take 10g starter, and 25g room temp filtered water and 25g Organic, unbleached, AP flour. I didn’t even get bubbles. I started over and then put the starter in the basement where temps hang around 71-75F. Got maybe 3 bubbles on the surface but not much more.
Found my great grandmother’s recipe, took the entire starter and moved it into a smaller jar, added 1cup of filtered room temp water, and probably a heaping cup of flour and brought it back down to the basement where I’ve been rewarded with the most activity I’ve received yet (some bubbles), but there’s been minimal rising. I can see like, maybe a millimeter or two of rise after 24 hours, lol. I’ve continued to feed it every 24 hours for the last week with about a cup of the starter from the night before, and then the same 1 cup of water and flour.
I have not stirred it, or done anything but feed and send her back downstairs.
I’ve included photos.
I appreciate your time and any advice you can send my way, I would really like to learn this craft.
I think your starter is probably doing pretty well actually. Your feeds happen to be on the high side for water though, and that is likely why the starter doesn’t seem to expand – the bubbles pop through.
After 24 hours have passed on this latest feed, discard down to 1/4 cup starter and feed it 1/2 cup flour and a scant 1/4 cup water. This is about a 1:1:1 ratio feed where the starter, flour, and water are all roughly 60 grams each.
After you mix it up and mark the level like you did above, maybe keep it in your kitchen even though it’s cooler? so you can keep an eye on it. If it expands a decent amount and then stalls for a couple of hours, you want to discard and feed again. If it bubbles a little and nothing more in 12 hours, then stir it and let it sit another 12 hours.
Once you get doubling in less than 12 hours, you can bake with it and/or refrigerate it.
Here is an FAQ and an article that explain this further and show you how to play with different variables to get your starter to work for your schedule.
I apologize for my delayed response, my babes have a cold.
I followed your instructions, I think maybe it’s rising. It was extremely thick, I had to kind of cut it into pieces to get it into the jar without making a massive mess since I was unable to just “pour” it into the jar.
I’ve taken photos.
I’ll post in the AM, hopefully there’s a notable difference!
My feeding schedule is unfortunately very off due to my sick babies, I’m hoping once it’s active it will be a non issue since I"ll be able to put it in the fridge, or work the feeding schedule back into the morning rather than at 2pm.
Aim for the texture of waffle batter when feeding your starter. It’s okay if it was more like a dough ball, but the easiest texture to both mix and trap bubbles is a thick waffle batter.
yes, in those ratios 1:1:1 or 1:2:2 etc , the first number is the starter. Basically, you want the starter to get an equal or larger than itself meal.
You might stir again in 12 hours if it’s basically bubbled but not expanded. Does that sound right to you @abe ? (Abe is a sourdough starter expert in this forum – you’ve probably seen his replies to people’s questions.)
@Fermentada flatters me I relly just read the starter and adjust as necessary. Don’t have a formula per se. There are many options open to you. What I would do is split it in two.
With the first one leave it alone for a day or two or even three and just give it a good stir every 12 hours.
With the second one feed 2:1:1 once every 24 hours for now.
Haven’t read the full post but if you’re using tap water you might wish to boil it and leave it to cool before using. Or use bottled mineral water.
P.s. and can only do good if you can get some wholegrain in there. Wholegrain rye even better!
Reverse osmosis water is not a “no-no”, it is fine, actually, it is preferred. It is the only water used in laboratories for growing both bacteria and fungus (yeasts), the same things you are growing in your starter. Aside from producing the preferred hydration for your starter, and bread doughs, RO filters remove PFAS, PFOA, and PFOS (forever chemicals), and that is a very, very good thing.
If you are thinking to use the water filtered through your refrigerator’s filter, instead you can just use tap water. It is the same thing. Fridge filters will only filter for taste, so other than tasting better than tap water, it is tap water.
You do not need to boil the water, it accomplishes nothing.
Of course reverse osmosis is fine. Its not bad per se but it does strip the water of minerals which can benefit a starter. Minerals are a starter’s ‘vitamins’. But its fine to use. Perhaps its used in labs for that very reason. No ‘contaminants’.
Boiling water removes chlorine. Should that be an issue.
The nutritional needs of a starter’s microbes are fully met with the wheat it is fed. That is how starter works, no other nutrients or “minerals” or “vitamins” are necessary. Indeed, the life cycle of the bacteria is measured in minutes.
There is no chlorine to boil out of water. Most folk’s municipal drinking water is treated with a chlorine alternative, chloramine, not chlorine. Boiling water does not remove chloramine from water so boiling does nothing to benefit starters or doughs. However, a reverse osmosis filter will remove the chloramine from drinking water. If chlorine is present, an RO filter will also remove it. An RO filter is about the only way to get fluoride out of drinking water, if that is in there. Unlike chloramine or chlorine, fluoride is added to municipal water specifically to kill bacteria. When purchasing filtered water, folks are buying water that has been filtered with an RO filter. No need to boil it, either.
While reverse osmosis filtered water is preferred, pretty much any water you can safely drink will create and maintain a starter, with or without added chloramine or chlorine. My personal experience over the 16+ years of making and maintaining sourdough starters is they thrive with filtered water.
Yes… agreed! I never said osmosis water affected the starter negatively. It wasn’t me who brought up reverse osmosis in the first place. I just commented and said it lacked the minerals. No negative affects. Water is water and using wholegrain flour (which is what I suggested to feed the white flour starter) would contain minerals too.
Without knowing the source the water I simply suggested it as a precaution. Obviously the starter is having some issues so throwing out ideas to try.
The article/post I read that mentioned reverse osmosis being a negative for the starter was from the “How to feed a starter” from, BreadTopia, which was posted by the lovely fermentada in an effort to try and help my liquid heavy starter actually rise rather than show me a few pretty bubbles.
This is the only reason why I mentioned it being a “no-no.”
We live on a well, and have a water softener and iron filter system, which is why we installed the RO filter. It gives us good drinking water and removes the salt in the water from our other filtration systems that prevent our water from being as orange as a pumpkin.
Here are photo’s from this evening, it has been about 7- 8 hours since these were fed. I think the bubbles are just from the initial stir and pour into the jars… but time will tell.
I will be following Abe’s recommendations, this is day 1.
I relly just read the starter and adjust as necessary. Don’t have a formula per se. There are many options open to you. What I would do is split it in two.
