Hello,
I am brand new in making sour dough bread and have limited baking knowledge overall!
I bought the dry starter and followed the instructions to put it in a pinch bowl with water and flour and cover with plastic for 24 hours.
I followed the measurements exactly and the consistency of the starter is like a dough.
Is that correct? Or should it be liquidy
Thanks in advance for your help!
I’m not sure on the instruction, how much starter you started with nor what you fed it.
However, it’s not wrong per se. Starters can be low hydration like a dough or high hydration like a batter and everything in-between.
What I would do now is add a little more water bit by bit, while stirring, till you get a thick batter. Give it a very good stir and keep in a warm place. Then all you need to do is give it a stir every 12 hours till you see it forming bubbles and starts fermenting. Only then begin a feeding regimen. It’s important at this stage to not over feed the starter till it begins to show signs of fermentation.
What was this feed? Also, what kind of flour is that? Looks much whiter than ordinary bread flour. I’d add in a teaspoon or two of wholegrain flour as well.
Hello,
Thank you for responding. It is the Breadtopia Dry Starter. I used regular all purpose flour. The instructions from the Breadtopia website for their starter is attached.
I did not do anything to it last night as I wanted to see what anyone thought. Today is day 2 according to the directions.
I think since I missed reading your post I will go with the instruction of day 2. Unless you think I should do something else?
Thanks again for your help!
Agreed. Since my advice was to add in some wholegrain flour and water anyway plus there’s no discard yet then go ahead. Add in 1 tablespoon wholegrain flour + enough water to make a thick batter. But after day two i’d wait until you see some activity before going onto day 3. Just keep warm and stir every 12 hours until you see bubbles forming.
Thank you! I will do that. 
