i’ve been trying to feed my first starter for the last 10 days or so. i am doing the 50g (starter): 50g (water): 60g (all purpose flour), feeding it 2x a day, keeping it inside my oven with the light turned on. the consistency, the smell, the rise, they are all there - photo shows the doubling of the starter within the first 4-6 hours. then it deflates after that. the bubbles are definitely in there, but not like explosive or large.
do I have the starter?? I’ve seen photos of the starter overflowing with bubbles, and mine has not done that at all…
Take some starter out and start feeding it bread flour and compare. I feed my starters a higher proportion of flour than you are. You might also want to consider building a rye starter. I find my rye starter particularly robust. I initially built him (I call him Humphrey) 15 years ago and feed him exclusive organic whole (not sifted) rye. I started Bette, my organic white bread flour starter, from a portion of starter that was “born” in Montana during the Depression. There’s nothing “wrong” with Bette, though at their fermenting peak they look quite different: The top of Bette will be covered in bubbles while the top of Humphrey arches up. The difference in their gluten levels is noticeable too.
