I received my live starter in the mail and immediately added 1 cup of bread flour and 2/3 cup water to get my starter fed. We have well water that has no chlorine and is reverse osmosis. The starter mix was covered with plastic. It sat out at room temperature for 24 hours… nothing. I waited another 24 hours and it seemed to be runny looking. So, I took a 1/4 cup out of the starter and added 1 cup bread flour and another 2/3 water. I also started another batch the same way.
While doing h the is for another two cycles, I received my bread mason jars and danish whisk. So I transferred 1/4 cup starter and added 1 cup bread flour and 2/3 cup water to each jar. I put a label at the level of the starter mix and waited… nothing happened. 24 hours later I put another 1 cup flour and 2/3 cup water. It was thick and paste like. 24 hours later nothing… 24 more hours nothing… I contacted Breadtopia and they suggested one of the blogs here where I removed 50g of starter and added 25g flour and 25g water. Still nothing after 24 hours. It looks a bit wet again so I decided to give it a stir.
How long is the longest you’ve left it without being fed?
If I’ve read this correctly it seems the longest you have left it between feeds is 48 hours otherwise you’ve been feeding it daily. Quite a few feeds with discarding, adding fresh flour and water all the while no activity.
If there’s no activity then what are you feeding? All the good stuff in your starter is constantly being discarded with fresh flour and water taking its place. How is this going to ferment?
So now you’re at 50g of very diluted starter + 25g water + 25g flour. Well there’s nothing to do now except 2 things. Keep it warm at 75-78°F and give it a good stir every 12 hours otherwise don’t do anything for however long it needs. It will begin to breakdown and get more runny which, when it does begin to wake up again, will produce small bubbles with little rise. So look out for any changes within the starter. Once you do see some activity even if it is 3-4 days then repeat the same feed 50g starter + 25g water + 25g flour.
Treat this time as a rest. Step back for now and stop being slave to your starter. Just observe.
P.s. if after a few days it gets really watery then don’t give it a whole new feed. Just add a teaspoon ofpr two of flour to thicken it up instead of discarding all the good stuff and adding a lot of fresh flour.
Thank you so much for providing me with directions. I was approaching it the wrong way. I thought inactivity meant I needed to feed it again. I’ll wait and watch now.
Update: I stirred the potion with a danish whisk and sat back and watched. A few hours later I saw a few bubbles in both starters. I’ll sit back and wait…
Sounds good but don’t be tempted to jump the gun and feed too early. Give it all the time it needs. You’ll know when it comes to life and when it’s time to start feeding again. When it does so start off with small feedings like 50g starter + 25g water + 25g flour but as it gets quicker and stronger increase the feeds. Any questions posts them here first before doing anything.
Ideal is 75-78F and it should be a relatively quick process of about a week, when making a starter from scratch, give or take as long as the feedings are timed well.
A good place is on top of the fridge if possible. Fridges give off heat and seems to be the ideal temperature.
Once a starter is mature and strong, while these are still the ideal temps, they do cope better if a bit cooler. But when making a starter the temperature can make a difference between it taking a week or two.
I’ve built starters with my kitchen at 78-80F (summer) and 65-67F (winter). Both times it was ready in 5-6 days, but in retrospect, the hotter one probably could have been fed every 20 hours, and the cooler one every 30 hours
I have been staring at my starters (two) for several days now. Nothing seems to be happening. I had to stir it because it began to dry out. The consistency is like paint. I gave it a teaspoon of flour in each about 3 days ago.
Try another small feed. Take out about 1/4 and top back up with a little water and enough flour to make a thick paste. See how it reacts. How warm is it?
I occasionally have been stirring these two starters. They have consistency of wet paint. When I open the jar I can small the sourness. I stir because they seem to be drying out on top. Should I give the anything. No bubbling going on…
