I started the Breadtopia dry starter process on May 13th (Followed all the steps in guide). I have been using KA all purpose flour and bottled spring water. On day six I had my best rise which was about 1/3, after that it just didn’t rise and I followed the guide so I discarded all but 50 grams of starter and added that to 50 grams of water, 60 of flour and blended well. The discarded starter is in my refrigerator covered.
Its been well over 48 hours and I have fewer bubbles than ever and of course still no rise. I have not fed it since the redo since the instructions say to with hold from doing that unless you have activity. My house temperature is at about 73 but we have had unusual high humidity the last few days. I haven’t tried alternative methods to warm it yet but I can definitely try something if that could potentially be an issue.
Abe, I live in a rural area where I may not have access to rye for a few days. Is it ok if the current starter sits on a counter blended ever 12- 24 hours?
It’s not essential but it does help. If you have any other wholegrain then that will do instead of the rye. Better than leaving it for a few days. If you have no wholegrain then it’ll still be better to carry on feeding it.
So with whatever you have in stock try starting at day two but after the first feed leave it for 24 hours. Then repeat day two as it is and so on…
@LolaJack07 Hi Dee! Our @Abe is indeed a sourdough savior! He’s helped me with my sourdough, Cyril. Word of caution regarding the water to use for your starter though. Most, if not all tap water here in the USA is heavily treated with chlorine. Chlorine may kill your starter. If possible, continue using pure spring water when feeding it. Abe resides in England. Tap water there may be treated differently which is why he’s able to use it. Boiling and cooling USA tap water may not be sufficient enough to reduce the level of chlorine present. Better to err on the side of caution so you can keep your starter going.
Good call Leah. Thanks for pointing this out. We are fortunate enough for tap water to be fine when it comes to starters. Not only that but in London it’s hard water (unlike the North where it’s soft water) which is even better with all the minerals it contains.
@LolaJack07 please carry on using bottled mineral water like @leah suggested.
I have been using bottled water however, I live countryside and have untreated well water. I wonder if I might give it a go with Abe’s suggested boiling and cooling method.
What do you think?
@LolaJack07 I’m totally unfamiliar with using untreated well water because I live in a city and all my tap water is commercially treated. I’m hoping one of our other Breadtopians will chime in and be able to answer your question as I certainly do not have the knowledge to give you a proper answer. But I thank you for asking!
Long live your starter! Power to the wee beasties!
Blessings,
Leah
If it’s untreated and it’s hard water I can’t see any reason why boiled and cooled will harm it. It doesn’t have any chlorine and the minerals will help.
I will try this initially. Great News, I have both Organic Rye and Multigrain flours on there way via delivery service. I should have them within four hours. I will get started straight away.
Wow! That’s fast. Let us know how it goes. Rye will give it a kick start in the right direction. Then with Hamelman’s very good directions you should have a starter up and running soon.
Boil the kettle now and it’ll be cooled by the time they arrive
I’ll take a bit of a risk here, but I’ll suggest a couple of things…
The minerals in the water are essentially irrelevant (unless they are present in quantities unfavorable to the yeast/bacteria in sourdough). The yeast and bacteria used in sourdough evolved to live on the wheat we use. They did not evolve in a mineral rich liquid environment so as to need minerals from water. Their only natural source of water and minerals is from rain (essentially mineral free) and the wheat. While it is not my norm, I have made starter and bread with distilled water (i.e., mineral free) without any issues.
Water treated with chlorine does benefit greatly from boiling or even just time. If water contains chloramines, removal is much more difficult.
If your well water is genuinely hard, I would not boil it. Or at least not very much and not unless you need to in order to use the water safely. The more water that evaporates, the harder your water will become. While the minerals making your water hard are not toxic, a side effect of hard water is that it tends to be alkaline and the yeast in sourdough do not excel in an alkaline environment.
If you have good, untreated well water that you drink without boiling, that sounds like a water source we would all envy.
