First time at making a starter. After one week, it still has not risen. It did on day 3, then nothing. Was feeding 1:1:1 every 12 hours of AP flour on day 3, 4 and 5. Day 6, I stopped feeding for 24 hours. Just stirred after 12. The morning of day 7, it looks like it may have risen and fell because there was some coating on the side of the container. Also had small bubbles. However, the starter is runny and actually pours out of container. I decided to try something different. I put 80g of starter in a new container and fed it 20g of unbleached AP and 20g whole wheat flour, and 40g of water. I saw this suggested on this forum several times. I also put 100g of my original starter in another container and just added 2 TB of whole wheat flour, just to see what happens. I will send some pictures of the evening and morning results. Depending on what happens, I would love some advice as to how to proceed from there.
Looking at the starter I think you have the right idea. Pretty sure it is fine activity-wise, but just too runny (too wet, too high hydration). You should aim for a consistency that that can be stirred but not poured. Just stir in more flour (any kind) a little at a time until you get there and then move your rubber band and keep an eye on it for the next 12 hours.
The starter can’t rise if the consistency is liquid enough for the bubbles to bubble right up and out into the air. It has to be thick enough to hold the bubbles inside so that as they get bigger they make the overall volume of the starter increase.
Thanks Paul. Unfortunately, nothing happened last night at the 12 mark, and again this morning. Both times I just stirred and put back in my microwave which stays at around 75 degrees. Not even bubbles. I am wondering if it is time to start over. It does smell sour.
Here are pictures of starter this morning. Not sure what to do at this point. Feed 2:1:1 or just keep stirring every 12 hours or 24 until I see bubbles?
I take that back. There are a few bubbles on the 1st picture (red rubberband). That was the one that I fed yesterday morning 2:1:1. After 12 hours, the bubbles were gone, so I did not feed, just stirred it down.
Yeah, I see some bubbles on the top pic. And also sour smell is a good sign. I wouldn’t give up yet. But I’m not clear whether you added enough flour to the ones that you photo’d here to make them not so liquidy consistency.
Not feeding + stirring is the right approach if there really is no activity, but if you’re getting no rise because the starter is too liquid and the bubbles are floating up and out, then not feeding is not the right tactic.
The consistency now is like a pancake batter, but I would say it is more stretchy. I made the decision this morning to feed the one with some bubbles-2:1:1. The other, I just stirred.
Is it possible that the starters are still too liquidy? If so, what would you suggest?
And if feeding is not the right tactic and the starter is too thin, what do I do?
Oh sorry, misread. You said not feeding is not the right tactic. If there are bubbles tonight, should I continue with a 2:1:1 every 12 hours until I see a lot more bubbles?
Someone else is going to have to chime in with particular ratios - I don’t use them in my sourdough maintenance because I know what consistency I want by sight and since one flour will respond way, way differently to water than another, it doesn’t really make sense to me to think about it that way.
Pancake batter to me is something that you can pour - at least the way I make it, you can pour it. That’s way too runny for starter. If you can pour it, it’s too wet. If you tip the jar on its side, the starter should barely move. It shouldn’t not move at all, but it shouldn’t all start immediately pouring out of the jar. You are looking for a doughy consistency not a battery consistency.
If you have batter, add more flour until you have dough and then let it sit for 12 hours and see what happens.
Alright, I will try that. From your explanation, I can see that my starter is still too runny. Thanks.
