Hello, Fresh Loafers,
I am brand new to this site and forum and very happy to be here amongst other sourdough baking enthusiasts - hello!
I am hoping you might be able to help with a challenge/quandary I’ve been having:
I have been baking sourdough for about 3+ years now and had been maintaining my 100% hydration white starter, Brutus, up until last month when he developed an “off” smell - funky, stinky but not in a good kind of way. When not baking with him, I would store him in the fridge and feed him every week, getting him nice and active before putting him back in the fridge. I would feed him every 12 hours with room temperature water; with room temp around 71-73 Degrees F during the days and between 68-70 Degrees F at night. To make long stories shorter, I was unable to get the “off” smell to “go away “ so I bid a fond farewell to my much loved Brutus and started again from scratch.
Well, I have had similar issues with my new, fledgling starter - this time, the “off” smell being present when I am first “degassing” it with a spoon as I am about to discard most of it prior to feeding it. Funny thing is, once I let those “off gases” dissipate and take a wiff, my starter smells lovely. Both Brutus (RIP) and this new starter perform(ed) beautifully - it’s just that “off” smell prior to “degassing” that won’t go away regardless of how warm the room or what the water temperature.
I am stumped. Is this normal? Cause for concern or no cause for concern? How can I get my starter to smelling lovely? Any and all suggestions/insight/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all SO much in advance - eagerly looking forward to hearing your responses.
Warmly,
Christina
Are you waiting for the starter to peak in volume before feeding or is it a doubling in volume that helps make the decision? Or the clock? What are the feeding amounts? More info helps. Flour details? Etc.
Hi Mini,
Thanks for your reply. To answer your questions:
Are you waiting for the starter to peak in volume before feeding or is it a doubling in volume that helps make the decision? Or the clock?
Yes, I wait for my starter to peak, which it has at least doubled in size, and that usually means/happens every 12 hrs.
What are the feeding amounts? More info helps. Flour details? Etc.
10g mature starter to 90 g King Arthur Organic White Bread Flour + 90g filtered room temperature (70-73 Degree F) water. 100% hydration.
nicely. Watch it closely after it peaks. Use it just before or when it peaks in a recipe but wait a few hours before feeding when bacteria have a chance to multiply and protect the starter from invading bacteria each time fresh flour is added.
I like to boost yeast once in a while with a large feeding but not all the time. After one or two large feeds, I like to return to one to four or one to five (starter to flour) to help the bacteria. It depends on how long the starter takes to peak in activity. Since your starter is on a 12 hour schedule, roughly, feed the starter enough flour to peak in activity about 8 to 10 hours and coast several hours before the 12 hour feeding. If the night temps drop, feed slightly less flour (or skip a feeding) when it is cool and during the day when temps are warmer, feed slightly more flour. Temp and amount of water play a big role in how fast the starter eats thru the flour but even with the starter peaking in activity, at your cool temps, there is still plenty of food in the starter. So there is a possibility that the starter is being overfeed too often to stay stable. Taste the starter before feeding it, it should taste a little sour and not bland like wet flour or yeasty flour.
Mini,
That is SO incredibly helpful and makes a lot of sense - thank you!
I did have a few follow up questions:
Can you please clarify, re: “If night temps drop, feed slightly less flour (or skip a feeding) when it’s cool, and during the day when temperatures are warmer, feed slightly more flour” - do I understand correctly that you mean - for example - a 1 to 4 (starter to flour ratio) - or skip feeding entirely - at night, versus a 1 to 5 during the day?
And since my starter is 100% hydration, water alway stays the same ratio to flour? We’re never changing that, is that correct?
Just want to make sure I am understanding you completely :)
Thank you so much, Mini!
P.S. And yes, at time of feeding, my starter does taste a little sour and not at all bland - lovely!
and play around with the amount of flour and equal amounts of water to maintain 100% hydration. Find what ratios work for your situation.
Thank you so much for clarifying, Mini; got it!
Thank you SO much for all your help with this <3
Thank you so much for clarifying, Mini; got it!
Thank you SO much for all your help with this <3
It's possible that your starter has lots of yeast but not enough acid-producing "friendly" bacteria. When those bacteria don't grow well enough, the pH level of the whole mixture becomes too high (i.e. not acidic enough); and in the too-high pH conditions, a number of stinky things can thrive. It's possible that all you need to do is encourage the acid-producing bacteria to grow faster for a while; this can choke out the "stinkers" by outnumbering them, and also results in lower pH, in which the "stinkers" can't survive anyway.
DavidR, thank you for your input-that’s really intriguing - it’s giving me hope!
What do you recommend I do to encourage the acid-producing bacteria to grow faster for a while? How do you recommend I go about eradicating those “stinkies” in my starter?
Eagerly awaiting your instructions...
:)
Normal for a white flour starter. Keep going, it's fine.
phaz, thank you!
So sorry to hear about your loss. To prevent the loss of your starter and all the maturity that goes with it, do backups. when feeding time comes and you need to get rid of starter, instead of throwing it away spread it thin on a piece of parchment paper and let it fully dry. then store it in a mason jar or Ziploc bag. If your starter ever goes bad you can bring your backup out of hibernation and continue with the same starter. if your starter is less than a year old I would backup every couple of months. if its like five years or old or so I would backup at least every six months. This way if your starter went bad you'd only lose six month of maturity. I love the names people give their starters. My starters name is Bubbles.
Thank you for your suggestions, Slybee, much appreciated. And very nice to make Bubbles’s acquaintance! ;)