Hi, I started my sourdough starter around 2 weeks ago now, discarding half every day and adding 150g strong white flour and 150ml tepid tap water daily for maybe 8 days. It was looking pretty good so I made my first loaf on Sunday. It was pretty good, however I don't think I left it in the oven long enough so one end of the loaf was a bit doughy.
Since then I've left the starter out in the kitchen (5 days) and I haven't fed it since. The kitchen is around 17-21C I reckon. There was a lumpy sort of film on the top of the starter so I've scraped that off and discarded half. If I'm honest it doesn't smell great, but certainly not an acetone smell- definitely different to how it smelt last week though. My flatmate and girlfriend have said it smells like wet dog haha.
Should I chuck the whole thing away and begin a new starter from scratch or is it salvageable?
You will find that starter is pretty resilient. Feed your starter and nurture it back to a regular pattern.
If you do not have a good thermometer (Google "Thermapen" to see what I have), it is worth the investment. I always check the internal temperature of my loaves and leave them in until I see something in the range of 208-210 F (which is about 97-99 C).
Happy baking -- and stay safe and stay healthy.
Ted.
Thanks. I discarded about 2/3rds of it just to be careful and fed it again yesterday, leaving it out overnight. It's looking quite bubbly today so I've put it back in the fridge and may feed it once more before I bake with it.
Thanks for the tip about the thermometer, I hadn't considered that. I was hired as a baker (with no experience whatsoever) a few years ago and worked for a few months making sourdough and baking it in a wood fired pizza oven. This is my first time making sourdough since then, so it's an adjustment learning to use a conventional oven!
You need a routine to follow or you won't succeed.
Follow these instructions.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe
After your starter is established, store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. It can live quite happily in "cold storage" for two weeks or more until it is ready to be fed.
As for baking, every oven is different. You will eventually come up with a baking routine as well. I bake my bread at 385 F with convection for 38 minutes.