Hi
complete novice on the sourdough starter. I tried the Paul Hollywood starter and it was great up til day three and then died a screaming messy stinky death.
i have restarted (pun not intended) using a 1 tablespoon whole meal, 1 tablespoon white, 2 tablespoons of water method and I am on day 2.
so far it smells okay, tiny amount of liquid on top but I feel like an expectant mother!!
Any help and advice is appreciated as I am super nervous.
The first one was must likely not dead.
The first action you see are just the first of a chain of bacteria that leads to the good stuff.
The lower the ph other then other bacteria that lower the ph even more start to grow until it is low enough to get the yeast started.
There is a lot of info on this site about how this works.
But the main thing is just keep going when it looks that the activity stopt.
Oops.
I guess one of the things I’m learning is that sourdough is a learning curve. I promise to ask about this one before throwing it out!
checks starter and does a happy dance! I have bubbles starting!!!!!
I am also brand new, so I'm not going to try to answer your questions. However I suggest you read these excellent articles that will help you understand better what is going on in your culture. It also explains why your first culture appeared dead but probably was not.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10856/pineapple-juice-solution-part-1
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/10901/pineapple-juice-solution-part-2
Good luck!
Will read them now.
anxious sourdough mother that I am I take it everything is fine when it smells like somewhere between vinegar and girls dirty sports socks?
Read the information it was really informative and feel a little better about my starter.
I read that a little honey suppresses alcohol producing bateria.
Honey is antibacterial so I worry it would kill the good bacteria too. The water I am using is bottled water as we have a high chlorine content in New Zealand water.
I use a raisin water recipe in which honey is essential. It only seems to suppress the bad bac. Ive also been told it can help to maintain a good starter without it hooching on you.
Worth a test. Perhaps split your batch to compare one with and one without.