Hi - I am new to making my starter from scratch - first attempt was the Forkish method, but with the scarcity of flour, I have tried again using the pineapple method. My first 2 loaves were okay, but I know my levain was not really ready to bake with, wasn't rising, so the dough really didn't rise, but the bread was okay. I didn't have enough flour to keep trying that recipe, so I am trying the pineapple juice.
I am now about on day 10, my starter really has not taken off, but finally today it smells like bread, not vinegar, and I see lots of small bubbles. I have been following the recipe of 2oz of starter + 1oz whole wheat flour + 1oz of room temp water. Yesterday after many days of no activity, I tried adjusting the flour/water ratio to 40% flour, 60% water (warmed up to about 80 degrees), and finally see some changes.
I have my starter is a glass jar with a lid, staying at about 74-75 degrees, feeding it every 24 hours.
According to instructions, I need to wait until it starts to rise to increase feedings to twice a day, but my question is, when I do that, do I discard each feeding, or just once in 24 hours. I am hopeful that the changes i see today are in the right direction - should I be doing anything else?
Also, I did save some of the first starter in my fridge - if I want to try to bring that back to life, knowing it never really was viable, is there a method for feeding that I should try?
Thanks!
It doesn't matter if you discard or not to the starter as long as you use the right ratio of starter:flour:water when you feed. If you don't discard you must use more flour and water in your feed and you will end up with more starter. Then you will need to either discard more or feed yet more again.
Discard can be used to leaven bread or make sourdough pancakes.
I don't know the method you're using, perhaps there is a reason for it at early stages of sourdough starter development, but a ratio of 2:1:1 is not enough food for a typical stater. A healthy starter needs at least a 1:1:1 ratio, if not more. Less than that and the yeasts are going to be starving and weak.
You might be feeding less in the beginning to get the acidity going. How does your starter smell? Like fresh sour apple? If so I'd think it's sour enough and you need to feed it more.
Also, you might want to keep your starter somewhere warmer, 75 to 80 F.
Hi, thanks for sharing your thoughts - I started this batch with the pineapple juice method, and it finally started to take off after I posted my original question. I am trying to bake with it today, but will keep feeding it with the leftover not used. I am now adding 1:1:1 ratio, 2x a day. My starter has smelled fruity/yeasty for several days, which I think is good?
Hello,
I am relatively new to sourdough and baking in general and i had the same issue. My starter would not take off. It took me about 10-14 days to get it going. So thefirst thing i can recommend is ... don't give up and feed your starter daily and even twice a day if possible.
As mentioned in the previous comment, a ratio of 1:1:1 is standard and recommended. After seeing sufficient growth you should be able to increase the ration to 1:2:2 or more. Reducing the starting ammount allows your starter to become stronger and rise more concistently.
Finally, I found it hard to make my starter using whole wheat as that was the wheat i used at first. This was due to the fact that the wheat contained a all of the seed and although this led to better taste and higher complecity, it did not rise as much. I personally used strong bread floud (unbleached, It is the flour that has a yellowish tint) for my starter and it gave me the best results. Also, it is safe to change the type of flour you feed your starter, it will not ruin it, it may just need an additional feeding to "get used to it".
Here is an article that may help with the flour selection : https://truesourdough.com/which-flour-to-use-for-sourdough-bread-a-complete-guide/.
tl;dr :
-keep going ! You will eventually make it :)
-try going from 2:1:1 to 1:1:1 and eventually even 1:2:2
-experiment with other flours types as whole wheat flour gives less rise. I personally recommend strong bread flour or an organic all purporse unbleached flour.
Hi, since my original post, my starter has actually started to double and fall, so today I am going to try to use it in a recipe. I appreciate your thoughts about the ratios and flours, and will keep trying. I also am trying my original starter, to see if I can get it to be more mature and ready, so far so good. I keep it at about 75 degrees, and yesterday it started to double so quickly, I will see what happens today. For that starter, I am still just feeding it every 24 hours...stay tuned
Allison
Okay, baked 2 loaves today, better results! My starter was doubling (feeding every 12 hours), smelled fruity, was webby and fluffy, the dough had tension and seemed to rise before and in the fridge overnight. I have a photo - any comments? I think this starter is better, so I will maintain it and continue to bake!