Hi All,
Need some advice regarding my sourdough starter.
My starter is 14 days old and was created with whole wheat and AP flour (BRM brand). It has more than doubled consistently for a couple days at 1:2:2 feeding ratio at 78F. (about twice a day, i feed it whenever it peaks)
I tried making my first loaf 2 days ago and it just wouldnt rise more than 10-15%. (Tartine bread recipe 400 grams bread flour 100 grams whole wheat)
I started thinking maybe the starter just wasn't used to bread flour so i took some mature discard and fed it 100% bread flour at 1:1:1 ratio. Starter did not rise at all, just a couple tiny bubbles even after 12 hours.
Does anyone have any advice on what i should do moving forward? Slowly increase bread flour ratio in my starter? Or just keep feeding it 100% bread flour until it doubles?
If i decide to make a whole wheat bread do i have to go through this process again?
Any help is appreciated!
Enjoy!
I think your starter is still pretty young. If I remember the Tartine recipe correctly, it's about 20% levain, which means the ratio is somewhere between 1:5:3.5 and 1:5:4. That's significantly less inoculation than your current 1:2:2 feeding schedule. Now, it's normal to use a higher ratio for bread dough than for your starter - I feed my starter 1:5:3 currently, but only use 5% starter in my bread - but you're not going to see the same rise in the same amount of time if you do. My starter grows 4x in 12 hours, but my bread dough might take 13 hours to double.
Are you keeping the dough temperature the same as your starter maintenance temperature?
Yes, same ambient temperature. Water used for dough is slightly warmed up.
Even my offshoot starter made with 1;1:1 (bread flour 100%) rises only 10% after 12 hrs.
While my usual starter with usual flour blend (1:2:2) had already risen almost 3x
Am I understanding correctly that you are feeding your starter 2x a day. If so, I would guess you are overfeeding it. At a young age, feeding it that much can dilute the yeast. The height it achieves in the container may be due to acidic action and not to yeast producing CO2.
How does it feel? Is it light & airy? Or still kind of pasty & heavy?
I'd imagine it's still heavyish.
If I were you, I'd try feeding it no more than once a day for a while and see if it gains strength.
Rob
Thanks for the advice Squatter.
I've been feeding it almost peak to peak (waiting for the top to come down just a tiny bit with dimples on the surface just to be sure)
Found this on The Sourdough Journey:
"Some starters will take a few days (or up to one week) to adapt to a new type of flour."
So i guess i'll keep going see if my offshoot starter improves.
Thanks again.