Hi everyone,
And thanks for sharing all of your knowledge on this site. I've been a fan of wild bacteria for some time now. I brew kombucha and lacto-fermented ginger beers and make my own sauerkraut. I figured the next logical step would be to get a sourdough culture going.
I got Daniel Leader's book Local Breads last winter. I've made a few of the recipes that use bakers yeast and pate fermentee. I decided that this book would be going to waste if I wasn't going to roll up my sleeves and ferment. So, this weekend I made my first sourdough starters, a liquid and a stiff dough levain. I thought everything was going smoothly. After day 2 the liquid levain kept separating after I stirred it, I suspected something had gone wrong. At first I thought it was just taking longer to become a thing because of the temperature, we keep it pretty cold in the house (between 60-68), but it did have a soury smell. After some time on the internet and with the help of this site I discovered that it was likely leuconostoc bacteria. It's funny, almost every google search brought me back to this site. I poured some orange juice in it as a last ditch effort to save it, but it's only been a few days so I assume that I'll be starting over completely.
I still have a lot to learn and look forward to using this site.
Welcome, David.
I was a brewer before I was a baker too. Gotta love those active cultures.
David,
I live just outside of Baltimore in Howard County. I have a lovely, healthy, thriving starter. If you continue to have problems getting your starter started you are more than welcome to a glop of mine.
If you want to continue to get your own starter started I would recommend pouring off the liquid that gathers on top and be sure to feed it every day whether it looks hungry or not. I doubled mine every day until it was ready to use, I also tossed half of it every day too. I worked with 2-3 tablespoons of flour every day. It took a good 2 weeks before it really started to act like a starter and I felt I could build it up to make bread.
There are tons of recommendations and opinions about how to start and maintain a starter here and they all pretty much work. You just have to find the combination that works best for you.
Anne
Welcome to TFL David! This is a very supportive & encouraging group. You'll find an interesting global community of dedicated home and professional bakers here.
A whole spectrum of personalities, from artists and science nerds to stand-up comics, we'll have you hooked in no time.
Here's a funny thread to get you started.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20598/you-know-you-are-addicted-baking-bread-when
Toni
Especially for nascent starters. Do you have a place where you can stash the starter between feedings? Somewhere that the temperatures are consistently in the mid- to upper-70s? That will help the yeast and bacteria to grow more quickly. You can still get a starter going with the temperatures that you presently have. It's just going to take longer, is all.
Paul
The area on top of my fridge is 8 degrees F warmer than the counter just below it. And my sourdough knows the difference!
Mary Clare
Thanks for all the advice. I drained the water off of the liquid levain before feeding it again and i put them in the oven over the weekend. Since it was so cold i fed them every other day and I think it worked. Both the stiff and the liquid were bubbly and sweetly sour smelling this morning.
I've thought of investing in a warming drawer from the architectural salvage place by my house. They usually have them for around $100, it would be useful for proofing, making yogurt, and ginger beer starters too. Or I may just try to build one myself. Has anyone done this?