starter and shape problem

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anniechanleong on 11 Apr 2016 at 21:43

Hello

I am new here and new at trying to start a starter. I did with whole wheat flour last Monday but I am not sure if i did it right. Today is Day 8 yet i do not get the fruity smell or sour smell. yet it does not have a bad smell. It smells like dry cardboard. It grows and bubbles but when i scrape the top the bottom does not look like it has bubbles or honey comb-like look. It looks like a paste. Am I doing it right?I started with whole wheat flour, left it for 48 hours and then fed whole wheat flour again and then the white bread flour.

I went ahead and baked bread with it anyway today just to see the outcome. It just came out of the oven. I let the final rise on a couche in a basket and the dough did get stuck onto the cloth and I think I deflated the dough when i tried pulling the dough away from the cloth. I also cannot get my boule to stay round and puffy. It flatten out in the oven.

Help!!!

Just tasted the bread. It is dense maybe because I had to tear it away from the couche when I transfer it to the peel. It has no taste. unlike bread taste and there is a sharp stinging feel to the tongue after. It's weird. I have never tasted anything like this hence the weird description. 

Should I throw the waffles away? I just tried the waffles again. It's not chewy but seems edible. How long before a new starter can be used? Even a discard?

On Wednesday when I was supposed to feed it has gone from 1.25 oz to 2.25 oz. it did grow. And bubbling. Then on Thursday the 7th it was at 7 3/8 oz when I fed in the morning and was at 1lb6oz 8 hours later. That's when I discarded except for 11 oz. during the second feed on Thursday. Left it on counter till Friday morning in the fridge. It was still growing in the fridge. Then Monday I reduced back to 2 oz and fed 1:1:1 ratio. 

The timing of feeding and leaving in fridge I followed Richard Bertinet schedule from Crust. According to him I should be able to bake after day 4 second feeding but should put in fridge to get a little sourness in bread. 

Does it take longer with whole wheat? Does it smell different with whole wheat initially than with white bread flour, I mean whole wheat takes longer to smell sour?

Should I start all over again? I have tried Richard Bertinet's bread from dough and they all work. I been studying making a starter for a long time and even wrote down the schedule and time before starting. 

Ok so stay out on counter till it smells sour and bubbling. Bake bread then put in fridge. Got it. 

the flour of choice used here and the small amount with my funky schedule is ok right? I just need to leave it on counter covered loosely till smell, growth and bubbles happen accordingly so I can bake and then refrigerate?

i was just telling my husband that I think I want to go to A class just to get it straight and can ask all my questions instead of guessing and doubting myself

They always specify a certain temperature for the starter. What if it is winter and cold. I know it takes longer but will it still grow? All books I read never tackle this issue but according to the video and it is my first encounter, it says that in winter it takes longer but I can still just leave it on the counter when it is in the 60s and it will still grow but just takes a few more days longer ?

Thank you so much for answering all my questions and the video. I shall not give up. The only pat on my back this first time round is that the starter does not smell like sewage although it does make me sit on the fence as it is neither nor sort of thing. It is not bad as it does not repulse anyone smelling it yet it is not smelling like what I think it should but it grows and bubbles. Definitely malee me scratch my head a lot - like for 9 days already hahaha