Hi guys,
I have one of those annoying questions from a fretting first-time soughdough starter parent, so thanks for your patience in advance!
My starter had the telltale signs of a case of leuconostoc bacteria in its early stages: very active bubbling followed by a blue-cheesy smell and very little activity.
After changing recipes and adding a 1/4 teaspoon (roughly 1% of total weight) of pineapple juice for a couple of days, it seems to be on the mend. The smell is gone, and we're back from a very runny, milky consistency to something more like half melted ice cream.
But now I feel like we've hit another wall. We're on Day 8 but there hasn't been much activity between feedings, apart from a few little bubbles on top, for the past couple of days.
I'm wondering if I've lowered the pH enough to prevent leuconostoc from growing, but not enough for the yeast to flourish?
If so, how much pineapple juice (or other acidic liquid) can I add without pickling my little yeast friends?
Many thanks!
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ps - These days I'm using a 1:1:1 ratio with two feedings per day and white all purpose flour. I'm in Sydney so the ambient temperature in my apartment is probably about 23-ish degrees Celsius. Ta!
and just stir it for a day or two until you see some activity. Then thicken it up so it is more like thick pancake batter. And keep it in a bit warmer spot.
Why?
1. You are diluting the yeast and bacteria if you feed it too often. They never get a chance to catch up. You can feed it twice a day once it is well established.
2. Half melted ice cream sounds like you are feeding it by volume instead of weight. If your starter is too runny, it doesn’t have the structure to rise. Start feeding by weight.
3. Yeast and bacteria grow faster if kept warm.
My last thought is that you might want to try using Wholewheat or rye. Starters usually love whole grains. But if you want to continue using white flour, make sure it is unbleached. The closer to nature the flour is, the more yeast and bacteria it will have on it to start and help grow the beasties.
Hope this helps.
Oh and I forgot to answer your question. If the bad smell is gone, then don’t feed it any more pineapple juice. Filtered or bottled water is just fine. No tap water unless it is free of chlorine or chloramine ( or whatever the other treatment chemical is called).
I agree with Danni3ll3.
Thanks for the feedback Danni 3II3! I'll give those ideas a go and see how things turn out =)
If you start another starter in the future, use more than 1% unsweetened pineapple juice, try 100% juice and no water. That should jump your starter thru the stinky bacterial phase faster. No need for it now, just watch it and stir without feeding right now, try to get the temp up to 26°C. After it takes off with lots of yeast, the starter will be more stable and do fine at 23° C.
I actually stared a new starter, along with the older one, just in case the older one didn't make it. It's actually picked up a fair bit, so I think I might have two starters on my hands now! Oh well!
I did try your pineapple juice method though, and made the second starter with rye flour. Day 2-and-a-half and still no cheese smell! Would definitely recommend that starter recipe to beginners in the future!