you may know that i've had several starters that made tasty bread for weeks or a couple months, then each one developed a fruity smell that doesn't small anything like yeast and i can't seem to bring them back. none have been overwhelmingly active, btw, but they do rise.
so i started a new one as the weather is warm here, and i thought "why not?" i put in a pinch of instant yeast, then for the second feeding i put in some orange juice. it went MAD! it rose higher, stayed up longer and it was really pretty exciting. but it smelled strongly fruity - not like orange juice, more like bananas.
i've been feeding it twice a day 1:2:1.5 or 1:2.5:2, and stirring it down twice; the top is smelling slightly more breadlike and less fruity, but when i stir it, the fruity smell is still there but isn't as strong. i didn't give it orange juice a second time, but a couple days later it's still the most active starter i've had. it usually rises to 2.5 times it's original size, which the previous ones didn't. it's very sour to my tongue, but too thick to use on our PH test strips.
i tried a different brand of whole spelt flour this evening and it rose a little higher.
so here i am with a starter that rises well, holds its rise, has no hooch or mold showing up and will rise twice on one feeding if stirred down. it's thicker than the others, which weren't all liquid starters, but they did have more water. i just checked, and when risen to about 2.25x, it doesn't float. btw, i've never smelled anyone else's successful starter, so i have no frame of reference.
i do a lot of non-sourdough baking these days, but i love sourdough, and i like having a combination of a pet and a science project to play with. but i would like to bake sourdough bread and pizza, so any suggestions gratefully appreciated. shall i just carry on and see how it goes? it's been less than a week, and the kitchen is usually between 77 and 80f, sometimes a pinch lower.
hmm, what's wrong with fruity? A lot of descriptions of good, fully mature, active starters at their peak say "pleasant smell, like very ripe fruit". It doesn't mean that your bread will taste fruity, it just means that the lactic acid bacteria, the beneficial bacteria in your starter, are very active and produce good flavour.
They really don't smell "breadlike" at this stage...
tsp
thanks for your very helpful post. i keep reading that starters should be yeasty smelling. since i mostly bake bread with yeast, i knew that wasn't what i was smelling, so i thought something was wrong.
tonight i baked with the starter, and while i baked a brick, part of that was trying to adapt recipes for wheat to spelt - it did rise, and next time, i'll give it less folding, a little less water and perhaps a longer ferment. but you know what? that was THE best brick i've ever tasted.
thank you again :)