I'd like to start off by giving everyone on TFL a huge thanks for their friendliness and advice. I'm a novice baker at best, and a community such as this provides an invaluable trove of knowledge for anyone like me :)
I have a novice question about a starter's scent. I created a 2.5-week old starter (rye, 100% hydration) on a 12h feeding schedule that is rising wonderfully and looks correct based on others' photos. However, while the starter smells yeasty/fruity when I'm about to feed it, stirring it up releases a fairly acrid and displeasing odor. I don't detect the paint-thinner/nail-polish-remover scent that supposedly indicates starvation. Instead, it's a yeasty scent mixed with something more sinister (hard to describe). I'm wondering if there might be a problem here since most people in past forum posts seem to find their starter scent relatively attractive, even right before feeding. Could it be that I have incorrectly nurtured the starter?
I baked two small 1-2-3 test loaves with it (one white and one whole wheat), and both turned out fantastic and smelled/tasted like proper sourdough. Unfortunately, I was scared to eat them in case my starter was somehow deadly or I fermented the dough dangerously.
Especially if you take a good whiff! Vinegary over ripe fruit perhaps?
It's been 4 hours since my last feed, and I went and stirred it up and stuck my nose right into it. Of all possibilities, "vinegary" seems like just the word I was looking for! It really is difficult to describe unfamiliar smells.
Based on your advice, it sounds like this might a good sign. Thank you very much for the feedback!
if it gets only a 1:1:1 feeding. I'm sitting here with two very very ripe bananas nearby and keep thinking I'm smelling starter. So I just found and fed my rye starter. Thanks. Maybe I should bake a banana bread too?
I've been feeding it 1:1:1 up until now and was hesitant to up the quantity until the starter became "ripe" (maybe at a month old?). I'll try feeding it more and will see how it reacts.
when it becomes yeasty. They are then hungry, before that, mostly the first week, one is just waiting...and waiting...
but now it needs more food or you're making beer, baby!
And as an added bonus, there will be a higher ratio of discard to play around with! I'm quite excited.
:)
I fed it 1:2:2 today for the first time, and within 5 hours or so, it tripled in size and overflowed the container I was using. I'm happy to have such an active culture, which, looking through older posts, seems like a good sign. I will increase the container size accordingly.
I sense many loaves in the near future :) Thanks for your help, Mini!
Now bake some bread with that starter!
...and that's an order! :)
I tried a simple 1-2-3 +salt white flour loaf, and it sure seems like the starter is doing its thing. Smells and tastes like sourdough :)
loaf looks good! :)