Please help me fix my sourdough starter

[chacandmeese]

Hi all - I am hoping that someone can point me in the right direction with this one.

I started to follow an online recipe for creating a sourdough starter last week. Each day you add 50g of bread flour and warm water and stir through.

The first few days, it started to create good bubbles and started to smell yoghurty as the recipe said it should, right up until day 4z According to the recipe, on day 5 it should have been really bubbly and pretty much ready to use.

My day 5 was yesterday. It was basically smooth - not a bubble in sight. I figured I'd keep going and added flour and warm water mixed together again. This morning it has tiny bubbles on the surface.

My jar is completely full now - should I tip some away and keep feeding it or have I killed it?

I've never baked sourdough bread before so I'm a bit clueless 🤣

Watching interest bcs I'd like to know.

It sounds as if it is behaving as it should - it is probably going a bit slower than the receipe because you are putting it in a jar ( I assume with a lid)

Yes throw out most of it out each time you refresh it. I keep 80g, mix with 80g water & 80g of flour. That gives enough starter for the bread and enough left to refresh for next time.

I mix mine in the tall clear jug that comes with a stick mixer, but any tall clear tub will work. Scrape down the sides and mark with a sharpie where it comes to. Leave it on the bench and leave it uncovered. 2 reasons for not covering - firstly the yeast you are trying to cultivate comes from the dust and such floating in the air. Secondly it will give off carbon dioxide gas as it gets going (the small bubbles) if it is in a sealed jar the gas pressure will build up and the jar will explode.

The sharpie line will tell you how much it is expanding before sinking back down... you are aiming for a doubling. When you are at that stage it is ready for baking.

For baking I mix about 35-50g of starter with 500g of flour, 350g of water and a good teaspoon of salt. The amount of starter depends on the vigour of your yeast, kitchen temperature, when you want the bread ready & if you are using an ambient or retarded rise. My starter is really vigourous so I use 35g of starter and an overnight retarded rise. You may have to use more starter and less salt & put it in a warmer space or have a longer rise. Only experience will tell you what works for your starter.

Once your starter has got going it is really difficult to kill it off. I keep mine in the fridge in a clip top jar and feed it every couple of weeks or for 2 days before I am wanting to use it. The longest I have left it is 4 months, it had a black hooch on the top and it took a few days of daily feeding to bring it back but it is more robust than ever.

I would recommend watching YouTube to see how to shape your loaves and look for a no knead dutch oven recipe.

Have you got a garden. Cover with muslin or net to keep insects out and put it outside for a few hours, more yeasts, especially near apple trees.

Ok - I'll keep going!

It's in a jar but the lid is just resting on with a spoon holding it open on one side to keep the air flow - do you think it needs more air?

So to confirm, if when I feed it, it doubles in size, it should be ready to try baking with?

Not much of a garden and it's pretty rainy here today 😕

Leave it totally uncovered in the dustiest place you can find, but not next to your bottle recycling because wine / beer yeasts are not so good for breadmaking.

Fab - it's uncovered and I've fed it so fingers crossed for more bubbles!

If you have some bubbles it is just a matter of time. Time is the 4th ingredient when making sourdough.

It definitely seems more alive today than it did yesterday.

I don't discard any. I'm on my second starter now because I stupidly added all of mine to dough without keeping some back. For a new starter, I just added a spoonful of flour to some water to make a sticky mess, and then fed every day with more flour and water. In summer, it gets lively in days. In my cold winter kitchen, it took almost two weeks.

After that time, you've got a lot of starter, so use some in a recipe and put the rest in the fridge. When you want to use it, bring out of fridge and add a spoonful each of flour and water to wake it up. Leave to start bubbling, then use what you need, and put back in fridge.

Once you get down to a spoonful or two at the bottom of a jar, you can just make what you need and return the dregs to the fridge. I only make sourdough when I have time, so the starter is in the fridge for weeks. Every couple of weeks, I take it out, tip away the hooch and feed the starter. Might move it to a clean jar too. It's very forgiving once established.

You'll all be pleased to know that it is definitely higher up the jar than it was, and there are lots of small bubbles forming 🥳

Also. Never throw away excess starter - it makes the most delicious savoury crackers.
https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2019/03/sourdough-crackers-with-olive-oil-herbs.html