My starter won't bubble - two weeks later!

annamac

Dear all

I turn to you in despair because I'm really struggling with my starter. I have been baking successful sourdough for almost three years, using the same starter, reviving 100g of it with equal parts flour and water, baking twice a week. Everything was fine until I went on vacation in July and forgot to put it in the fridge during a very hot spell. 

When I came back, it was hoochy and not very nice smelling so I spent 10 days trying to revive it, and although it would form bubbles, it never doubled in size. The best I got after was about a 20% bulk increase.

I decided that I had probably killed it so I decided to throw in the towel and make a new starter, which I did last Monday. I followed Dan Lepard's recipe. But despite carefully feeding it every 24 hours, it also refused to take off. After 9 days, I started twice-daily feedings which I've been doing now for four days, and I'm still not getting any proper fermentation. I get a few surface bubbles after a few hours, then a few more, then by about 8 hours, it's tiny bubbles but still no volume. 

Does anyone have any ideas to help me? I'm getting kind of frustrated!!

It's pretty hot here at the moment, 26°C in the house (79°F).

Thank you for any advice!

Anna

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farinam's picture
farinam 2015 August 14

Hello Anna,

Not sure what Dan's method is but I have found that the method outlined by SourDom on this site is hard to beat.

I think a couple of the secrets are to use at least some proportion of a wholemeal flour (rye seems to have more beasties and good enzymes than wheat it seems) and certainly don't use highly processed/bleached flour to maximise the chances of introducing the wild yeasts and bacteria that you need.

Good luck with your projects.

Farinam

danlepard 2015 August 15

As Farinam suggests, a wholemeal flour is the secret here as the surface of the grain is "where the wild things are". And of late I am more inclined toward organic grain and flour, if that's possible for you.

 

Just did a search for the legendary Sourdom's method and it's here:

 

http://sourdough.com/blog/sourdom/beginners-blog-starter-scratch

 

Let us know how you get on. In the scheme of things, 13-odd days of feeding from scratch isn't a very long time yet. Persistence will get you there.

 

Dan

TedinOz 2015 August 15
Certainly agree with both above Anna. Flour quality with good nutrient content is the key, along with a tepid, but not too warm water temp. With both these elements present you should have success.

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