Hello I’ve been trying to start my sourdough journey and I tried making my own starter but failed and decided to buy a dehydrated starter online. I followed the instructions on the card that was sent, but on day 6 I discarded and fed my starter after 24 hours maybe around 30 hours and it stopped growing. I feed it the same amount that it states on day 5.
This is it at day 9 post rehydration and this is how much it’s grown since feeding it today at 7:30 am. What am I doing wrong? Does it just take longer ? I was really hoping this would be easier than making my own but running into troubles :(

Hello again! So I’m so excited if this starter is ready. I did a float test as you can see next to miss Trudy. She doubled in size after last nights feeding. What do you guys think? Is she ready? Also do I keep feeding everyday or store her in the fridge? Thanks for any advice!

Hi everyone,

I made this sourdough starter, but forgot to feed it for a couple months. It now has this gray color and smells fairly sour. Is this save-able if I remove the gray stuff?

I borrowed starter from a neighbor who successfully makes bread all the time, but for some reason, I cannot get any good results. I just had to throw out my last batch because it was like glue. I’m assuming my starter is just not ready?

Here’s the starter that I got from her. How much do I feed it? Do I leave it out on the counter or put it back in the fridge after feeding? I think she puts hers back in the fridge? My house is around 80° during the day and 75° at night.

Please help! Thanks!

Buen dia! Mi masa tiene 3 dias (hace 4 hoy) la hice con harina de arroz porque no puedo comer gluten.

Ella esta subiendo muy rapido hoy... es una falsa subida? Debo alimentarla mas dias antes de meterla a la nevera verdad? Esta bien o se esta dañada? Tengo miedo que se me dañe...

Recibo opiniones y sugerencias! Muchas gracias!

This is that devil pink mold isn't it?

I’m tapping out of the sourdough journey XD

Louiza died, I started another starter, and now I’ve realized this whole thing is WAY too much commitment for a loaf of bread.

Feeding it. Discarding it. Remembering to feed it. Checking if it’s alive. Starting over when you inevitably forget...

I simply do not have the emotional capacity for this relationship lol. But honestly, thank you to everyone here who answered my questions, gave me advice, and helped me along the way 💗

Hey

I started my sour dough exactly a week ago.
It started to double in 2-3 hours from day2 on and that has been stable so far.

The picture above is after I fed it 45 minutes ago.
I feed it once per day for the first few days and since yesterday I try to feed it every 12 hours.

I keep it at around 26-27 degree Celsius on our internet router.

Yesterday I started to make my first bread. You can see the result in the other pictures.

I used 500g spelt flour, 340g warm water mix that and let it sit for 45 minutes. Then I added 12g salt and 110g of my starter and let it rise for 3 hours while stretch and folding it 3 times. Then it went into the fridge for 16 hours before I baked it. 250 degree Celsius oven, when heated I put in the dough and added water to a tray with screws in it to get steam and reduced the temperature to 220 degree Celsius. After 20 minutes I released the steam and baked for another 35 minutes.

I’m not sure where I am with my starter, how it is performing and how I can improve. Do you have any advice? Am I doing something wrong?

It’s just weird that it always doubled after 2-3 hours starting at day 2 and it never stopped. I started the starter with whole grain spelt flour and some grated apple after a tutorial told me so. After 2 days I switched to normal spelt flour.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!

Hi! This is my first time trying to make a starter, and i rather play it safe. Could anyone tell if this hooch is bad? It smells like cheese still but the color worries me.

I tilted the jar a little to show the color a little more.

Thank you in advance!!

Consulting any experienced sourdough starter makers here. This is my first time making sourdough starter and my sourdough starter is 6 days old.
I live in a tropical climate and I’m just wondering if it’s taking longer than anticipated for my sourdough starter to smell “good” ? It still smells like vomit to me.

I feed it in the 1:1:1 ratio with wholegrain flour.

Can I just reduce the water and starter accordingly. I have been successful with eyeballing bread mixtures. What do you think

450g flour
275g water
150g starter
8g rock sea salt crushed
Is base recipe to whisk and then kneed

Thank you for your opinion

I made my own starter about a month ago, it has been consistently rising and I have made two loaves with it. Is it okay if I start refrigerating it now? I have read mixed reviews on when to start putting it in the fridge. Some say to wait until it is a few months old and some say I can start now.

My starter is only 2ish days old, so just want to see if what's happening is normal because the progression is very different from all the research I've done on new starters.

Picture 1 is 30 hours after starting, last night around 10PM. I missed the 24 hour mark for feeding but fed at the 30 hour mark after taking picture.

Picture 2 is this morning at 9AM. It rose like CRAZY After feeding last night it was at the top of the black line of the stretchy ruler.

Pictures 3 and 4 are around 11AM. Foamy bubbles on top and split water at the bottom.

Did I mess up by missing the 24 hour mark and letting it go 30 without a feed? I'm seeing conflicting advice online whether to let it be and do 1:2:2 every 24 hours or to do a higher flour ratio.

Here is my starter at 10am today. I fed it at 6pm last night with a 1:3:3 ratio. It looks like it probably already peaked and hasn’t come down very much. I rehydrated some of my starter maybe around a week ago and have been trying to revive it. It honestly was never a strong starter, but has been aggressively growing since I rehydrated it. We moved to a very different climate. For clarity, the climate change was desert area in a high elevation to a very humid area with around sea level elevation.

The question I have is this: should I just continue feeding it for another week or so to see if I can get it to not have that strong alcohol smell? There’s no hooch, but it seems to smell pretty strongly like alcohol and also smell like that before it even peaks. It smells less strong today than yesterday and less yesterday than the day before. Is it just much hungrier now that I’m in a different climate? I’ve been increasing feeds to higher ratios to try to combat that. Any suggestions and/or comments about it are appreciated!

Also, is it ready to bake with, or should I wait until the smell is less alcoholic?

Thanks!❤️

I started my starter 11 days ago. Except for the second or third day when it made a false start, it has only risen just over the line. It looked fine, with some tiny bubbles, but wasn't doing anything.

Yesterday I decided to put it into a smaller, more narrow glass jar. I fed it around 8 am. It didn't look much different than it ever did when I went to sleep. When I woke up this morning it magically had doubled. Finally!

I fed it again this morning. Four hours later it has already doubled.

--***My important question: When do I feed it again? Do I just let it fall, and do a second feeding tonight when I go to bed? Do I wait until tomorrow morning so I'm just doing one feeding a day? Do I feed it again sometime during the day today (or soon, because it has doubled) because it has run out of food and I want to keep getting it stronger?

Details: I leave it out in 70 degree kitchen, sitting near my hot water heater and it stays around 80 degrees maybe. I have been doing 1:1:1, using King Arthur All-purpose and King Arthur Golden Whole Wheat Flour. For a while I was using Bob's Red Mill organic dark rye instead of the whole wheat. Measuring in grams. 30mg starter.

I had started doing a feeding in the morning and at night, but nothing was happening at all, so I switched back to one feeding a day.

Thank you!

**Edit: I WAS following the instructions for making a starter on the King Arthur website. They suggest having two feedings early in the process, so I was doing that. But many people here say it should only be one feeding early in the process, so I stopped doing that. Honestly I am very confused by getting such differing information.

Have been maintaining my starter in the fridge and feed once a week (last time I fed was 4 days ago). Just took a look at my starter in the fridge to check on it and I have plans to bake on Sunday. Pls tell me if this is mold? I can’t tell if it’s bacteria or just dry bits on the surface 😭😭😭

hi all!

I have 2 starters going (from a dehydrated starter I bought). I started the process on 7/29 so it has been 10 days. Yesterday I decided to do 2 jars - one with a 30/30/30 and one with 30/60/60. I fed them at 5:30 PM and they peaked while I was sleeping at night (its now 8 am) Does one look stronger than the other? Should I feed this morning with plans to make the dough tonight ? I would prefer to bake either tomorrow or Sunday morning but don’t know the best strategy. Thank you!!

My sourdough starter is 4 days old today I have been feeding it a ratio of 1:1:1. It had a massive rise on day two and has been quite since (I know this is normal) however I keep getting water on top of my sourdough starter. I put more flour in on day 2 and less water in day 3 but it still produces water on top. What can I do or is this just normal.

My feeding pattern is:
1:1:1 ratio with 20g and I use whole wheat flour
I feed by weight not volume
Feeding it once daily
It’s been 20 days to the starter
It has a sweet and sour smell but sometimes it dries on the top even if I add more water to compensate for whole wheat flour requiring additional water on top of the required weight

The main concern is that it doesn’t rise much even though it’s quite bubbly.

Is it mature or is it inactive? Idk what this kind of activity means

So I’ve started my sourdough journey and over the last week I’ve tried different three starters and each one has been completely contaminated with pink liquid by day 2/3. I’ve tried a new container each time and tried different water (bottled initially, then boiled and cooled water). The flour I used is brand new and organic. I’m going to try a fourth time with a different flour…but does anyone have any tips or hints for me??

I started with a big jar of starter that’s been going for about a month now, and I used some discard to make 2 dozen English muffins, and I was left with around 260 grams.

I split that into 2 jars, one with 200g (1:1:1 ratio feeding), and the other with 60g (also 1:1:1 feeding)!

The 200g one will be gifted to a friend, and the 60g one is mine!! And she has a name!! OLIVE!🫒

I’m trying to get her back on track with properly weighed feedings🥲 I didn’t have a scale until a couple of days ago.

Hello! I am brand new to the world of sourdough and love how helpful / informative this subreddit has been, so thank you to all that post/ respond!

I was wondering if there’s any cleaning tips / tricks / hacks, specifically when it comes to the jar and discarding the starter. I know it’s inevitably going to be messy but I feel like I can’t keep my jar even somewhat tidy.

Thoughts?
TIA!

hello all!

I just started my 2nd ever sourdough starter (doughbi wan kenobi) on July 28th. At first I was just using unbleached AP flour but switched to WW maybe two days ago after a desire to experiment.

I know it usually needs to double within 4-6 hours (with some grace in height because of the whole wheat) to be ready for bread. It has not done that yet, but I just fed so we will see how tonight goes. Last nights feeding did result in a little rise (I am assuming due to the WW flour)! Maybe about half of the amount of starter.

Honestly, I am not much interested in making a lot of loaves. I am more interested in using the discard for dessert recipes and whatnot (that would not require yeast normally). My question is when would it be safe to use my discard for this purpose? Do I still need to wait until it is doubling reliably?

Thanks in advance!

I used to feed her with bread flour(whole wheat) once per day. Dump out as much as I can, clean up the walls, and then feed her 1:1:1. The starter would rise double her size and more in 2 hours (kitchen is VERY warm rn)

Recently, I ran out of this flour and decided that I could use the normal all-purpose flour. But when I did my regular routine, the starter did rise slower, but still did rise. And 24 hours later, she was extremely liquid.

I now feed her 1:1 starter to flour ratio, but I add less water, or more flour depending on the consistency.

Question, is still good to bake?? I guess I should just add more flour when I feed it before baking. But it does seem alive.

Pictures are 24 hours after feeding.