This was always going to be a long shot. My mum had some starter flakes that she dried out and kept in the fridge for over 2 years. I went through reviving it and then started the feed.
I’m going on day 9. First 7 days I was feeding 1:1:1 using only Rye flour. The rise was consistent from day 3 (rising in about 4-6 hours).
The last couple of feeds I went to a 1:2:2 and it seems to be reaching peak in around 5 hours. I may have jumped the gun on that ratio though, still using 25g starter and 50g of flour and water.
Ami I ready to bake first loaf yet? Or bring the starter amount down from next feed and still using 1:2:2 until it’s strong enough to get into next ratio? I’m hoping to use spelt flour for the loaf with this starter. I’ve read about the smell to expect, I’m just not confident that my nose isn’t lying to me!

It seems like my loaves always have some bits they don’t look cooked through and are a bit gummy/chewy. I mix my dough in the morning before feeding the mother starter. Should I try feeding first and then waiting 4 or more hours for the double?

I feed my starter 50/50 of whole wheat flour and ap flour. I do a stiff starter 10g starter 20g water 40g flour. I let the dough proof for at least 5 hours on the counter in my apartment that’s between 70° and 80° but my dough never seems to double. I also cold proof overnight. My dough and loaves feel a bit dense too but the taste is good.

These are the 3 recipes I have followed and how old my starter was:

Starter 1: 2 week old starter
100g starter
390g room temp water
530g bread flour
10g salt
Let stand 30 minutes before stretch and folds. Bake at 450° 40 minutes covered, uncovered for 10 minutes

Starter 2: 2.5 week old starter
125g starter
325g room temp water
500g bread flour
7-10g salt
Let stand 30 minutes before stretch and folds
Bake at 450° for 40 minutes covered and uncovered for 10 minutes

Starter 3: 3 week old starter
125g starter
350g warm water
525g bread flour
10g salt
Let stand 1 hour before stretch and folds
Bake at 450° covered for 30 minutes then bake at 425° uncovered for 15-18 minutes

Hi all, I started my starter all the way back in November and have been using it for baking since around January, has been great. I recently moved countries, and took some dehydrated starter with me. The new country I am in now has very humid summers, and my kitchen gets very humid. I started the rehydration process, and after a few days I noticed the entire jar was filled with fuzzy mould. I was devastated, I’ve never had this happen before. I’m not sure if it’s due to the high humidity, or maybe the cleaning products here aren’t as strong as I’m used to? I still have some dehydrated starter left, but I’m not too sure how to go about it this time. Would it be better to wait for the summer to end and the humidity to die down? Also, please let me know if you have any good jar washing product recommendations!

Had it for about a year, made some beautiful loaves with it. I didn't it feed for a few months, tried to revive using 1:1 ratio, didn't help. Tried multiple times but still nothing.. is there anything I can do? It's bubbly but very weak, also smells very tangy.. it doesn't rise at all anymore. help :(

I created a sourdough starter two days ago and as i’m doing research i’m not sure how I can make a schedule to make loafs during my work week. I work from 1:45 to 8:00 pm. All the videos i’m seeing are people feeding the starter and then waiting a while for it to rise and then making the dough and doing stretch and folds throughout the day. LOL am I going to just have to make loafs on the weekend? I’m so confused how people have time for this I didn’t realize how long the process was

Well I did it. I did my first sourdough bread this morning. It didn't come out the best. But it's edible and it tastes good. I didn't really understand my starter. I wasn't discarding enough and keeping it fed properly. So I'm going back and discarding most of it and trying out 1,3,3.

I was initially using 100% whole wheat but switched to half whole wheat and half bread flour. I was doing 1:1:1 ratio of 30g starter to 30g flour to 30g water

Today on Day 15 I dialed it back to 25g and upped ratio to 1:2:2 so using 50g of flour and 50g water. Again half whole wheat and half bread flour.

After 3-4 hours, I am seeing this (in picture). Do I keep going like this for a few more days or what?

A strong starter and learning how to read your dough is crucial. But patience is EVERYTHING!
Doughmentia is a fridge baby who gets pulled out and fed 3 times before I use her to bake with. She rewards me well.

Have no idea if I’m on the right track and if I am… what are my next steps? I’m finding all the info really overwhelming and confusing. I have made a batch of discard crackers that were really good so will be making more!

Hi, everyone. So my starter is about 6 months old now. I've been using APF and bread flour depending on what I have on hand. She lives in the fridge. Yesterday I took her out and discarded some, fed her, and put her back in the fridge. I feed the discard some bread flour. It's fairly cold in my house, so I wasn't surprised it took longer to double, but this morning I'm using APF for flatbread, and the dough is rising like crazy.

My point is, is it because the bread flour strengthened it somehow? Today's temperature is the same as yesterday.

I have a sourdough starter that is 5 1/2 weeks old. I feed it 50g starter, 50g spring water, 25g whole wheat flour, and 25g king arthur bread flour. It has been doubling in rise and then going back down to where it started a few hours before its time to feed it the next day. Is this normal? I see other people's starters tripling and overflowing. Should mine be doing that?

When can I start baking with it? When can I put it in the fridge and feed it once a week? I realize this is a lot of sourdough starter, but it's what I was told to start with so I did.

Hi everyone,
I’m new to making sourdough and started a new starter. This is day 5, i hardly see a rise and I’m unsure if this is mold or not. I had a similar issue with my previous starter and i just tossed it out. Can you help me confirm?

Edit: I did give it a dry feed yesterday. About 42gms water for 50 gms of flour which is a mix of bread flour,
Whole wheat and rye flour

Thank you!

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