Lazy Starter :)

Levain

Hey everyone...I am hoping someone will have some words of wisdom for me regarding my Tartine starter.  We are now on day 11 and my starter is barely producing half dozen bubbles on top each day with no real progression.  I have been following the instructions explicitly weighing, keeping track of room temp etc.  Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

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farinam's picture
farinam 2014 June 25

Hello Levain,

I would have thought you should be better placed by this.  Without details of your method and materials it is hard to be specific but a common method is to use a proportion of wholemeal flour in the blend and rye seems to be a bit better due to some different enzymes that it contains.  Part of the thinking is that there is more likely to be wild yeasts and bacteria left on the bran and germ than in the finely sifted white flour.  The other downer for some white flours is that they have also been bleached and otherwise processed which is not good for the beasties that you need.

Have a read of SourDom's beginners blog on this site.  Many people have had success following this (including me).

Good luck with your project and let us know more if you think it will help you along the way.

Farinam

108 breads's picture
108 breads 2014 July 8

Don't depair; it could be you just need to tweak whatever you are doing. Here is the sum of my sourdough starter knowledge.

  1. Use an all-purpose or whole grain flour. Either kind can produce a lively starter.
  2. Start with 100 percent hydration - translated as equal weights of flour and water. That's roughly 1/3 cup flour to 1/4 cup water if you do not have a scale.
  3. When developing a starter, stir every hour or so.
  4. When developing a starter or in hot weather, feed the starter twice a day.

 

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