I need help with my newly started sourdough starter. Today is the 7th day, I have been feeding it everyday and it has been out in room temp. One time I discarded some and fed it. I did the water test today and it sank. It looks like it is not very active. I want to make bread, my question : what should I do next? When do I refrigerate it? Do I always have to discard or use everytime I feed it?
Replies
Hello Anonymous,
It can be a bit hard to say what might be going on as we don't know exactly what method you are following. It is generally considered that using a proportion of wholemeal flour, particularly rye flour, is beneficial because of the likelihood of higher loads of yeast and bacteria than you might get in white flour (particularly if the white flour has been bleached).
If you have a read of the Beginners Blogs on this site there is a excellent method for making a starter that has proved to be very reliable and does not use any 'magic' just good flour and water. The blogs go on the cover all aspects of making a loaf and starter management.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Hi, thank you for your reply! I was using white unbleached flour, for the first 6 or so I did 4 oz flour and 4 oz filtered water without discarding. There is a nice smell and such but no action...I then put about 3 or 4 tbsps of the starter in a new bowl and added 100g water and 70g white flour and 30g rye. It seemed dry so I added water free hand no measurement. This way yesterday. Today there is no action still, a few bubbles but not much.
chlorine free water
quality unbleached flours
glass or ceramic container
temp where starter being maintained
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe