r/SourdoughStarter

Im on my 3rd 5lb bag of flour and even used a quarter of wheat flour. I cant seem to get get any double rise whether I make it a wet or dry starter. Right now ive been doing 15g of starter, 18g water and 30g of king arthurs bread flour. Im just starting to use a sourdough home set at 77F. The rise is about 10%, the top gets dome shaped, top layer is more dried out so the picture is showing under the top layer. Do you think its ready or safe to bake with even though im not seeing a double rise?

Hi everyone! I’m brand new to this and I know it’s very early in my start, but I hate wasting food so I’m wondering if I should keep going or just start over. A few recipes I found have you discarding half and then adding 60g flour and 60g water so that’s what I’ve been doing.

Day 1: I started with 60g whole wheat flour and 60g filtered bottled room temp water.

Day 2: There was no activity so I left it alone.

Day 3: Noticed a rise and bubbles, so I discarded half and added 60g organic all purpose unbleached flour, and 60g filtered tap water (direct from tap/ filter but in the microwave for 12 seconds).

Day 4: No rise but some bubbles. Discarded half and added 60g of the all purpose flour and 60g filtered bottled water (room temp but microwaved for 15 seconds)

Today is day 5 and again I see no rise but some bubbles. The photo is of day 5.

I was keeping it in my laundry room as it’s warmer in there but I only have a laser thermometer so I’m not sure if it’s accurately taking the air temperature but it was reading at least 71-72 degrees. I moved it into my oven 2 days ago and I keep turning the light on for 1-2 hours every few hours. My laser thermometer is reading 71-72 degrees in there.

The consistency looks like a paste but seems loose, so I’m also wondering if it’s too watery? Would love some advice on if I should keep feeding it or start over. Thank you!

Went on vacation, fed her before and put in the fridge. Got home today and took her out to feed and saw this. It’s grey/purple spots.

Meet my starter. After 2 years she finally has a name …Jillian😅. While she’s 2…I’ve only recently started baking with her frfr in this last month or 2. (I let her dry out and jarred her) I’m looking to use her a lot more so today I upgraded her home!! I’ve also include photos of my successful bakes with her so far.

Pic 3&4 I made rolls for homemade Philly cheesesteak.

Pic 5 was a cheese loaf I made fire broccoli cheddar soup.

Pic 6&7 I made my first loaf this year…didn’t have a banneton so I used a large bowl resulting in it being short (?). Still turned out lovely.

Pic 8&9…it was supposed to be a plain loaf but turned into a AMAZING accidental focaccia.

Pic 10…I made buns for sloppy Joe’s

I am making a starter for the first time, I mixed everything on 10/2, waited about 36 hours for my first feeding because there was no activity at 24 hours, and did my first feed today (10/4) about 7 hours ago and it's already risen so much since this morning. Do I wait the full 24 hours or should I do the discard/feed process early?

The bow markes where the starter was this morning, about 7 hours ago.

This is Linda my 13 day old starter.
She’s actually a whole wheat starter. She started on a 1:1:1 ratio but I think she was starving so I moved her up to 1:2:2 3 days ago and the decided to feed her twice a day as well. Did that make her ready to use or should I give her more time?
ETA: the smell. I don’t understand what she is supposed to smell like. She’s mostly been smelling like a can of yeasty beer 🤷‍♀️

Is this safe guys?? I stay in singapore and my precious starter went moldy so i tossed it. But on day 2 im seeing this brown pink blotch that LOOKs like mold and sources online say its a sign of bad bacteria :(

I had a couple starters before but never got to the point of baking. Honestly I dont remember what kind of dlour I used before. Probably ap with a mix of something.

But this time I wanted to do a full rye starter. I started it 14th of September. I took the pictures the 25th of September, but it pretty much looks the same.

I mix 20g starter, 20g rye flour and 20g tap water.

Its not a huge amount, so maybe im not seeing it clearly. I cant decide if it doubles or not. It sounds funny but looks like it took a deep breath. Also it feels really thick.

Should I mix in an another kind of flour?

Ps: sorry for the bad pics :(

This is my adopted starter, Debbie. I saved her from my 11-year-old daughter who by day 3 realized making sourdough is not just mixing flour and water and baking bread 😅

Debbie was on a 1:1:1 ratio until day 14. She didn’t do anything during that time but turn soupy, smell sour, and sometimes a little foamy bubbling on top. No rise.

My kitchen is consistently 70-73°. About 5 days ago I started sticking her in the oven with the light on which gets Debbie to an internal temp of 79°. It didn’t make her rise but did seem to make her more active in a shorter timeframe. She was HUNGRY.

2 days ago (day 15) I bumped her up to 1:3:2. She got a little puffy on top with no real rise BUT she had big bubbles visible throughout. Decided to stick with that ratio for another feed. And she has rise! Not double, but I am encouraged by the little bit she did. Debbie’s bio mom was thrilled with her progress. We’re sticking with 1:3:2 again today.

Our goal is to serve homemade sourdough for Thanksgiving and it’s starting to feel like a possibility. My daughter will want back in once the baking starts, and I’ll give her all the credit ☺️