Hi Sarah, I apologize for the delay in responding to your question! When you maintain your starter at room temperature and only feed it a tablespoon or two of fresh water and flour, it will likely ferment very quickly and may not have enough fermentation activity going on to allow the starter to rise. In other words, you may have built up a large mass of old starter, that is dominated by sourdough waste products, and you're feeding it an inadequate meal. The food isn't enough to replenish the starter, and it is getting more and more sluggish. I would suggest feeding your starter twice a day at room temperature for a few days, but switch to a diet of equal parts starter, flour and water by weight. If you don't have a scale, for our normal starter routine this is 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) starter + 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) water + 1 scant cup (4 ounces, 113g) AP flour. If you're worried about using up too much flour, you can reduce these amounts as long as you keep the proportion of ingredients the same and store it in an appropriately sized jar. I expect after a few days of this feeding routine your starter will be roaring to go again. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
April 15, 2020 at 12:09pm
In reply to Help! My starter has been… by Sarah (not verified)
Hi Sarah, I apologize for the delay in responding to your question! When you maintain your starter at room temperature and only feed it a tablespoon or two of fresh water and flour, it will likely ferment very quickly and may not have enough fermentation activity going on to allow the starter to rise. In other words, you may have built up a large mass of old starter, that is dominated by sourdough waste products, and you're feeding it an inadequate meal. The food isn't enough to replenish the starter, and it is getting more and more sluggish. I would suggest feeding your starter twice a day at room temperature for a few days, but switch to a diet of equal parts starter, flour and water by weight. If you don't have a scale, for our normal starter routine this is 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) starter + 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) water + 1 scant cup (4 ounces, 113g) AP flour. If you're worried about using up too much flour, you can reduce these amounts as long as you keep the proportion of ingredients the same and store it in an appropriately sized jar. I expect after a few days of this feeding routine your starter will be roaring to go again. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
Barb