Barb at King Arthur

April 25, 2020 at 11:03am

In reply to by Kathy (not verified)

Hi Kathy, so sorry for the delay in responding to your question, and hope by now that your starter is rising like a champ and you're enjoying baking with it! Patience almost always wins out, and microbiologist and sourdough baker, Debra Wink, notes that often the two week mark is when a newly created starter really blossoms in terms of aroma and activity level, so I don't think continuing to feed your starter has done any harm. However, if you're starter still isn't rising well, it may be time to change things up a bit. Is it possible the starter is rising and falling in the oven while you're not looking? If your home is in the 70's you might want to consider feeding it at room temperature, which will allow you to observe its behavior more closely and catch it when it's rising to its peak. To encourage more vigorous yeast activity it's important to try to replenish (feed) your starter when it's at this peak of rising, or just as it's beginning to fall. Allowing the starter to collapse before the next feeding tends to make the yeast sluggish. You can even adjust the timing of this rise, by giving your starter larger or smaller feedings. Typically a larger feeding will take a bit longer for the starter to process, while a smaller feeding will make your starter rise and fall more rapidly. To slow things down, consider trying a 1:2:2 ratio of starter : water : flour by weight, or even a 1:3:3. For a faster rise (and possibly even more frequent feedings) you could try a 2:1:1 ratio. Once your starter is rising and doubling well, then you're good to go! If you're worried about using up too much flour with larger feedings, it won't hurt anything to reduce your starter size. I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes. 

Barb

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