Barb at King Arthur

May 9, 2020 at 8:49am

In reply to by pk (not verified)

Hi PK, I'm not sure if by "multiplying" you mean rising? Or are you interested in population growth in the starter culture? The two are definitely related, but not quite the same. For more on sourdough science, check out this article. If you're asking when you can expect your sourdough starter to begin rising predictably, this can take varying amounts of time. If all goes exactly according to plan, the wild yeast should kick in around day 3-5, and you can start baking with your starter around day 7. Full flavor development takes a bit longer to develop, so I usually recommend continuing to cultivate your starter through day 10. But, if you read through the comments here, you'll notice that things don't always go according to plan, and sometimes the yeast doesn't join the party until much later. Patience almost always wins out, but there are also some tweaks you can do to your feeding routine to try to help pave the way for yeast activity. I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes. 

Barb

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