Hello,

I have a question I didn’t see answered in the first twelve pages of comments (as far as I got), and that is, how important is it to see vigorous bubbles at the top of my starter? Mine never achieved the heights I saw in some of the pictures associated with KAF’s various starter advice pages. The instructions had me looking for small mounds, with rivulets. I looked at several pages on the site, as well as on other sites, and in all cases the tops looked fairly bubbly.

My intention is to keep a small starter, as shown on the site. I had followed KAF’s starter recipe and directions, except that I made ¼ of the recipe, in an 8-oz jar. I’m happy to see from your comments that this is an ok way to go. It took longer than a week, but eventually I got good doubling, and after twelve hours the starter would be full of bubbles. Through the glass it looked like it was full of little tapioca bubbles, so I figured things were going well. However the top remained perfectly flat, albeit with some small holes. No visible bubbling. My main question is, was it already complete at that point, notwithstanding the pictures I saw on line? Are those surface bubbles the most reliable way to know that the starter is ready, and do I need to achieve that? Or was the vigorous bubbling seen below the surface enough?

I knew from the slow start that patience would be rewarded, so I kept feeding twice a day. Finally, one night the bubbles on top were looking the way I thought they should. I would have then reserved the small portion to refrigerate, however the instructions said to feed the portion and leave it out for only a few hours before refrigerating, which in this case would have been two or three in the morning. So I did one last regular feeding, intending to finish the process the next morning.

When I got up in the morning, the starter had barely risen. It regressed! I tried feeding again, but no luck. I’m now following the advice you gave below about rescuing with a 2:1:1 ratio. I’ve just done the second feeding and am hoping for the best. But I would love to get your take on what might have happened here, along with your guidance on the surface appearance. Thanks.

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