Hi Barb,

I have been having some trouble with my sourdough starter and was hoping you could help.

I started my first sourdough culture from scratch nearly three weeks ago using a mix of whole wheat flour and bleached all purpose flour. I began feeding the culture a 1:1:1 ratio by weight with half wheat and half all purpose (100g starter,100g tap water,50g wheat,50g all purpose) every 24 hours. On the second and the third day, the sourdough starter was very active, more than doubling in size. I did notice that there was a rotten cheese smell but continued to feed the sourdough and added a squirt of lemon juice to the starter. After that the smell became more yeasty and pleasant. But after about a week, there was very little activity in the starter. At any given time I can see maybe 10 bubbles on the surface and no rise but I continued to feed it. Then I began to notice an acetone smell. I read that this is often because of underfeeding so I began feeding it every 12 hours and switched to a 1:2:2 ratio (50g starter,100g tap water,50g wheat,50g all purpose). This got rid of the acetone smell but the starter still does not rise. This has been going on for a week now. Am I doing something wrong? Should I start over or just be patient?

Thank you,

John

• Reply