Hi Maharja, I'm so sorry for the delay in responding to your question! I was away for a few weeks. I hope by now your starter is rising like a champ, but if this isn't the case then you may want to adjust your feeding routine. As long as your starter is bubbling, there is hope, so I don't think you need to start over. Are you still feeding with bread flour and black rice flour? If so, a switch to whole wheat flour may be helpful. If by "matte" you mean that the surface is flat, without any bubbles, this may mean that your starter is fermenting rapidly and is depleted by the time it gets to the 12 hour mark, which is likely to happen if you live in a warmer climate. If this is the case, you might want to try adjusting your twice a day feeding routine to include a smaller percentage of starter as compared to flour/water fed. This may be helpful in keeping yeast activity more vigorous. For example, if you normally feeding with a 1:1:1 ratio of starter:water:flour (by weight), you might want to try something like 1:4:4. For our starter recipe, this adjustment might make your twice a day feedings look like: 28g starter + 113g water + 113g flour. The goal here is to find a twice a day feeding routine that allows you to replenish the starter when it's at it's peak of rising or just beginning to fall (which keeps yeast activity vigorous).
I know you said your starter isn't rising yet, so it's a bit difficult to guage what your next move should be, but I suspect a switch to whole wheat flour is definitely warranted at this point, and once your starter begins to rise predictably (twice), adjusting the ratio of ingredients to allow you to replenish the starter when it's at the peak will likely help keep the wild yeast active and healthy. You can also gradually transition to feeding with white flour (preferably unbleached all-purpose flour) once the starter begins to rise.
August 28, 2020 at 10:57am
In reply to Hi, need help. I made… by Maharja (not verified)
Hi Maharja, I'm so sorry for the delay in responding to your question! I was away for a few weeks. I hope by now your starter is rising like a champ, but if this isn't the case then you may want to adjust your feeding routine. As long as your starter is bubbling, there is hope, so I don't think you need to start over. Are you still feeding with bread flour and black rice flour? If so, a switch to whole wheat flour may be helpful. If by "matte" you mean that the surface is flat, without any bubbles, this may mean that your starter is fermenting rapidly and is depleted by the time it gets to the 12 hour mark, which is likely to happen if you live in a warmer climate. If this is the case, you might want to try adjusting your twice a day feeding routine to include a smaller percentage of starter as compared to flour/water fed. This may be helpful in keeping yeast activity more vigorous. For example, if you normally feeding with a 1:1:1 ratio of starter:water:flour (by weight), you might want to try something like 1:4:4. For our starter recipe, this adjustment might make your twice a day feedings look like: 28g starter + 113g water + 113g flour. The goal here is to find a twice a day feeding routine that allows you to replenish the starter when it's at it's peak of rising or just beginning to fall (which keeps yeast activity vigorous).
I know you said your starter isn't rising yet, so it's a bit difficult to guage what your next move should be, but I suspect a switch to whole wheat flour is definitely warranted at this point, and once your starter begins to rise predictably (twice), adjusting the ratio of ingredients to allow you to replenish the starter when it's at the peak will likely help keep the wild yeast active and healthy. You can also gradually transition to feeding with white flour (preferably unbleached all-purpose flour) once the starter begins to rise.
I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes.
Barb