Hi Julie, I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble getting your sourdough starters to take off! It sounds like some of your struggles may be due to a type of bacteria that can be present early on in the creation process. This bacteria gives off carbon dioxide, which causes an early rise that takes place on day 1 or 2. Unfortunately the presence of this type of bacteria seems to be associated with a subsequent delay in the wild yeast kicking in, which can go on for days or even weeks in some cases. The starter bubbles, but shows no rising behavior. 

The good news is that this isn't an insurmountable problem, and even if you continue feeding exactly as you're doing, eventually the starter is going to begin rising, although waiting for this to happen can be a frustrating experience. If you want to continue as you're doing I would suggest converting to a smaller starter (which will save on flour) until your starter begins rising predictably. I would also suggest you switch to feeding with unbleached all-purpose flour rather than bread flour, since all-purpose flour contains more starch, which is what your starter consumes and ferments. 

If you'd like to take a more proactive approach, you might consider switching to the alternative feeding routine recommended to us by microbiologist and sourdough baker, Debra Wink. Wink discovered that increasing the acidity of the starter environment early in the process helps avoid this type of bacteria from the get go, and wrote about her findings here. She also offered this suggested adjustment to our feeding routine for those who are struggling with the lull in rising:

1. Feed only once a day.

2. Feed with wholegrain flour (whole wheat or whole rye) rather than white flour. 

3. Feed with a ratio of 2:1:1 (starter:water:flour, by weight). For example, if you're following our sourdough starter recipe, your once a day adjusted feeding might look like: 113g starter + 57g water + 57g wholegrain flour. If you wanted to try a smaller starter version of this, a feeding would look like: 30g starter + 15g water + 15g wholegrain flour. 

Once the starter begins to rise predictably (twice), it's important to resume twice a day feedings, which will further promote yeast activity. You can also switch back to the 1:1:1 (starter:water:flour, by weight) we recommend in our standard recipe, and gradually switch to feeding with unbleached all-purpose flour over the course of several feedings. Once your starter is rising predictably with this feeding routine, then you should be ready to start baking bread! 

If all this sounds like too much work to you, you might also consider purchasing a mature sourdough starter from us. This starter is already healthy and stable, and only needs a few revival feedings to help it recover from its travels before it's ready to go to work in your baking. 

I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes. 

Barb

• Reply