Sourdough Starter Help

[Whisky]

Curious if we have any sourdough experts here....I have attempted to activate a dried SD culture. The instructions say to keep it at around 90 degrees for the first 24 hours, which may produce a few bubbles. I got a lot of bubbles and activity which leads me to question if I contaminated the starter? I sterilized the jar and to me the smell doesn't smell like barf but then I'm not sure how it's supposed to sMell.

First pic is right after mixing

Second pic is after the initial 24hr ~90 degree rest...Lots of activity

Thend I split into 2 jars and fed more water and flour based on the directions, stored at 70 degrees now....

12 hours later I discarded half the contents and fed them again. Pics 3 and 4 show activity 10 minutes after this feeding.... Thoughts?? Thanks in advance

 

[bosco0633]

that looks like a good starter. I would encourage you to pick up a copy of the Josey Baker Bread Book. It is a great book, easy to understand and will help explain starter more to you.

I will tell you what I would do personally from here on in. I have had a healthy starter for over a year with little to no effort.

2 mason jars only
1 digital scale, weigh don't measure it won't be accurate

Tomorrow take 40g of the starter and place in second mason jar

Add 120g of 60 degree water to the 40g starter and stir it up

Add 105g of whole wheat flour (I prefer WW flour to white flour. There are many advantages to ww to a starter, it preserves the loaf longer and it seems to react better with the wild yeast. If you prefer white flour no worries may take a bit longer. Whatever flour you decide on be consistent, don't change them up or it will screw things up. If that starter packet recommends a type of flour stick with that).

Now mix the 40g starter, 120g water, 105g of flour into a thick paste. I like to use an oxo jar spatula to push all the dough on the sides down.

Take the lid, flip the middle disk upside down so the rubber is facing up in the lid and place on top of jar. Do not seal it, but make sure it is covered. You want the air to reach it a bit which will allow for the wild yeast to take to the mix.

Let this sit and repeat every other day. You may get a bit of brown liquid (hooch) drain that, then stir up the mix before taking the 40g of starter out for the next day.

In the warmer weather, your starter will bubble more and higher, starter should be cool so personally I think 90 degrees is too hot for starter.

The bubbles you see are tiny, indicating a newer batch of starter, they will get larger and more aggressive.

Starting with a wild yeast dry pack is ok it just speeds up the first two weeks of making starter.

let me know what else I can do to help

 

[BillN]

Never used a commercial starter just let mother nature do her thing. When I made my starter I used a 50/50 mix of rye flour and whole wheat and fed daily for about 2 weeks before I stored in the fridge. I feed mine every time I make bread or every two weeks if I'm not making any bread. When I feed/bake bread I take starter out of fridge and let come to room temp for 6 to 8 hours, remove half and feed with 100% saturation of whole wheat mix 100 g and 100 g well water. ( don't use chlorinated water). Good luck and be patient.

 

[Whisky]

Yup good reminder to weigh things. I do that when making dough I should know better for this. Will start doing that going forward for sure.

I should mention this SD will be used for pizza crusts. The flour I used is Caputo 00.

They say this packet should be ready in 3-5 days after the initial 24hr sit. With any luck I can make my first SD pizzas this weekend.

 

[bosco0633]

then stick with the 00 flour all the way through from now on.

Everyone has a method to making and maintaining. It looks like you are off to the races

 

[Whisky]

then stick with the 00 flour all the way through from now on.

Everyone has a method to making and maintaining. It looks like you are off to the races

It appears there are many ways to skin this cat eh? You drain the hooch. The instructions I got say to mix it in. Any reason to drain or mix in? After about a 12hr sit today I got around 1" of hooch in the jars. I'm wondering if it matters if I drain or mix back in?

 

[Hoss]

As stated above.Use NON chlorinated water.

 

[BillN]

It appears there are many ways to skin this cat eh? You drain the hooch. The instructions I got say to mix it in. Any reason to drain or mix in? After about a 12hr sit today I got around 1" of hooch in the jars. I'm wondering if it matters if I drain or mix back in?

I mix it before I use/discard for feeding.