Sourdough starter is grayish, smells bad, and is hardly active
Right before feedings I notice that my starter consistently is tinted a light gray and smells more acidic than usual. It's 3 weeks old and I've been feeding it every 24 hours by dumping half and replacing it with 1 part distilled water and 1 part unbleached white flour.
It doesn't seem super active, even after 3 weeks of regular feedings. After 24 hours it's sufficiently bubbly, but it's not doubling in size (it's only slightly rising) and the glutinous strands I see when I mix it around quickly dissolve into the rest of the starter-- it's almost a thick pancake batter consistency.
I keep it at room temperature loosely covered with plastic wrap. I change out the container every few days.
Something else to note: it's *really* hard to maintain a steady temperature or humidity rate in my apartment. It's over 100 years old and has single pained windows, and this winter it's been cold and humid consistently. We've also had a mold creeping up our walls, but that issue was taken care of by management a few months ago. The point is, I have a weird environment going on here.
Could that be affecting the starter's growth? Is the gray swirl mold?
help!
18 Comments
I immediately switched the flour out of that starter from white unbleached to unbleached bread and whole wheat mix, and it has been incredibly active ever since. I also started feeding the left over levain with rye flour and it's been really active too. I'll bake again tomorrow and see what happens.
I guess my next issue is this: how do you know when you've under or over fermented the dough during the bulk rise?
"Place in freezer then thaw then reincorporate , take 5 g and seed next batch
Leave outside closed to be exposed to sunlight and reincorporate and reseed anew."
So let me get this straight-- I place it in the freezer just until it's totally frozen, then I thaw it out, then I mix it back together and take 5 grams from it to begin a new starter, and I keep it in the sunlight at first. Correct? (Sorry, his language is a little too advanced for a novice such as I :P)
I am concerned that you are having a tough time with mold if you change the feeding schedule. I apologize if these are obvious questions, but I'm wondering if: you have tried another brand of flour; and if you have sterilized the containers. The environmental mold may be affecting your starter, sneaking in under the plastic wrap. I use Pyrex bowls with close-fitting plastic lids and have not had any breakage problems--if the starter is very active there's enough give that the lid pops off.
I am also in a 100-plus year old drafty house, so I rely on my proofer to keep the starter warm and active. Do you store your starter on a radiator or another warm spot? Options are a preheated oven (100f) turned off when the starter goes in; a microwave preheated with water; a blanket, electric or not; a crockpot on warm; a yogurt maker; a heating pad, etc. Swaddle it like a pet or a baby!
I do keep mine in the fridge between bakes and only keep it out when l've just fed it in preparation for baking. My starter is about 7 years old, and it has taken some time to mature to a consistent level.
Good luck!
I'll try to warm it up. If I do that, should I feed it every 12 hours instead of every 24?
Since the gray swirl is okay (I'm definitely used to a different kind of hooch), then I'm more worried about it's activity. I'm getting lots of bubbles but hardly any rise, and it's been *3 weeks*. Right before today's feeding I'm going to do the float test from Tartine to gauge where I'm at. We'll see!
OnionThief describes my practices and experience exactly - except that my starter is not that old. Mine is from "Tartine Bread." I was using one made from the instructions in William Alexander's "52 Loaves," but I like the wheat/AP mix more. Every so often I give it a good dose of rye. ;o)
My starter rarely doubles in size. But the bad smell? I'm not so sure. I use a half whole wheat, half A-P flour mix in my starter and it always smells great - slightly sweet after feeding consistently for a few days. Also, mine has a thin consistency - like pancake batter -- starting about 12 hours after feeding, yet it produces incredible artisanal breads, so I would not worry about that, or the glutinous strands (mine does that, too).
Have you baked bread with it? I'd go ahead and make a loaf and see what happens!
Whose instructions / "recipe" are you using? ;o)
I'll try baking with it, and we'll see what happens. And when I say it smells, it's just acidic. I know what it should smell like because I've baked so many times before. It's just... off. I can't pinpoint what it is that's causing it or how to even describe it well, and that's why I'm interested in this gray swirl I find on it every day.