Creamy starter won't stay bubbly or float

I have probably about 3 cups starter in the jar. It is two weeks old and smells deliciously sour. I remove about a half cup each day and replace with half cup water and half cup flour. It doubles in size but then quickly deflates. I can't keep it bubbly and get it to float so I can use it. What am I doing wrong? I started it out on the counter for 6 days. Refrigerated it 3 days and now it had been out on the counter again for several days.

TERESA
  • Posted by: TERESA
  • April 23, 2020
  • 968 views
  • 1 Comment
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1 Comment

BakerBren
BakerBren April 24, 2020
You should be adding in equal weights of water and flour, not equal volumes. You can even use more flour by weight than water for a stiffer starter. And only removing half a cup from 3 cups total sounds off balance as you should be keeping less mature culture and feeding more proportionally. That's a large amount of starter to maintain. Try reconfiguring by adding 50g of your existing starter to 50g of water and 50g of flour, then when you feed again, use or discard 100g (keeping 50g of starter) and add in 50g of water and 50g of flour for the refresh, This can of course be scaled up if you are baking a lot and need that much starter.
 
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