January 8, 2011 - 11:01pm
My sick starter
Following 4 sourdough baking disasters in a row, a planned not to throw the dough this time. I sprinkled 1tsp of yeast and baked it 2 1/2 hours later.
The crumb shot above is from a slice at one side of the loaf, while the the crumb below is from the other side.
And the culprit: My starter. The size of the bubbles show a lacto-bacterial fermentation, with very little yeast activity. I have never seen such fermentation cells since i started using sourdough.
I am tending my starter now, feeding it every 12 hours to revive my yeasts.
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I would go with rises and falls and try to get them closer together. See if you can squeeze a third feed between when you first get up and before you go to bed; that is; if it rises and falls before feeding. One or two days of 3 feedings should help. Might want to reduce the amounts unless using the discards.
Thanks, Mini. I will do that! I have to find a cozy warm place too to encourage the yeasts.
Kahlid,
What are you feeding your starter?
Eric
I recently had to make another starter from scratch ..hopefully you'll be able to revive yours. When I was going through the process of starting again I thought to myself 'this time I will save some dried'....I haven't yet but your post has served as a reminder to get that done!
Thanks for the comfort, Daisy! I shall persevere, now that i figured out how sourdough is supposed to be fed. Wild Yeasts are unlike commercial yeasts survive in acidic conditions. I was not helping them by refrigerating and then over feeding, which gave the Lactobacilli a head start, and been thriving ever since.
Eric, Iam feeding it 50% Wholewheat , 50% AP.
Jackie, you do that as soon as you can, it always helps.