My sourdough starter took a full month to get right, not the 5 days the recipe said.

I followed a popular online guide from a baker in Portland, feeding it daily with King Arthur flour. It just stayed flat and smelled like old gym socks for weeks. I finally got a good rise after switching to bottled water and keeping it in my oven with just the light on. Anyone else have a starter that took way longer than expected to wake up?

2 comments

2 Comments

max49312d ago

Remember my first starter, I named it Lazarus because it seemed dead for three weeks. Used tap water and my kitchen was too cold, drafty old house. The oven light trick saved it too, but the real game changer was using some whole rye flour in the feed. That stuff wakes them up like nothing else.

jennifer_fisher12d ago

My starter was dead for a month, max493. Same cold kitchen problem. Switched to rye and bottled water, it doubled in six hours.