My sourdough starter turned into a science experiment gone wrong

I tried making a new starter from scratch about three weeks ago, using a recipe from a baking blog. It was going fine until day five, when it started smelling like nail polish remover instead of yeast. I kept feeding it for two more days, hoping it would fix itself, but it just got worse. I ended up having to throw the whole jar out because it looked gray and slimy. Has anyone else had a starter go bad that fast, and what did you do to save it?

2 comments

2 Comments

susan_henderson5d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I read somewhere that the nail polish smell means it's super hungry. Maybe try feeding it twice a day next time?

briannguyen5d ago

My cat's breath smelled like acetone once and the vet said it was diabetes.