Okay, this is the second time that I tried to start a sourdough starter. The first time the starter seemed to be doing okay for the first two days, and then it died on the third day when it was supposed to be strongest. A layer of hooch developed on top of the gloop and I was dismayed and threw it out. My first attempt was based on instructions in Bread Alone, a cookbook by Daniel Leader. Leader said to put in a few grains of commercial yeast, which was a mistake I now think. I got a book on sourdough by Dr. Ed Wood and HE says that commercial yeast will colonize a sourdough culture and crowd out all the wild yeast organisms which don't reproduce so fast.
This time I decided to follow the instructions in The Breadbaker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. i have baked many of the recipes in this book and they are invariably excellent, so I figured this was the right one to consult to start my starter. The first day, just rye flour and water, the starter grew, looked promising. The second day, added some white flour (I have TONS) and the starter took off and bubbled out of the container! I gleefully put it in a bowl and called my friend Dave and bragged that I had trapped the wild yeast!
The third day, Reinhart said to discard half the starter and add more white flour and water. So I did. So then my starter gasped and died, and now on the fourth I have a bowl of foul-smelling glutenous gloop.
What am I doing wrong? Why do these guys say to discard half the starter? Do I really have to feed it at this stage? Or is it the temperature, is the space too hot or too cold? I am willing to commit to the three-stage build that Reinhart advocates (first a seed culture, then a wet starter, then the sponge for each recipe) but not if every time I try it I get dead culture.
Phooey.
This time I decided to follow the instructions in The Breadbaker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. i have baked many of the recipes in this book and they are invariably excellent, so I figured this was the right one to consult to start my starter. The first day, just rye flour and water, the starter grew, looked promising. The second day, added some white flour (I have TONS) and the starter took off and bubbled out of the container! I gleefully put it in a bowl and called my friend Dave and bragged that I had trapped the wild yeast!
The third day, Reinhart said to discard half the starter and add more white flour and water. So I did. So then my starter gasped and died, and now on the fourth I have a bowl of foul-smelling glutenous gloop.
What am I doing wrong? Why do these guys say to discard half the starter? Do I really have to feed it at this stage? Or is it the temperature, is the space too hot or too cold? I am willing to commit to the three-stage build that Reinhart advocates (first a seed culture, then a wet starter, then the sponge for each recipe) but not if every time I try it I get dead culture.
Phooey.
I want to get a starter going that I just use a little of and then feed and keep baking from it.
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