Please help-going crazy with sourdough starter

[TopazBlueMama]

I'm going to cry! :

I'm trying to get a sourdough starter going once again for the 100th time. I've asked this question before, but can't get an answer!

If you have made your own starter and can give me some clues, I will be so grateful!

Is the starter suppost to stop bubbling after it has already risen and bubbled?
I started one made with rye flour and potato water. It got bubbly the next day, and soon was rising very high. So then I fed it some with more rye flour and plain water. It stayed bubbly, but in the morning it had subsided. I've been feeding it daily since then, but it's not getting bubbly after I feed it anymore. You would think that it is suppost to, right? Because if it doesn't, how will the bread rise when you make a sponge? It still smells nice and everything, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong! There are too many directions out there to figure it out.

Please help me not feel crazy anymore. I really need sourdough bread.

[mamaMAMAma]

Just subbing here...
I started my starter 2 days ago, so no help to anyone. Fed it today (added rye flour, no water).

[kallyn]

This might be helpful, but it also just might be confusing. :/ I have it bookmarked for myself for the future:
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/bethsbread/sdMenu.html

I have yet to make good sourdough bread (seriously, why are there so many directions out there, yet everything still seems so vague?!?), so I just buy it from the store. Luckily, it is made by a bakery that uses a real starter and a long fermenting time with NO YEAST. Now I just have to never move!

[Ruthla]

Maybe it was extra bubbly because of the potato water?

If it smells good, it should continue to rise slowly with the flour and plain water- but the bubbles might not be so obvious. I generally leave my sponge overnight to rise.

I use filtered water in my sourdough starter because I'm afraid that the chlorine in tap water will kill the yeasts.

[TopazBlueMama]

I just don't know.

Sally Fallon's directions say that the starter will go through a bubbly period, and then subside...did anyone find this to be true? And then did it still work? I don't understand how that can be an "active" starter.

Maybe I'll have to start over again.

[TopazBlueMama]

:

I think I have a working starter! I've kept at feeding it, since it has stayed nice smelling, and when you look at the side at the jar you could tell there were some bubbles in it. It just didn't rise or foam again after that first initial one. So I guess it does rise, then subside.

Yesterday I decided to try it out. I took out some to make a sponge and left 1/2 cup in the jar and fed it. It bubbled much more this time. And the bread dough is rising nicely too. I'm so happy to see these natural yeasts going to work!

[bigknitwit]

I was just going to post and mention that my starters (the 2 times I've done it) have both been through similar stages. Ultra bubbly for a day or 2, and then the bubbling subsides. It's worked both times though - glad to here your worked out too

[mamaMAMAma]

Mine got moldy this morning. I poured the whole thing down the drain (I guess I could have composed it, but I was too grossed out). We're having record heat here so maybe that contributed to its demise?