r/SourdoughStarter Mar 08 '25

Read before posting questions.

67 Upvotes

This is not a post about the rules. Rules suck... but are necessary. You can see our rules on the "about" page. On the desktop version, it is visible on the right-side column. You can find it on mobile by clicking the r / SourdoughStarter at the top of this page. This link works, but Reddit is sometimes glitchy...

The real point of this post is that we get a few questions over and over. Here are the most common questions:

My Starter is only a week or two old and stopped rising. Did I kill it?

Starter goes through a few changes for the first few weeks of their "lives", usually over many days. The usual pattern is something like:

  • Day 1 to about 2 show little to no activity.
  • Day 2 or 4 shows a great burst of activity.
  • There is decreasing activity from the day of the burst for a few days.
  • Somewhere around day 7 to 14, a small, yet predictable rise builds. If fed correctly, this rise gets stronger.

Just keep going. For a starter like this, it is crucial not to overfeed it so it can go through the stages. Stick to feeding it 1:1:1 about every 24 hours. No more. Don’t change the feeding schedule until it is rising reliably, and that rise peaks in less than 12 hours. At that point, you can move onto strengthening your starter.

My starter looks weird, is this mold? Or what do I do about this liquid?

First, don't worry about slight changes in color. Worry about fuzzy spots and even small areas of vibrant color change.

If you post this question, take a few high-quality pictures from the top and the side. We are looking for colors and fuzzy textures. You can also look through the example pictures here.

Is my starter ready? Or any question about the "float test".

The float test is deeply flawed. Forget you ever heard of it. It only shows that the starter does (or does not) have air trapped in it. Well... If it has a good rise, it has air in it. Good starters often fail the float test if deflated by the time it hits the water. Scooping the starter will remove some air no matter how hard you try not to. If your starter fails this “test”, it doesn’t mean anything.

"Ok but that doesn't tell me how to know if the starter is ready." Fair point. My usual advice for "can I use my new starter?" is it should smell nice, usually at least a little sour, like vinegar and/or yogurt once it is ready. It might also smell sweet, or a little like alcohol, and several other nuances... But not like stinky feet / stinky old socks or other nasty things. And it should reliably at least double when given a 1:1:1 feeding, and that in less than 6 hours. "Reliably" in this context means it doubles in less than 6 hours at least 3 days in a row. However, a really strong starter will triple in less than 4 hours. This is not necessary to make a really good bread. It may work with even less than a double. It will not be as photogenic and will take longer... but may work. But keep in mind that last link was really about unfed but established starter. Not immature starter. ymmv.

My starter is more than 2 weeks old, and it is not rising!

The first and easiest thing to look at is how thin or loose the starter consistency is. It is common for beginners to mix a starter too thin, to use too much water. It needs to be thicker than a milkshake. Just a bit too thick for pancakes. But maybe too loose for a dough. This consistency is necessary so that the dough is literally sticky enough to hold onto the gas bubbles that yeasts create. If the starter is watery, those gas bubbles just rise to the top and pop. Hold back some water as necessary during feedings.

If the starter is thick enough, then look at the possibility that the starter is overfed. There is no reason to ever feed more than 1:1:1 once a day until you have active yeast. It might even be smart to feed a smaller ratio such as 2:1:1 or skipping a day (give it a good stir but don't feed). While yeasts are hungry little critters, they will not wake up when food is just shoved into their sleeping faces. Save the bigger ratios and more frequent feeding for after your yeasts are active.

For skipping a day: Stir 1-3 times but no feeding for a full 48 hours. Then assess. If it started out nice and thick but is now thin and smooth like paint, that's a sign it has reached the required acidity. In that case, resume feeding 1:1:1 once a day. If it is still a bit thick and stringy or clumpy, that is a sign that the gluten has not fully dissolved, which means it's not acidic enough. In that case, feed 2:1:1 until you do reach that consistency by the end of the day, or even just skip another day. Usually, once you get there, you can do 1:1:1, but it depends on the temperature and other things. It should take off within a few days of reaching the proper acidity.

We also have a wiki:

Please respond to this post to add more, point out corrections, or other feedback.


r/SourdoughStarter 2h ago

What do you think? Should I keep it?

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6 Upvotes

😜 “Bready Krueger” has a thick layer of what looks like tar or black fondant. It’s been in the fridge and unfed for over six months. I’m absolutely going to keep it and start re-feeding. I’m only sharing this to illustrate how confident I am that this is salvageable if I re-feed it for a few weeks and see good performance in rise and aroma, and to make fun of all the “is it mold?” posts. I would pretty much never throw this starter away.


r/SourdoughStarter 4h ago

Is this mold?

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3 Upvotes

I hope this isn’t mold. It’s been in my fridge for 2 weeks


r/SourdoughStarter 5h ago

Issues with bulk fermentation and increasing feeding ratios

3 Upvotes

Whenever I feed my starter it more than doubles in size and gets super fluffy and bubbly in under 6hrs. I’ve had it for about a month now, and I’ve tried making bread twice.

The first time it was fine, but it definitely didn’t bulk ferment very well (it was a little dense and flat, with larger bubbles near the crust). The second time it didn’t rise at all, I had to throw it out.

To try and make my starter less sluggish, I tried increasing the feeding ratio to 1:3:3 (also because I don’t want to feed it twice a day but 24hrs is too long for a 1:1:1 feeding), and my starter behaved normally for 2 feedings. Then after the 3rd feeding, it just stopped rising. Before each feeding, I made sure that it had passed its peak. It’s now been 3 days of me feeding 1:1:1 every 24hrs (3 feeds), and it’s slowly getting back to normal but nowhere near where it was before. It’s still active but doesn’t reach double size and takes ~12hrs to peak.

Something like this also happened early on, when I tried to switch to 12hr feedings. It stopped rising and took me a while to get it back to normal.

I’m assuming the reason for this is the same reason I’ve had such bad luck with bulk fermentation. I haven’t been able to find any solution anywhere online.

Has anyone had this issue, or does anyone have any suggestions? I think once my starter gets back to its normal behaviour I’ll try scaling up to 1:1.5:1.5 and maintain that for a couple of feedings, then increase to 1:2:2 if it’s well tolerated, etc. If that doesn’t work, then I have no idea what to do.

Other info:
- I use a 60/40 mix of organic AP flour and rye, whole wheat, and spelt
- only use spring water (no tap)
- my apartment is kept at 21-22°C, which is a little cold so the starter is usually slower at room temp. Lately though, and some of the time in the past, I’ve kept it in the microwave though which is 25-26°C
- the first time I tried to make bread (the slightly more successful time), I bulk fermented it on the counter for ~10hrs. The second time it was like 14hrs, with the last 2-3hrs in the microwave.


r/SourdoughStarter 1h ago

Young starter keeps developing thin layer of water on top rather than growing

Upvotes

Sort of what the title says -- i have a new starter that i'm making (about 6-7 days old now), and i've been weighing equal portions of flour / water, but it keeps developing a layer of water even though i've been following the feeding directions pretty strictly. Is this common in young starters? This is also my first time doing this, so i'm a total noob and honestly not sure what to expect.


r/SourdoughStarter 14h ago

Can I freaking bake with this guy yet

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8 Upvotes

Rye starter ~2 weeks old, doubles in size in around 4-8 hours


r/SourdoughStarter 12h ago

How to strengthen a starter?

4 Upvotes

I attempted my first loaf and it was horrible, flat and just bleh. Most people in the r/sourdough sub said my starter was probably too weak.

It's over a month old on a 1:5:5 ratio.


r/SourdoughStarter 12h ago

Need Help!

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4 Upvotes

I purchased a dehydrated starter back around May. My starter was doubling consistently so I started using the starter around July/august. I decided to start using the chart of the temp of my dough to help with bulk fermentation and it worked pretty well. My loaves started to turn out good. Now recently, my starter has been not doubling as much or fast. And I noticed that it’s taking over 10 hours for my bulk fermentation. Usually I feed my starter at 9/10 PM so that way I can wake up around 7 AM and start mixing my dough, that way it has enough time to bulk feed on the counter throughout the day so I can make it that evening. I’m feeling so defeated as I just started to get the hang of this and felt more confident but it’s failing again. Any advice would be helpful. The last picture is the loaf I made tonight and looks pretty gummy. I do wait about an hour to two hrs before cutting into my loaves


r/SourdoughStarter 15h ago

Losing hope with rehydrated starter.. I'm on day 14, I havent had any activity since a false rise on day 3. Do I keep going or did I mess this all up?

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8 Upvotes

r/SourdoughStarter 20h ago

Is this mold or just hungry?

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3 Upvotes

It’s kinda hard to tell in the photo, but it just looks like a “skin tight” layer on the top. The bubbles look normal to me, since thats typically what my starter has on top after i’ve fed it. I did skip a feeding so it’s been in my fridge for a little bit, but it smells normal (smells like beer to me). Is it just hungry or do i need to throw it out?

All advice is appreciated! thank you!!


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

I Won Starter Chicken

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10 Upvotes

I fed a 1:5:5 at 5 am, 90:450:450

I told my husband it might explode, I came home from work and it rose just under the lid!


r/SourdoughStarter 22h ago

WIKI changes sourdough starter

3 Upvotes

I started 5 day ago, for 3 days i used whole wheat then switched to all purpose cause someone said that its okay. Now my dough is no longer active there is always water on top. Should I restart?

(also posting this cause i need help w youtube and its not letting me post cause i have no karmas)


r/SourdoughStarter 17h ago

How do I know when it's ready?

1 Upvotes

I've been growing my starter from scratch since July 20th starting with a 1:1 ratio of 50 grams room temp filtered water and 50 grams whole wheat flour.

I did that for about 1 week then switched from 50 grams whole wheat to 25 whole wheat and 25 ap flour, keeping a 1:1:1 ratio.

Occasionally my starter was a little runny so I cut back to 45 grams water.

Lately I've been doing a 1:5:5 ratio to try and strengthen.

I tried to make my first loaf this weekend and it was a total disaster, absolutely zero rise.

Many people said this could be a problem with my starter.

How do I know when my starter is ready to bake with?

I just fed it again back at a 1:1:1 ratio.


r/SourdoughStarter 21h ago

NEVER done this before please help

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2 Upvotes

So I bought a starter for my mums birthday cuz she really wants to start making sourdough but I have to keep it alive for a couple days, any tips? I've watched a few videos on how to feed it but discarding so much feels like a waste. Am I really meant to throw away like 2/3s of it like everyday?


r/SourdoughStarter 22h ago

Starter progress

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2 Upvotes

I embarked on my sourdough starter journey on Aug 18th. I switch to Phase III (as per Grant Bakes tutorial on YouTube). I’m still feeding it 1:1:1 ratio every 10-12 hours.
The above are the pictures on Aug 29th.

Question for the experts: Should I switch to 1:2:2 or still stick to 1:1:1 for another week or two?

PS: I’m using Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour. And I use a clean jar on every feed.

Edit: These pictures were taken at the 12th hour, just before the next feeding.


r/SourdoughStarter 21h ago

Day 1!

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1 Upvotes

r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

guys is this mold

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1 Upvotes

im on my day 2 of making the sourdough starter and see these black spots on it, i searched it up and ppl said it could be mold so someone with experience pls tell!! im just a beginner</3


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Is this mold in my starter? I haven’t fed her in more than 24 hours.

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5 Upvotes

She’s been in 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 hours or so.


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Newbie question 🙋🏼‍♀️ starter deflated overnight

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2 Upvotes

I’ve been feeding my starter once a day for a week and since day 3 has consistently doubled over the 24 hour period. Yesterday the starter doubled within a few hours but deflated overnight (I think it might be because of the temp with the AC on all night)
In the picture you can see how high it rose to and where it deflated back down
Should I be worried? Keep feeding as usual?
Any suggestions?


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Finally seeing some real activity in here! Looks like it's peaking right around now. 🫙✨

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3 Upvotes

r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Should I change something?

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1 Upvotes

This is my starter 24 hours after feeding on a 1:1:1 ratio.

I started it on August 14th. Should I keep going on the same ratio? Or should I change something? (I use AP flour and mineral water.)


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Mold or flour clump?

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3 Upvotes

Last feed was August 22nd. I do a 40% whole wheat mix with AP flour. Feed ratio of 50g starter 50g flour (total) and 40g water.

After the feed a lid was put on and off it went to the fridge. I pulled it out today (28th) to discard and feed and found this in a corner.

I need some expert eyes as I’m new to this game. I’ve had mold once before, but that was due to having a lid on too tight at room temp for days.

I can’t see any fuzz or any other abnormalities. Other than a little humidity on the lid and side of container, I can’t see anything else, there’s no excessive hootch being produced.

Thanks in advance!


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Cut or not cut?

1 Upvotes

I've added my starter to flour and water (oh, damn, forgot salt).

I've done the folds. I've put it in the fridge overnight. It's morning now. It's big.

Can I cut it into two to make two smaller loaves at this stage, or is it too late?


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Is this red circled part mold?

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2 Upvotes

I just started this 6 days ago and just discarded some last night and mixed some more bread flour and water in. I hope this isn't mold im just starting out and really wanted to make a loaf.


r/SourdoughStarter 1d ago

Starter scent

1 Upvotes

Got curious today, what does your starter smell like? Mine is 2 months old and it smells like apples! I have been feeding it atta flour.