Last Tuesday my sourdough starter finally peaked after 3 months of fighting it

I've been trying to get a consistent rise since January... kept getting flat loaves that tasted like vinegar. Then last week I fed it at exactly 8am instead of whenever I remembered, and left it on top of the fridge where it's warmer. By noon it had doubled in size and smelled like ripe fruit instead of nail polish remover. Baked two loaves that evening and got the best oven spring I've ever had, with a crust that cracked when I tapped it. Has anyone else had their starter suddenly click after months of struggling with it?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_moore3713d ago

Oh man, I gotta respectfully disagree here. I don't think your starter "clicked" because of the time or location. I think it clicked because you stopped overthinking it and just let it do its thing. That vinegar smell you mentioned is from being hungry and underfed, not from bad technique. When you started feeding it at the same time and giving it a warm spot, you basically fixed the schedule problem without realizing it was a schedule problem. I've seen people obsess over hydrations and fancy flours when their starter just needed a regular feeding rhythm and a little warmth. Yours probably wasn't fighting you for 3 months it was just waiting for you to get consistent.

the_wade13d ago

Read somewhere that starters are like moody teenagers, just need a routine to chill out.