By Melissa Johnson
It can be disheartening when your new (or longstanding) starter does nothing after you feed it. Maybe it has no bubbles at all. Maybe it expands just a tiny bit. Maybe it separates into layers of sludge and watery liquid. None of these are ideal scenarios when you’re hoping your starter will double in size within eight hours of feeding and eventually transform dough into a scrumptious lofty bread.
What do you do with this dead looking starter? Let’s first check some of the basics of good starter health. After we cover them, we’ll talk about what else might be happening and how to fix it.
For your starter to thrive, you should be using:
- unbleached flour (not self-rising, not bleached, not cake flour)
- unchlorinated water, filtered or bottled (not reverse osmosis, not well water with treatments, not distilled)
- a jar, pyrex, or bowl that hasn’t been super sanitized with possible soapy residue (glass is somewhat preferable as it’s easier than plastic to maintain scratch- and contaminant-free)
- a cover that is placed loosely on your container (this isn’t because the starter needs air, rather the starter can cause a tightly sealed container to explode)
If you’ve botched one of the above bullets, simply modify that aspect of your process. And still read the instructions below as the info could help you get your starter to thrive sooner.
If you’re doing all the above already, then other aspects of your starter care might benefit from being adjusted: timing, hydration, and temperature.
Timing and Temperature
Sometimes the microbes in your starter simply need time to metabolize all the feedings. This is usually the case in cold environments (AC under 70F, winter kitchens). If your starter is barely bubbling or not bubbling at all 12-24 hours after the last feeding, simply stir it again and let the jar sit for a day or two. Then feed again and see if you get bubbles. If possible, find a spot in your house where the temps are over 70F but under 85F. This could be near a warm appliance, radiator, under a lamp, in the oven with the light on, on a heating pad, or in a closed box next to a bowl of boiling water.
Sometimes the opposite is happening, and the food supply for your starter is running out long before you give it the next feeding. Usually this is the case when your kitchen is warm or you’re under-feeding the starter (giving it a small amount of water and flour relative to existing starter — see this starter feeding FAQ for info on feeding ratios). If you’ve been seeing bubbles, but your starter looks deflated or has liquid “hootch” on top by the time you feed it again, the microbes are likely metabolizing the feedings quickly. In that case, you may want to feed sooner. You can also feed more new flour and water, or use cooler water when you feed.
Hydration
Sometimes your starter is bubbly after each feeding, but it never expands or expands very little. This can mean it needs several rounds of peaking and feeding at room temperature to get a larger microbial population flourishing in it, or it may simply mean that the starter’s consistency is too thin, and bubbles are popping rather than getting trapped.
Next Steps
In all these situations, it is often helpful to thicken the starter a bit in order to better trap the CO2 and see expansion in the starter.
- At your next feeding, put all but 50g starter in a discard jar.
- Add to that 50g starter, 50g water and 60g flour.
- Mix thoroughly and clean the sides of the jar with a spatula.
- Mark the level on your jar with a rubber band and see what happens over several hours and up to a couple of days. Give the starter a vigorous stirring every 12 hours if you’re seeing no expansion. Once it starts expanding, don’t stir it so you can keep track of things.
- Your starter will eventually expand, though it may take more than a day. Don’t feed it again until it is “hungry.” This is when you see the top of the starter flatten or streaking on the sides of the jar, indicating it has risen and fallen a tiny bit.
- When the starter is hungry, assess if it barely expanded or if it came close to doubling. In the former situation, feed the starter 50g water and 60g flour without discarding (to promote lowering the pH). In the latter scenario, discard down to only 50g starter and feed as above.
- Repeat this until you get doubling before the fall of the starter. Now, the starter is ready to use for baking. Ideally, doubling will take less than eight hours. If it takes longer, you can still bake with the starter, but expect longer rise times.
If in 3 to 4 days of trying these troubleshooting tips, your starter still has no activity, you might make a post in our forum asking for help. Consider uploading pics and outlining what you’ve been doing in order to help our community of home bakers help you.
Additionally, you may want to watch these videos on making, managing, reviving, and drying sourdough starter.
