My first sourdough loaf looked like a hockey puck until my aunt gave me one tip about my starter

I had been baking for three weeks and all my loaves were dense and flat, and I was ready to quit. My aunt watched me feed my starter and said I was starving it because I was only giving it 50 grams of flour instead of 100. Since I doubled the feedings my bread actually has air bubbles now - has anyone else found that their starter needs way more food than the recipe says?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.jennifer9d ago

Oh MAN does that hit home! I went through the exact same thing with my starter. It's like these little jars of flour-water are never SATISFIED. I was following this blog recipe that said 50g flour to 50g water and my starter looked like sad gray soup every morning. Then I bumped it to 150g flour and 100g water and suddenly it was doubling in 6 hours. Did your aunt explain what ratio she uses or did she just tell you to double it? I'm curious because I think a lot of recipes are written for professional kitchens with super active starters, not for us home bakers with picky little yeast colonies.

stone.troy8d ago

@ellis.jennifer Your starter story gives me hope, I felt that same frustration with my sourdough for weeks.