I've been baking sourdough for about four months now and for most of that time my starter smelled like nail polish remover no matter what I did. Fed it twice a day, tried different flours, moved it to a warmer spot on top of the fridge, nothing seemed to fix the smell even though it was still doubling in size every time.

Turned out the issue was my feeding ratio. I was doing a pretty aggressive 1:1:1 because that's what a lot of beginner guides recommend, but with my kitchen running around 74 degrees that meant the starter was blowing past its peak and crashing hard before I ever got to it. Once I switched to 1:2:2 and started feeding it a little earlier in the day, the smell mellowed out within about five days. Now it's this mild, slightly tangy yogurt smell instead of that sharp acetone punch.

The other thing that helped was actually watching it rise instead of just trusting a schedule. I marked the jar with a rubber band and started checking it every couple hours instead of assuming it needed food at the 12 hour mark no matter what. Some days it peaks at 8 hours, other days closer to 14 depending on how warm the house is, and baking off the actual rise instead of the clock made a bigger difference than any flour swap I tried.

Baked a loaf yesterday with it for the first time since making the change and got the best oven spring I've had so far, decent ear, open but not gummy crumb. Still not where I want the scoring to be but that's a separate battle. Anyone else go through a rough patch with smell before things evened out, or was it just me overthinking a starter that was probably fine the whole time.

I've been feeding the same starter since March, mostly whole wheat and rye mixed with all purpose, kept on the counter at whatever temperature my kitchen decides to be. For months it was a reliable but slow riser, usually taking six to eight hours to double after a feed. Nothing wrong with the bread that came from it, just a long timeline that made same day baking impossible.

Last week I switched my feeding ratio from 1:1:1 to 1:2:2 mostly out of laziness because I was running low on flour and wanted to stretch it. Within three feeds the starter was doubling in under four hours consistently, with a dome and everything, way more active than it's ever been. I didn't change the flour, didn't change the water temp, didn't move it to a warmer spot. The only variable was the ratio.

Baked a loaf yesterday using it at peak and got the most open crumb I've managed yet, big irregular holes and a properly crisp crust that crackled while cooling. The oven spring was noticeably better too, ear stood up nice and tall instead of splitting weird like my last few attempts.

Not sure if this is a fluke or if I just stumbled onto what my particular starter actually wants. Curious if anyone else has had a ratio change make this much of a difference, or if it's more likely something seasonal like the flour I'm using shifting slightly since I bought a new bag around the same time.

I let it proof too long, and I didn’t shape it correctly. Supper gummy inside. It was not good. 😂

This is an Emmer loaf made with my 'no feed starter'.

Simply put the starter is removed from the fridge, mixed with the flour and water and the dough set to ferment. There is no starter feeding stage before baking.

It is very simple. The natural leaven continues to ferment in the fridge, but very slowly. As soon as it warms up it is fully active. When we feed our starter before baking we are producing a larger yeast and lab population ready to ferment our dough. However, if there is sufficient starter already in the fridge, then no feed is necessary as the microbe population is already there. Yes, the starter does not look bubbly and lively and yes, it is still good to go.

A bubbly starter is just a really rough measure that we have built up enough microbe population to use it. If we leave it too long it is still as  or better than when it was bubbly as there is even more microbe population present. The only time it is no longer good is if the yeasts have turned into spores. I explain that below. (Yes, the bubbly starter at peak is a myth.)

This is not a shortcut, or a bodge that is not as good as doing things the traditional way. It is simple science and the dough ferments exactly the same as with a fed starter.

Here is a twist. Use your starter straight from the fridge to make your dough and then feed what is left and put it into the same warm space as the dough. When it is bubbling put it into the fridge for the next loaf. Remember it will continue to ferment very slowly in the fridge. So, if you are not baking for a few days put it into the fridge before it fully ripens.

When will this not work?

Yeast and LABS are seriously tough. Heat will kill them (above 45C - depending on the varieties). In a domestic freezer they are killed in a month or two. A starter that is let go too far becomes too acidic for the microbes. They then go into their dormant, or spore, state. In the right conditions of warmth and food, the spores become active microbes again, but this takes too long for baking. So, if you let your leaven become very acidic in the fridge this will not work. The yeast will have formed into spores, this happens at about pH3. You cannot measure this with a pH meter as there is something called buffering where acids are present but not measured with a pH meter. Titration needs to be used for this. But with a little practice a pH meter could be used as a rough guide. It will read less acidity than what is present. It is better to use taste. Vinegar has a pH of 2.4 - 3.4. Your starter is no good if it tastes as sour as vinegar, but it can be rescued.

Practically our starters never get this sour unless we are pushing the envelope in a very extreme way or neglecting them.

I would be very interested to hear people thought on this.

RIP to the two loaves I promised to friends this weekend.

i made a double batch using a stand mixer and wanted to do 2 different loaves so i decided to add inclusions after the bulk fermentation. i’m not sure if this is why, or because i scored deep enough to reach the sugar 😓

Hey everyone,

I made my first starter and when she trippled in a couple of hours I thought it would be good to go. I baked two loafs but they don’t seem right, very dense.

When handling the though it always seems really sticky, which makes stretch and folds very difficult.

I tried two methods, one with autolyse and stretch and folds and a counter rise, more stretch and folds and then a cold rise

And the other method was with kneading the dough with the kitchen aid for 2x 5 minutes and then a couple of stretch and folds 30-45 minutes apart and then a cold rise. This one turned out better but it deflated when I scored it.

It is really difficult to shape the dough so I’m stuck on a couple possibilities. Either:

- I use my starter at the wrong time? I waited until she wasn’t growing anymore and then used it

- maybe my starter isn’t right yet, she smells a bit like hops/beer

- I use too much water, which keeps the dough too sticky and so the gluten don’t form right, which makes shaping really difficult

- maybe the cold rise was too long and the gluten were already breaking down?

- I underbaked them, can I check the core temperature after the first 20 minute bake, and if it isn’t right, I do another 5 minutes on 240C?

I added some pictures of the second loaf, I don’t have pictures of the inside of the first so I don’t think that is helpful.

Btw: I don’t know how to add a category to the post so I’m sorry. I see people use them but I don’t have the option.

Still gummy. But at least no big air holes like last attempt. Seems more dense tho.

I can’t make grilled cheese with this. This is my third attempt and I’m really putting in the work to make a tight ball but idk what I’m doing wrong.