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Talked to my grandma about her sourdough and realized I've been killing my starter
She was visiting from Phoenix and saw my jar on the counter. She said, 'Honey, that's not hungry, it's drowning.' I'd been feeding it a full cup of flour and water every single morning, thinking more food was better. Turns out I was diluting the culture and that's why my loaves have been so dense for months. Has anyone else had a starter that was just too wet?
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janac592mo agoTop Commenter
Oh man, I feel seen. I was basically running a starter SOUP kitchen over here. Mine was so wet you could practically drink it. No wonder my last loaf had the life force of a brick.
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sean_park82mo ago
Ugh, I read something about this exact problem last week. The article said a soupy starter makes weak gluten, so your bread can't hold any air. It just turns into a dense lump. That totally explains the brick loaf. You gotta aim for a thick paste, like peanut butter, not a drink. Makes so much sense now.
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patriciam2228d ago
100 grams of water to 50 grams of flour is what I finally settled on after a year of bricks. My starter was basically a swimming pool before that. Once I cut the water way back, the gluten actually started holding air and I got a real rise. You can always add a splash of water back if it looks too stiff, but you can't un-puddle a soupy mess. Just try feeding it half the water you normally do and see what happens.
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