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Thought my sourdough starter was dead after 3 days of no bubbles
I left it in the back of the fridge during a 48 hour shift at the station and came back to this weird hooch layer on top. Turns out that dark liquid means it was just hungry, not ruined - poured it off, fed it, and it doubled in 4 hours flat. Did I just get lucky or is that normal?
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the_spencer28d ago
Bro you're good, that's literally just what happens when you leave starter in the fridge too long. The hooch is just liquid from the flour breaking down, not mold or anything gross. Honestly everyone overreacts to that stuff, I've seen people toss perfectly good starters because they saw a little gray liquid on top. Pour it off like you did, feed it, it'll bounce back fine. It's not that deep, starters are way tougher than people give them credit for.
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wendyg4328d ago
Oh man, I've totally been there! That hooch layer freaked me out the first time too. I actually scraped mine off and fed the starter a few times over the next couple days, and it came back stronger than before. What worked for me was discarding most of it and giving it a really good feed with half whole wheat flour and half regular white flour, not just the white. That extra bit of whole grain gave it something to really chow down on. It doubled in about 4 hours just like yours did, so I think you're totally fine. Starters are basically indestructible if you just give them a little patience and a good meal.
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