Having Trouble with Your Sourdough? This might be why!

Starter not bubbling? Bread not rising? I've got ALL the sourdough troubleshooting tips you need to get your wild yeast back on track!

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[mrsrn]

I’ve been baking with a starter for over 5 years. So I don’t waste (discard) anything, I start with only 10-20 grams and feed 1:1:1 with that amount. Then I keep adding until I have enough to bake (setting aside ~20 gms in the refridgerator for future baking). It’s a great method so I don’t need to discard or use the discard in other recipies I never intended to bake in the first place. Excellent videos!

[cheyenne]

I wanted to thank you so sincerely for this video. I just got done feeding mine and was feeling super down about it. Turns out, i’m doing things right! I just forget that it’s only a week old! after seeing your pictures of freshly fed started, I noticed that mine looks the same! It’s hard when you only have a the internet for reference, and the thumbnails of most starter videos show these insanely bubbly and aged starters and you can only wonder what you’ve done wrong. Even things down to seeing the sides of your jar as messy as mine made me feel like i’m on the right track. thank you so much for this

[dsanders]

Thank you! I'm officially a "sourdough starter addict." I finished my first week (7 days) of the starter and made pancakes this morning. Definitely the best pancakes ever. I'm making the sourdough bread next. I actually did the 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 and 1/8 cups of water for the starter. I don't know why this combination worked. Yesterday my wife called me in the kitchen and said, "your starter is overflowing." I knew it was alive!!!

[RoadhogRNA]

Thank you so much for your videos, we have been bread making fools while hiding from the Covid. Your recipes are really easy and have helped an old married couple who never made bread have a really good time. Great Video!!!

[jenns]

Super helpful tip: We trained our children (and ourselves!) that BEFORE you EVER turn the oven on, you open it up and make sure it's empty! This way, there is NEVER burned anything!!! Likewise, before you take your food out, you TURN THE OVEN OFF. I was tired of finding my oven still on, hours after dinner because I inadvertently left it on! Both of these tricks work wonderful and there has been no more oven accidents!

[carolinebarrett]

I made a huge sourdough loaf on day 8 of my first starter...it turned out beautifully, (it got far bigger than any of the bakers yeast loaves I've made ) I'll never have any other bread after it. ..so good 😆😆

[alfontana]

I am going on 7 days on my sourdough starter. When I feed my starter this morning I made a nice pancake with the pour off. This time I noticed the pancake rose nicely in the pan and when cooked it was nice and fluffy, the best pancake I ever ate. I still am waiting for a 4-6 hour doubling so I can make some bread. I do have a lot of bubble activity and a nice smell from my starter. I think I am on the right track. Thanks Jill for your informative video. Now that I am retired I have a lot more time to cook...

[leonardmilcin]

I have best tip ever that completely ended my sourdough problems.
Stop using 100% sourdough (1:1 water to flour by weight). Start using either piece of your bread dough or keep 50% sourdough (1:2 water to flour by weight). Mixing it is a little bit more work (it is a stiff dough basically so you need to actually work it), but you can drop it in a clean plastic bag, remove all air and keep in the fridge for two weeks if you like.
Using piece of your bread dough is also the way sourdough was originally kept. Just reserve 10% of your bread dough after first rise (or whatever you need for future batch of bread) to add to the next bread and put it in clean plastic bag and in the fridge.

[SilentReader]

Hi! This video was so helpful!!! Oh my!!! I fed mine this morning with 1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 water, put it in the oven with the light on and it nearly exploded. Yes!!! I had to transfer it from the jar to a larger bowl. I was going to use it after one week, but now I will wait two more weeks, based on your suggestion. It makes alot of sense. Thank you so much!

[joesqudy]

I have watched many videos on starter, and I love your no-nonsense approach tips that just makes sense. I have not heard many of these from anyone else who is putting videos out there. Thanks for the tips I will surely try them.

[vtmegrad]

Thank you so much. I had starter that was definitely growing well...at times. Turns out I was missing the starter part of "equal parts flour, water, and starter". I wasn't pouring nearly enough off, and it's growing far more dependably now.

I also hadn't considered that I didn't have to use the poured off part immediately to cook before. So now I have one container in the fridge for pour-off to use for pancakes and such on the weekend, and the other for my core container or starter.

[mobile_noble]

I did the water on the counter and that was the trick! Plus I always keep my container of starter on a cork pad ( a oven hot pad) to keep it off the cold marble counter top! By the way I LOVE your sourdough crackers with the discard. (Honey, lime, chipotle, rock salt was a mixture my grandson wanted to try)

[cd]

I lover that her house looks like a house with people living in it. Not trying to be rude. It's just that in other video's people have theses pristine sterile houses it make me feel bad about my house.

[hablamartha]

You are awesome! Very helpful for a beginning sourdough mom like me. Among many other fun things you said, I love this phrase "your eyeballs aren't calibrated yet."

[debraharding]

Hi even though this video is 3 yrs old you helped me with the tip for my starter would not float or double in size. I put in oven and it worked with light on. It grew and floats!!! Thank you so much, I'm so happy....

[InnateFreeThinker]

You are always so inspiring Jill. Thank you for taking so much time to share your life knowledge with us. Love and Light. Namaste'

[Kyarrix]

This is the best video on this topic that I have seen. New subscriber! You explain things well and your home is real and beautiful and lived in. I wish I had found you sooner but I'm looking forward to learning from you and making better bread. I'm going to share this to everyone I know is interested in this. Thank you.

[maul_]

Omg yes thank you for this. My starter had small bubbles but not enough needed. I ended up feeding it too often when it didn't get enough time to ferment

[brigittehelms]

So helpful! I now know that my yeast has always been too immature since I never waited more than 5 days to bake with it. I will be patient and feed it much longer this time!

[gingermitchell]

Thank you for this video. I added whole wheat flour to my all purpose flour starter and it really is coming alive! So happy!