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Thought my sourdough starter died at day 9, then a bakery guy in Dayton gave me one weird tip
Left my jar on the counter in Dayton last month and it went flat, no bubbles, smelled like nail polish remover after I missed two feedings during a busy school week. I almost dumped it, but the baker at a shop down the street said to scoop off the gray liquid, move it to a clean jar, and feed it twice a day with warm water and rye for 3 days instead of pitching it. Has anyone else brought a starter back from that acetone smell or is mine just tough?
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anderson.spencer5d ago
The whole "smelled like nail polish remover" thing is actually the funniest part to me because that is exactly what a starving starter smells like, it is basically throwing a tantrum and begging for food. The gray liquid on top is just hooch, which is alcohol the yeast makes when it runs out of sugar, so scooping it off and feeding with rye was the right call. Rye has more nutrients than white flour so it wakes things up faster, and twice a day for 3 days is a solid rescue plan. Mine came back from way worse than that, like I forgot it in the back of the fridge for a month and it still bubbled again after a few feeds. So no, yours is not special or tough, starters are just really hard to actually kill, they mostly just get lazy and dramatic.
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carter.jennifer5d ago
I always figured my starter was just a goner when it got that nasty gray layer and I'd toss the whole jar. Then I let it sit for 3 weeks once and @anderson.spencer is right, it came back after like 2 feeds with rye. Yeast is way tougher than I gave it credit for.
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