[Sca-cooks] Question about sourdough starter
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Thu Jul 16 12:30:34 PDT 2009
I'm making some sourdough starter right now and it
has been sitting, covered by a towel for a couple of
days. It is now nearly doubled in volume and foamy
which it is supposed to be. But it doesn't smell yeasty
and sour, it smells more like a sharp cheese. Is this
normal or has it gone bad?
Gunthar
Smells vary, but in my experience, when a starter goes bad it smells bad,
the color of the starter darkens, the surface forms a scum or a crust and
alcohol puddles on the surface. If it is really bad, you get visible green
or red mold. Without seeing it, I can't give you a definitive answer, but
if you think it truly looks or smells bad, you might want to get rid of it.
The lactobacilli are the souring agent in the starter, so the sharp cheese
odor might be normal. My starters tend to have little odor or fill the
kitchen with an alcoholic tang.
Your starter sounds very active, so you might want to start feeding it.
Starters go bad when the fermentation goes dormant. The more active the
starter, the faster it will go dormant. Yours sounds like a starter that
might need a small feeding every twelve hours or so. Usually, the starter
gets fed once a day, but the current heat and humidity might support a
faster mold infection than normal.
Bear
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list