Treatment of Sourdough

1. Signs of mold or unpleasant aroma, discard the sourdough
2. The sourdough turns very liquid (watery) while rising: The reason for this is the lactobacteria who release a lot of “digesting” enzymes (proteases and amylases) into the sourdough. Change the feeding to 1 part Sourdough, 2 Parts Flour and 1.5-2 parts Water.
3. Sourdough starter smells like alcohol or nail polish remover: The sourdough is not fed enough and been neglected. Feed more often to recondition.
4. The sourdough is not rising, but turns acidic: This can happen when the sourdough was ignored for a more extended period. The lactobacteria are dominating the sourdough, while only a little bit of yeasts (hopefully) are alive. Try some warm feedings to rise more yeast. Try to recondition the sourdough by feeding appropriately. In case it is not still not rising at all, then all yeasts are dead.
5. The sourdough is rising, but doesn’t turn acidic: This happens with wheat sourdough when it was feed at an elevated temperature such as 30°C. Under these conditions, the yeasts are dominating the Lactobacteria. Recondition by feeding at 18°C-20°C.
6. The sourdough starter has dark liquid on top when you keep it in the refrigerator: This perfectly normal just follow normal feeding procedure.

Read more:

• Bread Making
• Preferment and Starter
• Yeasted preferment (Sponges)
• “Null” dough (without micro-organisms): Water Roux
• Making a Sourdough Starter
• Sourdough Feeding, Storing and Reviving
• Treatment of Sourdough
• Nut Cranberry Raisin Bread
• Japanese Milk Bread
• Swiss Whole Wheat Bread with sourdough (Ruchbrot)
• Swiss Whole Wheat Zopf
• Porridge Bread (No-Knead Bread) with cracked Barley and Dal
• White Fluffy Toast Bread
• Anise Zwieback
• No-knead Cracked Barley Black Bean Bread

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