Tried a 48-hour sourdough starter this week - what a disaster

I decided to make a starter from scratch using just flour and water like all the blogs say. After 3 days it smelled like old gym socks and got this weird orange liquid on top. Turns out I was feeding it wrong and the temp in my kitchen was about 10 degrees too cold. Has anyone else had a starter go funky like this before you got it right?

3 comments

3 Comments

brown.susan2mo agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that orange liquid is basically your starter waving a white flag and surrendering. I guess we've all been there - mine smelled like a high school locker room for like a week before it figured out what it was supposed to be doing.

theabennett2mo agoMost Upvoted

3 days in is way too soon to be calling it a disaster though.

-1

taylor_moore21d ago

Wait, 3 days is too soon? Lol I killed my first starter in like 48 hours. I named him Kevin and everything. He was this sad little bowl of flour water that smelled like old gym socks and looked like someone sneezed in a cup. I threw him out and cried a little ngl.