after subscribing to this list for a few months now, i am duly impressed at
the wealth of knowledge that many of you fellow obsessive breaddies
possess. i am hoping that someone will be able to enlighten me on possible
causes for successive failures in raising a sourdough culture. i had an
active one for about two months and somehow managed to kill it. i
followed the refreshing instructions to the letter, it got foamy and
bubbly, and a few hours later when i went to use it, it lost all signs of
life. not even a blip on the screen. i tried to revive it, to no avail.
since then, i've tried three other recipes for sourdough cultures, all of
which fermented in the beginning stages, and then for no apparent reason
they quit. i've tried different flours, knowing that old flour might be
the culprit, i'm a thermometer freak, always making sure the temperature of
the flour and water are correct, and my kitchen (as well as the rest of my
house) remains a constant 70 degrees. since the beginning stages are
successful, i am assuming that temperature isn't a factor. any advice
would be very much appreciated. i'm determined enough that failure isn't
an option.
thanks, donna