Since this has happened twice now it is no longer a curiosity and is
now a concern.
In December I had a levain starter die on me that I had used for 6-7
years with no problems (built using Daniel Leaders process) When I
was baking christmas breads I used the starter for a prototype and
pilot run of barm based pannetone. Both runs came out great and I
divided the starter and built a chef from them, neither took well and
the rest of the bread came out flat and unrisen. My take was the
starter died when split or was contaminated as the smell became a bit
different.
I built a new levain in January and have been using it regularly.
Friday I pulled it out of the refrigerator and refreshed it,
yesterday I baked some beautiful pain de levain and replenished it to
make some levain based baguettes today. This morning when I went to
bake it was flat again with an off smell.
I've been baking with this type of starter for over 10 years with no
problem then have the same thing happen within months of each other.
Any suggestions or analysis?
Chet Brewer
chetbr@verizon.net