My sourdough starter went flat after a week away

I left my starter on the counter while visiting family for 7 days, thinking it would be fine... came back to a gray, watery mess with zero bubbles. I tried feeding it twice a day for 3 days straight, but it never got that nice sour smell back. Ended up having to toss the whole jar and start over from scratch with some rye flour. Has anyone else had to revive a starter that was left alone for too long?

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3 Comments

tylers725mo ago

Sounds like you gave up way too fast. A gray layer is just hooch and a flat starter is normal after a week. You probably just needed to feed it for a few more days to wake the yeast back up. Starters are way harder to kill than people think. I've brought back ones left for months in the fridge. Tossing it was a waste of good flour.

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noahpark5mo ago

Ever notice how quick people are to throw stuff out instead of fixing it these days?

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emmajackson4mo ago

Right there with you. My toaster died last week, just stopped popping up. Quickest thing was to chuck it and get a new one for twenty bucks. But I spent an hour taking it apart, found a crumb jamming the mechanism, and it works fine now. Feels like we've lost the patience for that little bit of troubleshooting. Always satisfying to fix something yourself, even if it's just a dumb toaster.

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