I have been attempting a sourdough starter along with the rest of the world apparently. I managed to find some plain, white flour and on a whim I went for it. I had tried this once before but it got really watery and I didn’t know what to do….this time has been different.

I added one cup of flour and 2/3 cup of water. The second day I did the same again. On day three I halved my starter and added a cup of flour with another 2/3 cup of water. With the discard I made pancakes.

Day four and it is a bit bubbly but it hasn’t doubled in size yet. I made pancakes again. The pancakes are British style, in that I didn’t use baking soda, so they are meant to be thin. I served them with yogurt and compote.

Day 5 had lots more bubbles but still no doubling. More pancakes happened and this time it was pumpkin pancakes.

Day 6 and I am now feeding it twice a day. The bubbles are going but no rising of the starter. I made pancakes in the morning and started English muffin dough in the evening and since I still had more starter we also made sourdough brownies. The brownies came out perfectly and tasted so good.

On day 7, I made pancakes and English muffins. I followed the recipe for the dough but it didn’t have the baking powder in the first rising and in the second it didn’t seem to do anything. The muffins did not rise. They taste fine but they are just bread discs. The pancakes looked good and tasted good.

I am now over a week in. I have been feeding twice a day for three days and though I have bubbles I don’t have doubling. I am not sure it the problem is bleached flour, chlorinated water, or maybe it is that it just isn’t warm despite being June. My pancakes (with baking soda) rose really well though. Is my starter ok? What might be wrong with it? If you have advice I want to hear it. Help!