Don’t worry, you can bake great bread before your starter turns into the glob that ate Grand Rapids, too, but this is a pretty clear sign of a healthy, mature starter!
I sent Kelly the Kitchen Kop that top photo just to make her jealous once. It worked! 
I also shared my starter with her, in case you thought I was just totally sourdough heartless.
See all the sourdough recipes for this week; bread coming Friday!
Be sure to enter to win my favorite bread pans at the giveaway this week!
Did you see Nina Planck here yesterday?
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Wow! That’s some sourdough starter! I’m really looking forward to your bread recipe on Friday. My first loaves of sourdough weren’t so great. Off to feed my starter! Thanks again.
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I aspire to have such an awesome starter! I’ve had a jar sitting on my counter, waiting to be used, but it just sits there. Because it’s so hard?? I don’t know what my deal is. OK time to get it going!!
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LOL!! Too funny! So, is that the kind of effect we are looking for before baking bread? ; )
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Katie Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 1:45 am
Jen,
Katie
It doesn’t have to get nearly that crazy, don’t worry!
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And I’m VERY grateful, as I had my first success with that starter! Now I just need to do it again before I get too confident.
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that’s funny because just last week I thought, “oh, this jar can handle one more feeding…” Famous last words! My starter punched a hole in the top of the coffee filter & spilled out onto the surrounding area- never underestimate the power of the sourdough
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Ok, I think that I must need some sourdough starter help. I started my jar with just plain filtered water and ww flour. It seemed to be working (it had some bubbles on the top and sides), but it never increased in volume much. Our house is a bit cool (we keep the temp at 63), so I put it in the oven with the light on and door closed all night to see if it would do anything by morning. The jar was warm when I took it out and still had bubbles. Today, two days later, I only see bubbles on the top and nothing in the middle. My starter never did seperate like yours in the pics, Katie, so I am wondering if I really did catch any yeast or not. Taking a sniff test of the starter, it smells like vomit (sorry to be so graphic, but that was my first impression). Do you think that I did something wrong? Maybe I killed the small amount of yeast I did manage to catch? Should I continue on with the current mixture or start all over from the beginning again? Any tips on how to keep it a bit warm in a cool house? TIA!
.-= Stacy´s last blog ..Have you checked out the new Simple Living Media sites? =-.
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Katie Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 1:22 am
Stacy,
Katie
Vomit smelling is great! I don’t always have bubbles all the way through. I would recommend a couple things:
1. Don’t give up! You can almost always revive these guys from what I hear. It sounds (smells) like you must have something going…
2. I like to put mine on the stovetop when I’m cooking to “catch” some residual heat. Other than that, I use the oven sometimes or just on the counter if I’m not baking that day.
3. Try some of the “discarded starter recipes” Sarah Wood shared with us this week. That way you can pull some of your starter out and do a bigger ‘feeding’. That’s when my starter will pull stuff like these photos.
Don’t stress! I hope it ends up working for you!
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Stacy Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 10:18 am
Thanks, Katie. I will try baking something tomorrow (we have a house showing today, so no time to bake and clean up the dishes!). For now, I’ll just feed it again and wait and see. I do see more bubbles on top this morning.
.-= Stacy´s last blog ..Have you checked out the new Simple Living Media sites? =-.
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Are we on the same page, or what?!
My focus this week is bread – spelt bread. Right now I am working on a price comparison — baking bread with spelt flour vs. buying regular and specialty loaves from grocery and natural health food stores.
I’m big into spelt flour because it is an ancient grain that anyone digests well. It is also, according to The Blood Type Diet, very beneficial to my and my husband’s health.
While on the hunt I’ve also found some excellent and inexpensive resources for other ingredients including soy flour and ground flax seed. Excited!
Will post the results on this experiment in about a week.
Cheers! V.
.-= Viveca from FatigueBeGone´s last blog ..Boost Your Energy with fun, Fun, FUN! =-.
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Mmmmm…I haven’t had a sourdough starter in years. I’m jealous!
.-= Pam´s last blog ..Things I Love Thursday – Gerber NUK Bottles =-.
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Hi there. I just wanted to say I am really enjoying your blog. I have never made sourdough before but I am tempted to try. You make it look and sound fairly simple.
I love that you bake your own bread. And I love that you show off to the world that yes, you did reuse an old pickle jar to make your dough.
.-= niki´s last blog ..Books Should Be Free =-.
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Katie Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Niki,
Katie
Thanks! I love that you noticed my humble pickle jar!
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I am on my third time resurecting my sourdough starter. My husband is afraid I am getting a God complex when I let out an evil laugh every time I start to bubbles again. Three times doesn’t seem so bad unless you consider that it has only been two weeks!
.-= Jennifer @ Converted Kitchen´s last blog ..My First Attempt at Real Cooking =-.
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Katie Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Hilarious! 3x in 2 weeks? That’s got to be a record!
Katie
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That sourdough starter is very active. I have to start mine again. For some reason, my previous sourdough didn’t turn out okay.
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I noticed as well, I was actually wondering if it was the small 16ish oz jar or the big half gallon size?
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Merina Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Referring to the pickle jar…I must have clicked the wrong reply link.
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Katie Reply:
January 20th, 2011 at 1:38 am
Merina,
Katie
I think that one was somewhere in between, like the 28 oz maybe? I often just use the smaller ones though. This one was just FULL.
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Just found your site! Sooo funny because this actually happened to me today, only it was in my pantry and when I opened the door there was actually sourdough starter dripping down the inside of the door! I guess it was really warm today!
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