That time I tried to rush a sourdough proof and ended up with a frisbee

Last Tuesday I was so sure I could speed up my sourdough by leaving it on a heating pad for an hour. Big mistake. By the time I baked it, the crumb was so dense you could have used it as a doorstop. I spent 3 days feeding my starter just to get back to where I was. Has anyone else had a shortcut backfire this bad?

2 comments

2 Comments

brown.gavin22d ago

Tried the same thing with a heating pad last winter. Ended up with a brick that could have doubled as a hockey puck. Took me a week to get my starter happy again. Never again rushing that slow beast.

anna_ross1922d ago

Hold up, did you actually see bubbles forming or smell any alcohol while it was on the heating pad? I'm curious because I tried something similar last month with a different starter and it got this weird, sweaty smell before it turned into a total dud. Maybe the heat was just too high for the yeast to handle, even if it looked like it was working at first.