Why isn't my starter doubling any more?
hello everyone and thanks for the help.
I've been baking with sourdough starters for about 6 months now. my starter used to double within 5-8 hours before but now it stopped doing it and im not sure why?
I feed my starter (thats in the fridge) once a week with equal water and flour weights.
When I want to make bread I tend to take the starter out of the fridge in the morning, dump half of it away, and then feed it double the amount that's left of the starter after dumping half. I then wait for it to double before making my dough.
The porblem is that not only it doesnt double like it used to but the bubbles are TINY. I get lots and lots of them but they are very small. The top becomes very forthy which I assume is good? When I check people's starters online they all seem to have such massive holes in it, why are mine so microscopic?
It usually rises about 25% of its content in 2-3 hours and then immidiatey begins to recede and go down...?
Im in london so temperatures aren't hot at all... around 18 celcius in the room but I've tried putting it in hotter places without any luck, it just rises quicker and recedes quicker. Everywhere I read people say about 8 hours for doubling but if I leave it alone for 8 hours the starter almost looks dead...
I have also tried putting more flour and water in (instead of double the amount) and that hasn't really worked either...