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Most common cause: too cold. Wild yeast wakes between 75-82°F. Move the jar on top of the fridge, near a warm appliance, or into a cold (off) oven with the light on. Give it another 24 hours.

This is on us. Send a photo of your day-7 jar through our contact form. We send a fresh starter, free, same day. No return needed.

You're likely between feeds — the starter rose, peaked, and fell. Feed it again (discard half, 30g flour + 30g water) and check in 4-6 hours.

Means your starter is hungry. Stir it back in — that's alcohol, harmless — and feed normally. If it keeps coming back, try feeding twice daily.

Starving — fix is feeding. Discard 90%, feed 1:2:2 (e.g. 20g starter + 40g flour + 40g water). Repeat in 12 hours. Should recover within a day.

Toss it. Mold means contamination — usually from a dirty jar or old flour. Start fresh with a new pouch. (Hooch and gray flour streaks are NOT mold.)

Normal — that's the wild fermentation. If it's sharp, feed more often. Should mellow back to sweet-yeasty within a day.

Either your starter wasn't at peak (do the float test before mixing) or your dough was under-proofed. A finger poke should leave a slow-springing dent — if it springs back fast, give it longer.

Steam in the first 20 minutes is the lever. Cover with a Dutch oven lid (thicker crust if you bake longer uncovered) or skip steam entirely (thinner). Most issues = wrong steam phase.

Underbaked. Internal temp should hit 205-210°F. Pull early, slice early — both cause this. Let cool fully before cutting.

Score deeper — at least ½ inch into the dough. Shallow scoring traps steam and the loaf can't expand.

Refrigerate the jar — it can sleep for 2 weeks unfed, longer with a vacation feed (1:5:5 ratio). Pull it out a day before you bake, feed twice, and you're back.

Cool, dry, away from sunlight. Pantry shelf is fine. Sealed pouches last 12 months — once opened, use within 6 months or refrigerate.

If the jar arrived hot to the touch, email a photo. We re-ship same day. Mild warmth is usually fine — sniff for sweet-yeasty.

Pouches: 2 business days. Live jars ship fresh and ready to feed. Tracking emails the day it ships.

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