The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Naming your Starters?

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

Naming your Starters?

I have read where people name their starters... I was calling my the beasties... (as in yeastie beastie)... but after reading a really pleasant book wherein the pets were named Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy... I decided I like those names for my starters.   So my white flour starters are Goodness and Mercy and the Whole Wheat one is Shirley.  Quite funny I think.

G-man's picture
G-man

I have played around occasionally with extra starters, but it never seems to work out. I guess in the end I'm just a single starter kind of guy.

Bret was named after a friend who said that he would be honored to share a name with a fungal/bacterial culture.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

remember your own name half the time, should you be naming your babies too?  I only have one real child and I can't remember whatshername half the time either :-)  My wife's name on the other hand is never forgotten - Goddess of Light and Life!

MNBäcker's picture
MNBäcker

... after my old boss at the bakery in Germany where I learned the trade...

 

Stephan

TastefulLee's picture
TastefulLee

...is what my 5 and 4 year old granddaughters dubbed my starter after taking a good whiff each. My whole wheat starter then immediately earned the name Smelly, since they are apparently brothers. ;-)

SCruz's picture
SCruz

what else? Riley

 

aytab's picture
aytab

I have two different starters and they are Herman and Lilly Munster and if I create any more I will continue the theme Grandpa, Eddie and Marilyn. For right now though I keep mine on the counter and feed them daily so the care and feeding of two is enough, it's like having children.

R.Acosta's picture
R.Acosta

...don't really know why, it just stuck.  The one that died before he came along? Herschel.

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Stephanie lives in the country - house outside Cambridge

Sophia is a bit more urban, living in a flat in Highgate, north London

Think Sophia is Stephanie's daughter...

Both based on one from Chicago via Cambridge Cookery School last April!!

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I like your starter names... I have found that I pay more attention to my feeding schedule now that mine are named. I am thinking of starting a raisin water one... I saw somewhere where someone had one... I would only use raisin water the first time... so I guess eventually it would be like the others... I think I will call this one Roy ( I have no idea why?) 

Grenage's picture
Grenage

My starter is named Sanna IV.  A friend (named Sanna) introduced me to the concept, and Jokingly said that it could be called Sanna II.  Sanna II was abandoned when I stopped baking and cooking, III was an impatient discard, and IV is my current batch.

plevee's picture
plevee

Mine is called Barmy. My dog is Barney. He is, however a totally goofy standard poodle, so the names often get mixed up.

Patsy

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

Barmy is a good name.

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

Just started a raisin water starter, had it separate from my white starters... then decided to mix them all together. So I still have Shirley, the whole wheat starter... and now the three combined starters that were Mercy, Goodness and Roy... are just JOY.... So I have ww: Shirley and White: Joy... that is all... and enough to feed.

 

Wild-Yeast's picture
Wild-Yeast

Mine's Abby Normal..., as in: 

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [to Igor] Now that brain that you gave me. Was it Hans Delbruck's? 
Igor: [pause, then] No. 
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me whose brain I DID put in? 
Igor: Then you won't be angry? 
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry. 
Igor: Abby someone. 
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [pause, then] Abby someone. Abby who? 
Igor: Abby... Normal. 
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [pause, then] Abby Normal? 
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name. 
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [chuckles, then] Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide GORILLA? 
[grabs Igor and starts throttling him
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Is that what you're telling me? 

Wild-Yeast

Olof's picture
Olof

My sourdough starter was honored the name Sury, as the daughter of film actors Katy Holmes and Tom Cruise. The girl's full name, Sury Cruise, has the same pronounciation as the Icelandic words for "sour in a jar" - Súr í krús

EvaGal's picture
EvaGal

I call my starter Levito Naturale. The village baker book gave me the idea.  I may have misspelled it.  The starter is very popular among my circle of friends who have tasted its bread.  Many think using sourdough is an unsearchable mystery. :)

Shirley Goodness and Mercy were my first three llamas.  The idea was they would follow me... see Psalm 23:6

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I love those names and the reasoning is awesome... I like the starter name too. 

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

My starter's name is Orfano, from Carol Field's list of sayings and metaphors about bread: "Senza il pane tutto diventa orfano -- Without bread, everyone is an orphan"

I figure that even on my busiest days, I can't neglect the poor orphan sitting on my counter. (Can't imagine how I justify stashing it in the refrigerator for days at a time.....)

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

Glad we are only naming starters!!!! LOL... what fun this topic is! Love it.

JDYangachi's picture
JDYangachi

after months of neglect I found my starter drowning in alcohol.  I wasn't sure if I could revive it, so I started a new one.  Well, three days later, the first seemed to have recovered quite nicely.  I even baked two days in a row with decent results.  As for the new one, today is the sixth day and it's looking quite bubbly and active.  So now that I have two starters, I guess it's time to name them.  Actually, I've had these names picked out for quite some time -- but I suppose I never really felt the need to name just the ONE starter.

Anyway ... I have named them

#1: Liz Leaven (30 Rock fan)

and

#2: Lucy Levain (just because I like the alliteration)

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I have just one white flour starter right now... his name is Herman... have no idea why I chose that name... I am going to start a pineapple starter for the fun of it.. and name it Maui... I do have some raisin water... with RW on the lid, that must be its name!. I like your Liz and Lucy names... how are they different?

Diane

baybakin's picture
baybakin

Bill.

Bill was who I got my starter from. bill was a big, home-brewing, one-legged, red-headed, scottish friend of the family.  The starter was mainly used for sourdough waffles usually made on new years day, much to the delight to hung over overnight guests who couldn't quite crawl home the previous night.

thegrindre's picture
thegrindre

I just recently discovered that some people name their starter(s) so I thought I'd do the same.

Mine was created, (born), on the 4th of July weekend so I named it Cracker, as in fire cracker. It's the most active starter I've ever raised. The bubbles are huge and when they pop on the surface, it splatters on the jar walls. It looks a lot like a lava pool from an active volcano... It even more then doubles after feeding.

I'm really happy with Cracker so far although, it is a bit too sour. It's very strong and pungent.

 

Rick

RabbiBeth's picture
RabbiBeth

I wanted to name mine "Bubbles" for obvious reasons, but my daughter thought we should name it Greta.  So, Greta it is.  I guess  my starter is female!

Antilope's picture
Antilope

#@!%&!!! ;-)

PetraR's picture
PetraR

I have Gordon a wheat Starter, well 2  Gordons really, one at 100% hydration and one at 50% hydration.

I used to have a Rye Starter called Ryan, but my husband cleaned out the fridge, did not know what *it* was and threw him out.

Big bad hubby:(

sweetsadies's picture
sweetsadies

i will always know when I started Fiji because it was when I came back from a vacation there...and Tarti.  Yes it is my Tartine starter:)

i was one of the testers for Peter Reinhart and he warned us not to name them since they may not last:)

Penny