The Fresh Loaf

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Cold vs Room Temp starter

Ibycus's picture
Ibycus

Cold vs Room Temp starter

still working on my sour dough skills. The recipe I'm working from uses a cold starter from the fridge, and wants 12-24 hours from the point where you take it out of the fridge.

Would you adjust this time if the starter starts at room temperature?

STUinlouisa's picture
STUinlouisa

Does the recipe call for refreshing the refrigerated starter or to just start making dough with it? If it is being refreshed you can skip that step if your starter is recently fed.

prettedda's picture
prettedda

If you add a lot of cold starter to a little room temp dough it probably will lower overall temp enough to make a difference but the effect won't last very long before you are up to room temp. For a very long ferment like this I assume the amount of starter is small so it's temp probably won't have much effect.

Ibycus's picture
Ibycus

The recipe does call to refresh the starter before letting it sit for 12-24 hours. Was mostly worried that in the fridge the metabolism of the yeasts will slow, and take a little while to ramp up (hence the 12-24 hours), but if its a room temp starter, then the yeasts and bacteria are already active, so by waiting I might miss a critical point....or alternatively might get away without waiting.