The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Testing Starter Back-up

RobynNZ's picture
RobynNZ

Testing Starter Back-up

This evening when I returned home from a couple weeks away for  Christmas and birthday spent with family over in the city, I found a puddle on my kitchen floor, then realised that it had originated at the fridge/freezer. Opened the fridge door to be greeted by a rush of warm air! The power outlet is working, and while the customer care person I called asked if there had been a power outage, I don't know, but when there has been previously, the fridge has been fine. There wasn't much in the fridge while I was away, but the freezer was well stocked. I can't imagine what the problem is. The local serviceman is not back at work til the 11th. I'm not frantic, the island on which I live has a residential population of 8,000 but for these couple of summer holiday weeks it swells to around 30,000, and there will be many others doing without a fridge. I'll just pretend I'm a holidaymaker. I did freeze some slicka pads for my chilli bag to bring things in the car on the car ferry today and my neighbour has put some more in his freezer for me to swop in the morning. And I can buy ice. But maybe I'll consider a new fridge too. Will do a bit of online research tonight, I might be tempted by new year sales, and put the serviceman's fee into a new fridge. Replacing all my 'not available on Waiheke' things in the freezer will require another trip to town, so perhaps it will be possible to shop for a fridge. Reading the "you know you're a bread baker when" thread, I've always thought my contribution should be 'when a shelf in your fridge is dedicated to starters, old starter, preferments and retarding dough'.

As I put my normally on the bench starters in the fridge before I left, and packed starter to take to my brother's place, I thought I'll have off-premise back-up too, little did I realize I'd be glad of it! I almost didn't bring any starter back, I'm glad I did. The ones in the fridge look and smell very unpleasant, but no obvious mold growth, checked temperature though and it was 35.2°C (around 95°F) at 9pm I imagine it has been higher in the middle of the day. The dried ones in the freezer were well sealed in and haven't been in contact with thawed meats etc, so I'll try them. 

It has been a lovely New Year's day here. 

Happy New Year TFLers.

Robyn

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Not the best start to the new year for you, i do wish you luck, both with the revival of your dried/frozen-unfrozen culture and with a new fridge. Coming home to a dead fridge is not the most pleasant experience if you have been away for any time. It does give you a new appreciation for some of the everyday things we do take for granted though.
regards YOZZA

RobynNZ's picture
RobynNZ

Thanks for your sympathy Yozza, it's appreciated. Happy New Year to you too.

The starters I made up last night have had their second feed and are doing well, summer heat and a treat of rye flour seems to have done the trick.

I bought a new fridge. Have wanted a new one, but the one which died wasn't old and I'm not inclined to buy things unless they are needed. The customer care person with whom I spoke last night, gave me some price indications for possible repairs; it's hard to act in a sustainable manner, when a new more efficient fridge isn't going to cost much more than the repair bill and it'd be more than 10 days before I could even have the old one looked at to determine if it was indeed repairable. 

Robyn