Starter "crock"

You'll find that some of us will clean out our starter containers on a regular basis and some will refuse to do so until something toxic begins to overflow the container. If you feel the need to clean out the container on a regular basis, do be sure to thoroughly rinse out the container to make sure that microscopically little to no dish soap residue remains in the container. Some dish soaps brag about their antibiotic properties so take the extra care to keep your starter thriving.

I don't "refresh"  my starters, I top them up - take some out to use to make bread then add new in to replace what I took out, so the jars never get empty, so they never get washed.

-Gordon

I don't wash out my starter container, but when I do need to top it up I will add the water first and scrape down the sides before I add in the flour. So far I've never found anything growing on the sides of the container that I didn't want there!

I go months at a time without washing my container. Sometimes upward of 6 months or even more. Considering I keep my starter at room temp and feed it twice a day you can imagine some of the gunk that starts to build up around the rim. There develops a nice layer of old acidic (and slightly crusty) starter that gives the container an old dirty sock smell.

Disgusting, I know.

But I love it. The way I look at it, this rim of aging starter is a breeding factory for more acid tolerant strains of microorganisms. The older and stinkier it gets, the more the bacteria have to evolve to survive. Those bacteria then find their way into the bulk of my starter and do their thing.

Whether there's any truth to that notion or not, I don't know. It's just a story I like to tell myself.

I'll say this however; in all the bakeries I've worked at, the starters that make the best tasting bread are those that live in the least sterile environments. And of all the starters I've ever made (and I've made plenty, believe me) the starters that make the best tasting bread are those that have spent the most time in their unwashed gunky containers.

It may not be objective, and it may not be science, but it is my experience.

Cheers!

Trevor

I'm still a newbie at all this but yes I admit it I do wash out my container. I prefer a glass pickling  to plastic though I have been known to use it and once every couple of weeks after a bake I transfer what's left of my starter into a clean jar and wash out the other one. That's just a personal preference I'm not partial to stinky socks lol.

King Arthur Flour was offering a gift set of a stoneware crock and a starter sample.  I got it as a Christmas present and have been using it ever since.  They have long since abandoned the more aesthetic beige crock with the wheat motif for one that looks like their flour sack logo, but it is still the same pottery.  

I have one of the Pampered Chef measuring bowls with a cover and I pour the culture into that on feeding days.  It's perfectly clear and I can see all of the mystery and magic that goes on in there after feeding (plus, the measuring markings make it easy to tell when it has doubled), and while it's sitting on the counter overnight the crock goes in the dishwasher.  In the morning the sourdough is nice and bubbly and the reserve portion goes back into the clean crock and into the fridge.  The recipe portion stays in the clear bowl while I'm getting my mise en place set up.  

I use two plastic yogurt tubs for my starter. Whenever I feed it, I pour the new mix into a clean tub and wash out the old one. A lot less trouble than trying to keep one tub or crock clean.

... a photo:

Took it earlier just before I made up the levian for tonights mix/tomorrows bake. Rye, Spelt and Wheat. You can tell the spelt one as it has "spelt" written on the side... Or did have. Once upon a time...

-Gordon