Sourdough with a travel-heavy career
I have been baking bread for 2 years now, and work only with yeasted recipes. This is largely because I have an unusual career which requires me to travel a lot, not for a few days at a time, but usually for 2 months at a time, and I do 2-3 trips like this a year. My travel takes me to remote locations where I don't have access to steady electricity or running water (nor do the local residents), let alone the kind of kitchen in which I could bake. So I don't bake bread while I'm on work trips, and that's fine, as I eat the local diet wherever I happen to be.
During the months of the year when I am 'home' in the UK, I do bake my own bread and I would like to 'graduate' to levain breads from yeast. But I cannot see an easy way to incorporate the maintenance of a starter into my schedule. I know some people who travel with theirs, but since I am usually going places where I have no kitchen, no temperature control and no electricity, that makes little sense.
And since my time in the UK doesn't usually happen in one go, but one month here, two months there, in between trips abroad, I might not always have time to get a new starter going each time I'm home - plus it seems wasteful to do that every few months!
Is there any hope for me?
If kept cool, in the fridge, a small amount if starter with a lot of food can last for a month, or more. Freezing is another option, but I hear it can be tough on a starter. When dried, it can last for years. Reviving the starter would take only a day or 2, a little longer maybe for dried. A lot shorter than the week, or more it would take to start another. Keep checking back here, in sure many will chime in on the above. It has been done, so I'm sure it can see done again.
Thanks, many great suggestions here! I may give this a shot!
First of all... do you have an active sourdough starter?
I pack mine into pingpong sized balls, very dry, and store separately in the refrigerator, in little bags all stacked up in a jar. I also dry starter and crush into flakes or flour to be added to yeasted doughs. I never know when I'm back to my starter balls but it takes a few days to rehydrate and feed one or half of one to get an active working starter again.
A starter can also be fed to lie dormant in the fridge in thick dough form for several months without too much harm to the starter. dabrownman can fill you in on his method or check out his blog here on TFL. Look under his "no fuss starter." I'm sure he will chime in here.
Mini
Thanks MIni!
My 60% hydration starter is fed only about every 4 or so months at this point. Packed tightly into a "Tupperware" plastic container with a piece of plastic wrap tightly to its surface, it has near the lifespan of Uranium135. Refresh it just before departing for parts unknown, and place it into the depths of the back of the refrigerator. It'll stay fresh as a daisy!
Interesting - I am going to look into something like this.
I gave up that kind of life years ago - it was shortening my telomeres.
Best to always keep a dried starter backup. Unbelievable things will always occur and it's the only real protection against the unmitigated disaster of losing your starter. Second, keep in touch with nearby bakers who in a pinch can supply you with a live culture.
Your schedule is a bit of logistics problem but you'll need approximately 36 hours to 48 hours to prepare a properly done sourdough bread. This includes a 12 hour cold retard prior to the bake. This is from a 200 ml starter to finished bread. Many bakers have this same lack of schedule but have come up with an assortment of ingenious ways around the problem by using time and temperature to their schedules advantage - only problem is it does take a bit of practice to make it all come out right. In any regards Happy Baking...,
Wild-Yeast
up to half a year. No worries. I've been doing it going in the 4th year now. Here is how to do it
No Muss No Fuss StarterOoh this looks like it good work very well for me!
Of people who have forgotten about starters left at the back of the fridge for many months (even longer) and have managed to restore them.
Lower the hydration, feed before you go, allow to rise by 1/4 and refrigerate. Can go for ages between feeds. As a back up you can dry some and it'll last year's. Or freeze some.
Dabrownman's no muss no fuss starter method is a great one to follow for those who wish not to feed their starter often. I follow his method and never have problems.
Yep, going to try dabrownman's method for sure!