I have a jar that sounds similar to yours. I want to ask though, do you take your starter out to refresh it? and do you clean the jar every time? If you do....why? the bacteria create an environment in the dough and the jar, and cleaning it sounds to be unnecessary added work. Cleaning it every couple months or something for sanitary reasons is understandable, but I don't know if regular washing of the starter container is something you should/need to be doing. I scrape any excess dough on the sides back down into the starter dough and mix it in, since it is all fermentable.

-Cyrus

I use 1-qt Nancy's Yogurt containers, of which I have a seemingly infinite supply.  Unfortunately they aren't clear as you would prefer.  If they get too gunky I have no problem with throwing them away, or recycling them into compost discard mini-buckets before throwing them away.  The different types of yogurt come in different color schemes, which I use to differentiate my different starters.

I prefer to leave my sponges unadorned, the better not to disrupt the developing relationship between yeast and flour. 

Hi, Torch404. 

I experienced the same frustration you describe working with narrow openings in jars. Searching for a better solution, I found what are called "French terrine" jars. They have straight sides all the way up, with no narrowing at the mouth. I have two in the refrigerator usually, one with a wheat starter and one with a rye sour. I'm very happy with these jars.

Here's a link to my source:

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=74177&PRODID=65152  

And I don't add anything to my starters besides water, flour and starter.

David

Hi, Annie.

It sounds like your jars are similar to the ones I recommended. (See above.) The link in my previous comment will take you to The Container Store web site. They have replacement rubber rings for these jars.

David

Seems like a wide mouth canning jar might work for you. Easier to get your hand in.

I found a ceramic crock at a garage sale that I use, works great. One thing i do is feed and mix mine in a seperate bowl, and then rinse out the crock and put the refreshed starter back. I found that the mixing kind of spreads it around the sides off the jar, and this keeps it neater. I don't really wash, just a good rinse out every time I feed it. This seems to keep things relatively un-crusty for me. When I'm building the starter up for a baking, I use a larger pyrex bowl. Then I put a little starter back in my crock right away so that I don't forget to save it. Just in case I mess up or forget to save starter out before I add salt, etc, I have a reserve of my starter to fall back on :)

Is look in the yellow pages for a local restaurant supply house for these.

They were only about $4.00 US each.  I like these because my meaty paws fit in them easily to clean.  They seal well, but the top can still pop off under pressure as my starter on the right can show.

Just a thought

TT

Hi Torch,

I have a cousin by that name.

About sourdough containers: I'm using a glass jar that has a 4-inch wide mouth. A wide mouth canning jar has a 3-inch opening. Having a large wide mouth jar with straight sides makes washing jars a lot easier. The wide mouth jars were filled with green olives and after the jars were empty I thought they woulds be wonderful for liquid sourdough starters. Because of they're wide mouth of 4-inches. I love these jars.

When I pour out some starter for a recipe it leaves a residue of starter on the side of the jar. So I get my spatula and sweep down the excess starter as well as I can. Why do I do this? I use to live in an area where the humidity is high. And soon I would have mold growing inside the walls of the jar, especially if I had it in storage for a long period of time.

Since then I have moved to a climate where the air is very dry (high desert). I still have the same problem but it takes the mold a longer period of time to grow. Now when I plan on storing a liquid starter for a long period of time I make sure it's stored in a clean glass container.

It's also a good idea to rinse out the jar with (vinegar) to eliminate all soaps and detergents residues which accumulate on our glasses, jars, and dishes. Then rinse with water.

When my sourdough starter starts running low I always place my new batch of starter into clean jar.

In mixing up my sourdough starter I'll mix it up in large mixing bowl. So I can thoroughly whisk it, for a good two minutes to incorporate as much bubbles into the starter. To set up air pockets during fermentation, the yeast will enter the air pockets and enlarge them for a more even and airy crumb. Then I carefully pour it into a wide mouth glass jar being careful not to get any starter on the walls of the jar.

I prefer glass over plastic. Plastic is an absorbent material and once you wash plastic with a detergent that contains chemicals you can never remove it from the plastic. A glass jar would make the best storage container.

I also bought 1 quart (Food Grade) plastic containers from Smart & Final and these containers have a a wide mouth of 5 inches. I use them strictly for starters and nothing else. When I wash these containers I use organic dish washing soap and rinse with vinegar. These containers are very easy to clean.

I've been making a "sponge" to start my loaves. It seems to work well for me. My question is does any one add things to their sponge? I put a little lite molasses in one. The sponge came out smelling a little rummy and I thought I could taste it in the bread. Does anyone add other ingredients at this part of the process or can it muck it all up?

Sponge---I don't bake breads using a sponge. But what I've read about making a sponge it another way to deepen the flavor of bread. It also enables the yeast to grow faster, and can be used after 1 hour or idealy 4 hours at room temperature for more flavor. A sponge may consist of honey, or sugar, flour, water, and yeast. Then you may lay a blanket of flour, yeast, dry milk, butter, banana, salt and so fourth over the sponge and let it set for 4 hours. The recipe for this delicious sponge breads may be found in "The Bread Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum under the name Banana Feather Loaf page 271. Many of her bread recipes include a sponge.

Jolly The Sourdough Baker

Hi,

I like these squat jars. I bought a dozen 8 oz and a dozen 16 oz and use them in a number of different ways. The plastic screw-on lid, wide mouth, straight sides, glass, all make sense for cleaning, viewing, and storage.

I agree it's probably a good idea to switch containers at each feeding to avoid any mold growth on the residue left on the sides of the container. If I'm feeding at room temperature every 12-24 hours, I just alternate containers and clean the empty one each time. If storing in the refrigerator, I usually feed the starter to make a dough in a small bowl, then pour it into a clean container, avoiding the sides of the container.

I use the 8 oz jar for my starter, since I'm only keeping about 55g of starter, i.e. the normal routine is 5g of starter fed with 22g of water and 28g of flour.

Bill

Thanks everyone for all the ideas. Big thanks to Jolly for such a detailed reply. I'm still looking around. Skipping plastic though gonna stick to glass. I'm parinoid!