August 16, 2020 - 8:02am
Starter Maintenance Question
Hi all! I have just finished my 2 week feed cycle to creating my starter and have moved it to the fridge to keep and maintain, and I have my first sourdough loaf proving right now! My question is this: I moved my starter to the fridge and it says to feed/maintain once a week (recipe from Cook's Illustrated Bread Illustrated), but if I were to make something with it on Wednesday and it's maintenance day is Saturday, do I just still wait till Saturday and use what is left to maintain my starter? Or do it do it whenever I use some of it? Thanks!!
Share
You can do either one -- starters, once you've got them going a while, are very hardy! I build levains for my bread, which means I only keep a bit of starter in the fridge and whenever I want to make a loaf, I pull a bit out and build from there. The leftover goes back into the starter jar to "refresh" it, but I never feed it separately (I would if I didn't bake for weeks, but that rarely happens). Your starter sounds very new, and those are a little finickier, so I might avoid stretching its schedule out TOO much.
This is so funny that I had to reply. I keep two small jars of starter in the fridge - one is labeled Wednesday and the other is named Saturday. They are both supposed to be fed once a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but I've gone without feeding for more than a week, and they are fine. Sometimes, both jars get fed on a Friday so.... Once you have a strong active starter, my feeling is that the feeding schedule will be quite forgiving and flexible. Happy baking!
That's what I'd call a creative workaround, and a good one at that!
But staters are remarkably resilient and I wish I had the same power of rejuvenation. It early and I'm having trouble getting a handle on this one but I can tell ya what I do. My starter sits in the fridge but gets used about every 5 days. All I do is take what I need, cold, for a loaf, feed it, leave to grow, then it just goes back in till next time. Short periods in the cold, like less than 5 days, just use it (maybe use a little warmer water to compensate for the 38F cold starter depending on how much starter is used). Feeding and letting it populate will get it ready for the next one. I've always done this and no issues. Longer than a week or so, I like to let it warm up and feed a time or 2 just to be sure everything is up to snuff. You can just use it right from the cold, but it just may be a tad slower than normal, maybe.
And now we have the year and a half in the fridge story. I left a starter in there for that long. Got a new fridge and when moving stuff around I found it. Mold was growing out the lid. I had made made probably a half dozen starter since then and didn't need one so was gonna toss it. I have brought back old starters before, but never one from this long ago and in this bad a shape, so I gave it a shot. Took about a half teaspoon, add some flour and water, kept it warm and it started growing again in 3 days. I gave it another couple weeks and used it. No problem.
Hope it helps - enjoy!