February 8, 2011 - 2:50pm
How can a starter actually be "aged" or "old" if we cut it in half everytime we refresh it?
I heard someone somewhere talking about a starter that they had that dated back to the Oregon Trail! I was doing the math and thinking about how if that person fed it, say, every week and presumably dumped half of it, then the original starer would be so weak and cut dow it almost certainly wouldn't exist.
Every week, I'll dump half the starter and add another cup of flour and water....which means that the NEW yeast on the NEW flour is what is growing, so how can there be any "old" yeast in there in any real quantity? It seems that a starter's taste could only be so old with all the refreshing....or am I missing something in my Newbie-ness?