The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

How to keep my starter alive for 3 months?

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

How to keep my starter alive for 3 months?

I have to go on military basic training for 3 months in Sept and will have to trust my totally neophyte-on-that-regard husband for taking care of my starter...Any tested and approved way to make his life as easy as possible while maintaining a healthy and vigorous starter?? I have read so many conflicting information about that online that I would be more at peace if I had a trustworthy method from the TFL's pros....

I was thinking maybe feeding the starter once every 2 weeks directly out from the fridge then directly back into the fridge?? Or maybe wait a few hours until the starter comes back to life prior to putting it back into the fridge??

I feel like I'm going to abandon my beloved pet on the side of the road...Heartbreaking!!!

Gaëlle

phaz's picture
phaz

Dry some and store in freezer. No worries. Enjoy! 

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

So no feeding whatsoever during those 3 months if stored in the freezer?? That sounds too good to be true!! Thanks Phaz :-)

phaz's picture
phaz

Standard procedure for backing up a starter. When ya get back, just add flour and water, maybe a couple days, but it'll come back. Enjoy! 

Benito's picture
Benito

Phaz is correct, take your starter that is mature, spread it out thinly on parchment or a silicone mat and let it fully dry.  Crack it up into large flakes, put it all in a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer.  It is good to have this as a back up in case something happens to your starter.  Then when you’re back to baking again, take it out, hydrate and feed it and it will gradually come back to speed.

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Excellent!!! I have a dehydrator, so drying my starter should be a breeze...Thanks a lot!!!!

Benito's picture
Benito

Absolve yourself of your feelings of abandonment Gaelle, no reason whatsoever.

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Haha!!! Am I crazy???? ;-)

foodforthought's picture
foodforthought

…as insurance which I did pre-plague, before we we spent three months in France. Returned home and built a few generations of levain with the grey glop in my starter jar, and like magic, we were up and running. So my dried starter remains in its vacuum-packed pouch in the freezer.

These organisms have survived longer than cockroaches with little or no active management, though I suppose we could have a healthy sidebar discussion about various evolutionary strategies developed by numerous other organisms to host, shelter and “manage” microbiomes that exploit or serendipitously benefit from yeasty behaviors.

In yeast we trust,

Phil

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

3 months in the fridge?? Wow, I'm impressed! I might give it a try....

Thanks for sharing your experience, Phil :-)

mariana's picture
mariana

Hi Gaëlle,

Jeffrey Hamelman explained how to maintain a starter in his recent post here:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/68749/starter-maintenance

I happen to agree with him and use the same methods for the long term storage, although I haven't learned it from him, but from the textbook for Swiss bakers. 

One is to make it very stiff as you feed it and after two hours at room temperature refrigerate it.

Another one is to rub 10 g of starter with 100 g of whole grain flour ( I blend them in blender or food processor, it is quicker that way) and store in a cloth pouch, a sock or a handkerchief, at room temperature. No freezing! It would keep the culture viable for years.

You can use both methods as a backup, because we don't know exactly what kind of unique microflora your starter has. Some yeasts and bacteria don't tolerate drying too well, for them very stiff refrigerated form is better, others won't survive freezing, for them drying it out by rubbing with flour and keeping at room temperature is the best.

So, try more than one backup method and see what works best for your unique starter.

In any case, should any or all of them fail to preserve your starter's unique flavor, you could always create a new one from scratch, or simply ask your husband to feed your starter daily, as Jeffrey Hamelman does. It requires very little work once a day and only a tablespoon of flour and a spoon of water.

Best wishes,

m.

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Very interesting!!! I am now super curious and tempted to try as many methods as possible just as an experiment...

Kristen, from FoolProofBaking, suggests too to make a very stiff ball and to place it into the freezer for up to a year!

Thanks a lot for those suggestions, Mariana!

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

User "Chefcdp", who is one of, or the, principle person involved in www.carlsfriends.net , chimed in a while back.

One of his points is that when you freeze some dried starter, you still want to exclude as much air as possible.

That and more here:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/414352#comment-414352

and

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/447003#comment-447003

The latter also concurs with Mariana's stiff-starter-in-the-fridge storage method.

Of note: Dried out (dehydrated / flaked) starter does not need freezing, but if you do, exclude as much air as possible.  Most commercial starter sellers distribute dried starter at ambient temp.

(btw, Use very low temp, or no heat, on your dehydrator, as you don't want to kill off the yeast/lab.)

I agree that it's wise to try several long-term storage methods at once to preserve your pet.  

But also, I'd make up a feed-and-stir schedule for your husband to care for the active wet starter. Keeping the wet starter in the fridge except for the 3 hours after feeding.  

Maybe something like: Keep in fridge. Stir on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. (Take out, stir, put it right back in fridge.)  On Saturday, take out, discard/feed, leave at room temp for 3 hours, then put back in fridge.

 

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

I really appreciate your contribution to this discussion, Idaveindy; that's extremely useful! I had never heard of the 1847 Oregon trail starter

I like the feed-and-stir schedule you are suggesting as it seems very doable and not too time consuming for my hubby. Just out of curiosity: what's the rationale for the 3 weekly stirs?

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

I'm sure other have said it before, but since I've been here, it has been mainly phaz who has promoted stirring to prolong the time between feeds.

According to him, LAB and yeast don't travel to get food. After they eat the food immediately around them, you have to bring more food to them by stirring.  That makes more efficient use of the flour, allows longer times between feeding, and keeps more of them alive.

I have verified this. I used to feed my refrigerated starter every 4 days. By stirring every 2 days, the starter only needs fed every 6 days now, and also does not need refreshed prior to baking.

I suggested a 7 day cycle to make it easier to remember, and you also do not need to keep it bake-ready while away.  

I keep two starters, and keep them on alternating schedules so as to reduce possibility for cross contamination, handling only one starter on a given day. But I also keep a paper log to keep track of stirrings and feedings.

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Very interesting!!! Do you think it would work with a once-every-2-weeks feeding schedule (keeping the stirring once every 2 days) ?

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

Which will be easier for Mr Gaelle to remember... feed it every Saturday (or whatever day) or every _other_ Saturday?

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Mr Gaelle will only be able to handle VERY simple and basic instructions when I'm away..So the easier the better for my hubby and more importantly for my Precious :-)))))

phaz's picture
phaz

And that was the reason for drying a bunch. No instruction necessary. Doesn't get any easier than that! Enjoy! 

Just thought, just scrape some dried stuff off the side of the jar and use that. Easy just got easier! 

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

In the process of drying as we speak :-)

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

I forgot to ask: what ratio do you feed your starter before putting it back in the fridge?

phaz's picture
phaz

If this was for me, i don't store in the fridge, my maintenance is non standard. Enjoy! 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

@Gaelle, my refrigerated starter that I feed on a 6-day cycle, and stir every 2 days, is fed 1:1:1.  I feed it immediately after removing from fridge, and then it sits at room temp for 3 hours before putting back in fridge.  In cold weather, I let it sit in the oven with the light on, and depending on room temp, may even turn on the oven for 30 seconds to get it over 74 F.

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Thanks for the details!

I have already dried out some of my starter

Phase 2 will be to freeze a very stiff ball of starter

Phase 3 will be in the hands of Mr Hubby, following your instructions...

I think I will be able to leave with peace of mind!! Thanks again :-)