Advice regarding sourdough baking in hot weather

Man oh man... the warm weather advise was great, but did you get a load of those glazed doughnuts...?? My waist gained 2 inches just looking...

- Keith

What she says, essentially, is:

Find a cool place (garage, cellar, etc.) to store your starter in hot weather.

Maintain it at a lower hydration level than you otherwise would.

Feed it more often (which makes sense if you're not going to keep it in the fridge.)

Add a bit of salt to slow down the fermentation.  Of course, she says, consider that when you're preparing your bread recipes so that you don't over-salt the loaf.

Keep in mind that, if you use rye flour in your starter, it will ferment faster.

I started my sourdough experience last fall and now that hot weather is here, I had to learn a whole different handling routine for my starter. I'm using the refirigerator and planning ahead to take it out and feed it for 1-2 days prior to use to activate it.

I almost lost my starters to enzyme activity. The starter,normally like a thick pancake batter (100%) became watery,even though I used the same proprtions of flour/water as previously. And my loaves would not hold their shape-very flat,spreading batards. I was able to discard most of the starter,aggressively feed/discard it for a few days and then refirgerate and back off the feeding program. It is finally back and performing beautifully.