January 28, 2010 - 9:28am
Starter from the Fridge in a hurry
I'm in a hurry to try to get my starter built for a loaf of Hamelman's mixed flour miche because this AM when I baked I completely messed up my loaf. Looking at my upcoming schedule for the next three days, if I don't bake today, I won't be able to bake until Monday.
So, I have whole wheat and rye starter in the fridge, both have been fed less than 7 days ago. If I take them out and feed, give them about 2 hours at 76 degrees, do you think they will be refreshed enough to use for baking? Or, would that be severely pushing my starter? I'd really prefer not to add commercial yeast as I'd like to try to make this formula as close to the book as possible. (other than combining the two starters rather than building up one with two flours)
Thanks!
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I can only speak from experience and say there's no way my sourdough culture could be removed from the fridge, refreshed, and then double or mature sufficiently within two hours to raise a loaf of bread. Not even at 85F.
But that's my SD culture. Why not try it and if it's too sluggish, just add a bit of instant yeast to the mix.
If it's only been a week since you fed it, you can feed it with warm water and flour and your should get a good rise out of it. I have done that before...
Nancy
I used room temp water and flour. Placed in a warmish spot, about 76 degrees. I think because it didn't need to expand that much it domed up nicely in a few hours rather than the usual overnight rise. I had actually kept a pretty big hunk of both rye and whole wheat the last time I'd used them, larger than usual. I needed 400 grams total and I already had about 200 grams so by the time I added flour and water there wasn't much the yeasty beasties had to do but wake up.
I went back to check in about 3 hours and it was nicely domed and looked ready to use. Yeah, I'm on baking today!
1. Grasp bugle firmly.
2. place bugle to lips.
3. Blow reveille.
Works for both white and rye starters. ;-)
If you don't have a bugle handy, you can warm the water you are going to add to your starter when you feed it. Dissolve the starter in the water. Add the flour and mix. I generally warm to water to 80-90ºF.
David