The Sourdough Saga: Reviving the Starter

Yesterday my goal was to start the task of revitalizing my sourdough starter which had spent most of the summer in the fridge being ignored. I know it makes me a bad sourdough mom, but it's coming together now that there's snow on the ground and I hunt for reasons to keep my oven on!

I started yesterday morning and had almost immediate bubble action, and although I started with 4 cups of starter in the pot, it only grew 1 cup. I keep my starter in an old clear glass coffee carafe so that I can get a good look at it. This morning I dumped out about 2 cups, straight into the trash and added half a cup of fresh AP flour, it's only been a couple hours and it's bubbling good and has already grown to over the 5 cup mark, so maybe it wasn't as far gone as I thought, maybe it was only HUNGRY!!

I tend to use three methods for checking my starter. First is LOOK. What's it doing? Second is SMELL. I smell it just as I lift the lid off, give it a good swirl or a light stir and smell it again. And third is TASTE, Right now the taste in my starter is pretty bland, but I know it will be back as I continue to dump and feed. At any rate, I am on my way.

Planning on sourdough pancakes Sunday morning, Orange Cranberry Rolls about Tuesday, big batch of bread on Friday. That's the plan anyway, but keep in mind, this is sourdough!