October 7, 2014 - 6:26am
Why do I even freeze my sourdough starter when I go away?
It takes me just as long to revive my starter as it would to build a new one. I ask myself why not create a new one. Still, I take the time to revive the one I froze and I'm happy when it perks up. More details on the last round and bread #57.
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I keep some dried starter in a plastic bag in my refrigerator. I probably do not need to refrigerate it, but I do.
To dry your starter, just spread a thin layer of starter (mine is 100% hydration) on a sheet of parchment paper and let it dry at room temperature. This take a day or two. Then crumble the dried starter and place it in a plastic zippered bag or a jar with a tight lid. This becomes my back-up for an occasion when disaster strikes my starters.
Ford
How long does it take to make a viable starter using dried starter? Also, about how much flour and water do you add with the flakes?
Hi 108,
Interesting timing of your post. Just the other day I posted a bit of my experience in reviving a dried stater with a link to the post on how to do it...
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40308/tale-two-preferments
alan
P.S. it was easy.
Take about a tablespoon of crushed dried starter and add a quarter cup (1 oz.) of unbleached, all-purpose flour and two tablespoons (1 oz.) of chlorine-free water. Mix thoroughly, cover, and let ferment for a day. On day two, add 3 ounces of flour and 3 ounces of water, and allow the starter to ferment at room temperature for another day. By this time, the starter should be active and is ready to be used.
Ford
How long are you going away for? Why on Earth do you feel the need to freeze your starter?
If I go on holiday for 2 or even 3 weeks, I simply give my starter a really good feed with plenty of four and water and pop it in the fridge. When I come back I just give it a couple of feeds and it's up and away in no time.
hydration and it sits in the fridge for 3 months as i bake out of it every week. No need to freeze or dry the starter if you are nit going to be gone more than 3 months, I use rye for the flour.
I was the bad mom who never encouraged my children to perform ambitious science fair experiments. I recall an egg dropping experiment with pretty photos, but no point at all. But this starter rejuvenation thing has motivated me to take a few weeks to try out these ideas - well before any vacations. Actually, there's a five-day trip next week for work/pleasure, so it seems like a good time to start. At this point, a few more jars in the fridge or plastic bags with dried starter will not freak out anyone. There's already the jar drawer (clean jars waiting for their turn in the starter rotation) and the counter where there is often a starter jar doing its pre-dough bubbly thing. And there's often more than one starter jar in the fridge when I get ambitious, plan ahead, and do a starter to fit a bread (such as the rye starter being planned for the weekend's rye/spelt bread bake). Give me up to three weeks. Sometime before Thanksgiving I will report back. (Translation for non-Americans: Thanksgiving - Four-day holiday with traffic, good food, and a crowded New York City. One would think everyone goes back to family farms, but no, they are all tourists walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and stopping to take photos so that actual people have to slow down. Also a holiday in which leftovers are the preferred meal for days afterward.)
Further translation, tourists are not actual people, but JERKS. :)
Johnny T's NYC Tourist Tips
Starter experiment: Trying different ways of putting starter into hibernation for two to three weeks and rejuvenating afterward. Will be updating. Starter samples already in sleep mode a la Sleeping Beauty, but with a method other than prince kissing to bring back to awake mode.
David, Love that video you posted. Add to it the Jon Stewart pizza-eating tutorial. We were screaming! How could anyone eat pizza with a fork? Should be watched before visiting any of the five boroughs. And shouldn't everyone instinctively know never to walk around any city with a map? Please, you should see the tourists in DC.