April 18, 2015 - 4:05am
After refreshing, when should it be back to fridge?
Greetings
After years of failed attempts, I've finally managed to make an active and working starter. Thanks for this wonderful forum and your generous help all the way.
Now I have a question: when should the starter be put in the fridge:
- is it right after feeding it?
- or should I wait until its ripe again and triples in volume?
- or is it after it starts to collapse?
My starter triples in 5-6 hours. Its a stiff starter, 50-60% hydration.
I bake every 3-4 days, and sometimes once a week.
Is this governed by the time of the next bake? or is it a fixed rule?
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I put mine in when it almost doubled.
Mine is a 80% hydration starter.
I used a 50% hydration starter but the kneading was not so good when my arthritis in my hands flares up.
80% hydration gives me exact the same sourness that the 50% hydration starter did so all is good.
Right now I have mine on the counter as I have some bread requests and need it daily.
Because everyone will have different ideas.
About 1/3rd fed, or risen, then refrigerate.
This way the yeasts are active and have plenty of reserves to munch on while in the fridge.
you can put it n when it doubles. If once a week I would put it in at 75%. Since I keep my stiff rye starter in the fridge for up to 16 weeks or more I do a 3 stage progressively larger feeding of 4 hours for the first 2 stages and then when the volume has risen 25% after the 3rd feeding - that is when it goes into the fridge.
Thanks for that info. It confirms my assumption that it depends on how often I bake.
I don't put my starters in the fridge unless room temperature gets really hot and they get hyper-active. That's because I prefer a milder sourdough and fridges promote the more acidic lactobacilli. I've also found that once my starters are stable, I just need to feed them once about twelve hours before making the (daily) levain - so that might not be relevant for you. That said, I have several sourdoughs on the go, and they sometimes have to wait three days before being used again. The longest I've left a starter unfed is eight days. It came back to life quickly and easily. The same applies to frozen starters.
I think all my blather is a long-winded way of saying a stable starter is very resilient and you could probably experiment at will until you've got a system that works for you.
I was thinking the same way that you mentioned, specially when I looked at my starter, which is 20 days old and never went into the fridge yet. It looks fabulous and its vigorous and rise x3 or x4 times in 5-6 hours. Here is a picture of my 300g starter, exploding and filling a 1.5 liter jar.
I currently feed it every 12 hours, but in the last 2 feed I increased its quantity by not discarding the usual, to start using it.
I was thinking of a way to keep it out of the fridge and at the same time discrd nothing of it. For example, if my recipe calls for a 260g starter, I can start with 10g of starter, feed it with 10g flour and 10g water, then it would become 30g. 12h later it would become 90g, and 12h later it would become 270g. I can then set 10g aside, to build up a starter for the next bake, and use the rest in my recipe. This way I can keep it in room temp with no need to refrigerate. What do you think of that idea?
I also have another question. H'm thinking of a way to feed it once a day instad of twice, by feeding it 1:2:2 instead of 1:1:1 to provide it with ebough food for th next 24h. But I've read that increasing the ratio could allow undesired bacteria to invade the starter, because in that case the little critters, the number cells of the good bacteria wouldn't be enough to defend the starter against bad bacteria. Is that true?
(of course there is always the possibility of forgetting to set aside the 10g for the starter, but I can dry some, powder it and freeze it just in case I forgot, or in case of any accidents, and I can also keep a piece as an emergency starter in the fridge)
I think at the end of the day it all comes down to your baking needs. Keeping out of the fridge will require more feeding and if you aren't baking often then you'll be building, discarding and wasting too much. If you bake only once a week, like me, then refrigerating is a necessity.
I was editing my reply above while you wrote your post. I was saying that perhaps if I start with a tiny starter then build it over a period of 2-3 days, I end up with the quantity I need for the next bake, while at the same time feeding my starter regularly, without having to discard anything. What do you think of that approach? I think Dabrownman uses a similar method, but he keeps his mother starter in the fridge. Perhas I should try that too, to see if it results in too much sour. My family don't like the sour taste if its obvious.
Your idea is a good one. If you are finding it difficult to keep at room temperature with the amount you bake and have to feed to keep it healthy then even if you store in the fridge taking a little out and building over a few days will bring it back to a more mellow starter.
So one idea may be to keep mother in the fridge, take a little off and build that up over a few days.
Or you could keep it at room temperature and build up over a few days but build enough so you have a little left over which you then start building up again. So as an example you might need 260g for a bake. Build 270g which will leave you with 10g left. With this 10g you start building up again.
Day one: 10+10+10
Day two: 30+30+30
Day three: 90+90+90
= 270g
Bake with 260g.
And start building again. No discard.
Just an idea!
I think whittling down your starter to a mere 10g doesn't sound like a good idea. Perhaps the fridge idea is better. You'll still get a more mellow flavour with the few builds you do at room temperature. In the fridge it will be dominantly bacterial but after you have fed it a few times at room temperature it'll be dominantly yeast. You'll have to come to decision depending on how much you bake, how much you use, how much time you have to spend feeding it, how to minimise or do away with discarding etc.
Your starter looks like a firm starter, that is how my 50% hydration starter would look like and I feed 100g starter with 100g flour and 50g water.
I now use a 80% hydration starter and at the moment I keep it out of the fridge as I need to bake a few breads to freeze and some for neighbours and friends.
I usually put it in the fridge when it did almost double and use it straight from the fridge but after a 3 day period in the fridge without using I give it a good feed before using.
With stiff starters it is easier and they are much easier to maintain.