February 14, 2010 - 6:48am
sadness....is my mother starter dead? help!
uh oh....
not sure if i killed it. i have a stiff wild seed starter from Peter Reinhardts artisan breads everyday recipe. Seemed to be doing fine. even made a few great loaves. First time i refreshed it after being in the fridge- everything was great- doubled nicely....and i thought it might not because i went about 10 days in the fridge. Second time refreshing it last night....almost no rise. not sure what to do now....start over? used it this to make a bread starter earlier in the week and that doubled fine. But last night when i went to mix the dough with the starter, it has not risen much if at all.... Does that mean it died this week? Can it be revived?
thanks for all your help in advance...i'm rather new to this.
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I doubt the yeast are dead, unless you exposed it to extremes of temperature. I only killed my started once, by leaving it at room temperature without food or water for a week. (I knew it was well and truly dead because of its orangey colour and disgusting smell.)
Keep it out of the fridge, feeding and watering it daily as though you were working with a new starter. I bet it bounces back.
It probably has not yet awakened from its sleep. Take one part of starter and add an equal weight of flour plus an equal weight of water; mix well, and let stand at room temperature for eight hours. Repeat: present weight of starter, plus equal weight of flour. plus equal weight of water. Mix well and let stand for eight to 12 hours. It should now be happily bubbling away.
If you do not have a scale, consider that one cup of non-bubly starter weighs 9 ounces. A cup of sifted (fluffed) flour weighs 4 1/4 ounces. A cup of water weighs 8 ounces.
Ford
Thanks for your help! i'm very pleased to say it's back and bubbling! Wouldn't have known what to do without your advice! I must say....baking is teaching me critical lesson in patience.
As Mike Avery (http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.html) has said "Bread baking takes patience and sourdough baking takes patience squared!" (I hope that is a verbatum quote.)
Ford