April 20, 2007 - 7:05am
Moving home stress?
I tend to keep my starters in the same jars for around 4 - 6 weeks or so (refreshingly weekly, and living in the fridge). I transplant them to nice clean, sterilised jars when things start to look a bit unhealthy - but I find that they take a little while to get over the shock of moving home and aren't as lively the first week or two. Has anyone else found this? Should I be using a clean jar every time I refresh?
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I dump my starters in a clean bowl to refresh and mix, and wash out the storage container every time. It has not seemed to dampen their activity any, and it probably helps as I've never gotten any kind of mold or nasty smelling things in either of them.
My starter lives in its bowl for a month or so, then gets a clean, right-out-of-the-dishwasher bowl. The bowl gets funky-looking, but there are good bugs hanging out in there, kinda like a bacteria party. I have never once seen anything that looked moldy or suspicious. When I won't be baking for a while, I make a hard little starter ball, sprinkle some loose flour on top of it in a jar, and stow it in the back of the fridge.
Susan
P.S. Just been thinking of how bad a starter must have been after being kept warm in the dead of winter in the armpit of a dirty, unbathed, untanned-animal-skin-wearing trapper. Or something like that.... Sheesh!
Yea but I'll bet the bread was some kinda SOUR
Eric
"The dog wags his tail, not for you but for your bread"
-I've had the same thought. I'm earthy, I'll admit, but I have recently been convinced to refrigerate the starter for its own good.
I make a stiff starter rather than batter so it must be kneaded. I keep it in a glass pint jar and it is clean from the dishwasher every single time. It not only has not harmed it - the thing is going strong. No sissy bottled water for me either! (heehee)