Sourdough starter is ready. Don't laugh, but: do I put it in the fridge now?
Hi -
I feel like such a dummy! I see so much conflicting info online about sourdough starters so I'm just going to ask here, if you don't mind!
I won't tell you how many containers I have going - it's embarrassing - but I've felt like a mad scientist! My sourdough starter has all doubled in size so I'd call that done. It seems pretty active and has quite the zing when I taste it before feeding. I'm out of flour (ha - small wonder) and my wheat berries don't arrive for a couple of more days...so for now do I just give away some and put the rest in the fridge until I'm ready to bake?
If I don't bake for weeks and weeks (hypothetically), how often would I need to feed the yeast to keep it alive in the fridge? Loose lid still in the fridge, or in such a cold place can the lid go on tighter?
Do I have to feed the starter every time I'm about to use it in the recipe (the portion to be used), before using it? Or do we ever just add it straight into the recipe without feeding it first?
Thank you!
"I won't tell you how many containers I have going - it's embarrassing . . . I'm out of flour."
:)
". . . do I just give away some and put the rest in the fridge until I'm ready to bake?"
Exactly!!!
Or make pancakes.
So how much do you need to keep? One lousy tablespoon will do. Feed it with one tablespoon of flour and stick it in the fridge. It will be perfectly happy for a week. Each week double the amount of flour that is already in it. That means that the second week you will feed it two tablespoons, so it now has a quarter cup of flour in it. The third week give it a quarter cup. The fourth week you can add a half cup of flour, or you can simply go back to the beginning by saving a tablespoon of it and discarding the rest. The point I'm making is that every spoonful of your starter is thoroughly innoculated with yeast and bacteria, so you only need a tiny bit to perpetuate your culture.
When you are ready to use it, take it out of the fridge the day before and double the flour. When it reaches maximum volume, double it again. Continue doubling until you have as much as you need for baking. Save a tablespoon, feed it, and put it back in the fridge. The rest you use in your bread. Simple as that.
Oh, yes -- and leave the lid a little loose to let the gas out.
found out is that if you keep a lot of starter at room temperature and don't bake with it very often, it will eat you out of house and home, I build 100 g of rye starter over three 4 hour builds, at 100% hydration for 2 of the builds and if it doubles the 2md 4 hours I give it its last feeding to get it to 66% hydration, let it rise 25% and refrigerate it. I bake once a week, using 15 g of it each week, to make a levain for bread. After 4 weeks it is time to build it back up again to 10o g and refresh it. I call this the no muss, no fuss, no maintenance, no worries starter:-) Hard to get started sometimes but nearly impossible to kill when mature.
You don't want to do this with a new starter though let it age for month or so and settle onto its niche first.
Happy SD baking