March 28, 2008 - 8:11pm
Refreshing the starter
If I use my buttermilk sourdough once a week to make bread, and keep it in the fridge between bakings, am I right to assume that I only need to stir it down in the interim? It still looks quite lively, hasn't separated much at all, and is quite bubbly.
Personally, I am reluctant to use anything in sourdough other than water and flour. I am especially leery of having long term dairy ingredients as dairy can go bad. Still, if it works for you, OK.
If I have my starter in the fridge for a week, I feed it a few times before I use it to make sure that it is lively. If I don't, I get inconsistent results. A week is about at the border of where I'd feed it and not before use.
As to stirring down the starter, why bother? Just stir it before you use it. I find the less I mess with it in the fridge, the happier both my starter and I are.
Mike