December 9, 2007 - 9:27pm
sourdough
I have read here many times that there is no such thing as a silly question, but this may be it. Suppose my starter was refreshed a couple of days ago and refrigerated, then placed on the counter to warm up, and then used in an overnight ferment, why wouldn't that act as a big fat feeding? This is a pretty active starter but I only decided to bake at the last minute. I would be glad to hear any opinions as I have been mithering about it for several days. My grandaughters stayed the night and inhaled vast quantities of sourdough pancakes this morning, so at least I know how to use the surplus starter. I'm thinking of putting a notice on the community board "Free Sourdough Starter"! A.
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I think that would work fine.
I used to always pull my starter out and feed it the day before I want to bake. Now I only do that when it has been in the fridge for more than a week and it starting to look tired and gray. More often than not I take a scoop of starter straight out of the fridge, mix it with warm tap water, and then stir it into my dry ingredients. This technique has worked fine for me (it may be a little bit slower, but I tend to do overnight fermentations anyway).
AnnieT. If my back starts to relax and stop hurting, I may just get up and get another batch of bread going. I was thinking today, after taking my very first sourdough out of the oven, that starting a new batch the evening after I bake one, might just be a good schedule to be on.
That's pretty much exactly how I use my starter 85% of the time, kinda like how floyd said. Even if the starter is cold, chances are everything else in the dough is more or less room temp or warmer, so it usually gets going without too much of a delay. I usually re-feed whatever is left in my jar after taking what I needed and letting it go for a little bit before i put it back in the fridge.
-Cyrus