December 27, 2020 - 4:44pm
Starter Like Glue
Hi Everyone....I don't bake that often, so store my starter in the fridge. This time it has been in there for over a month. Well, I took it out and fed it, and left it out overnight. It doubled and bubbled. After stirring it, it is very gooey and glue like, and not sure what to do now. It is very thick and it does not pass the float test for sure. Any suggestions on what to do? I have stored like this before and never had a problem when I took it out. TIA!
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Take a little out, add flour/water to get a wet dough like consistency, keep warm, stir a couple times a day till it returns to normal. Enjoy!
Your starter has probably over-fermented and degraded the gluten while in the fridge. If you continue to re-feed the starter it should flush out the degraded flour. If necessary you can increase the ratio of starter to flour to speed things up.
It is always good practice to make an extra starter when testing new methods. That way if things go wrong you still have your original as a backup.
So I fed it a little flour last night and a little water and stirred it good. Covered with paper towel and rubberband, put in the oven (NOT ON!) as it's pretty cool here in Sacramento, and hoped for the best, This morning she (her name is Thelma) is doing so much better and less gooey. I did the float test, and it's floating again! Yay! And, it smells good too. So, I think I am in business. Thanks ahead for all your comments and advice, since I am a newbie at all this, even tho I have baked many loaves in the last year. Happy New Year in this crazy world!
A general rule (very general) I have is 1 day of recovery for every week in the cold. Recovery being food if needed, warmth and agitation. You're right on schedule. Enjoy!