Hi all,
I have a 10 day old 100% rye starter and a white starter that's about 8 days old and i'm not sure how to tell if they are ready to go into the fridge. i made a fairly successful loaf with my white starter this weekend.
When i do refrigerate the starter, how much should i feed them first and how long after the feed should i put them in the fridge?
Last question, how often does the starter need to be fed once its in the fridge?
Thanks in advance!!
No Muss No Fuss Starter
And how you build a 3 stage 12 hour levain from a bit of it
I definitely like the idea of a starter that will last 16 weeks!
Hi
I use a stiff 67% whole rye starter all the time and mine lives in the fridge as outlined by DAB. I froze such a culture 15 months ago and this weekend, I thawed it out and fed it and it was away like the clappers. In fact, I have today made a test wholewheat loaf and all's fine. Rye cultures are just so resilient.
why you would freeze some of your starter? Was it just to have a back up? Have you ever tried drying some of your starter?
I find this easier than drying it. The starter I have is very active and gives good results with minimal attention - I would hate to lose it - hence a frozen specimen
Cleaned out a shelf to clean the shelf. There was about 10 g in size but it was dried up completely and weighed about 2 g. i was making another levain today so I fed this little bit too. It took right off and actually was more lively than the other one and doubled after the 2nd feeding in 3 hours. This little bit had to be a year old. I can't wait to see how sour the levain ends up. A stiff rye starter is really way, way more then the cat's meow:-)
My starter is going into the fridge today after one last feed. I was going to freeze the portion i remove. Now having read what you said, i think i'll freeze half and dry half of the "discarded" portion.
Keep us posted on how sour your levain turns out :)
I've been using my starter since the early '90's and recently changed it to the No Muss No Fuss method and it's even easier than my previous method of once a week feeding.
I'm still on the part about "the early 90s"!! Nicely done!! It must make incredible tasting bread! I hope I can keep mine going for that long.
Thanks for the comment, I reduced the hydration of my starter last night. I've started using a different (less expensive brand of flour) so i'm going to give it a few days to make sure my starter likes it and then it'll go in the fridge.