Hi all
It's been a long time since I've been sourdough baking and now we are in isolation, I think it's time to get back on the baking, at least so I have some bread to eat.
I got my two starters out of the fridge. Sadly one is dead. :( smelt of sick and had loads of green mould all round the top.
The other looks fine and after 3 days of feeding, now has a good set of tiny bubbles through out it and I assume is going well as I found the lid I put on it across the room this morning.
Thing is:
How do I know when it is ready to use?
There are loads of tiny bubbles in it rather than big ones.
It doesn't smell to yeasty..
Should I feed for a few more days?
Is the starter behaving the way it did when it was being fed on a regular basis before refrigeration? I routinely put my starter in the fridge when I am not going to bake for a while (maybe a week, maybe three weeks), and when I bring it out I feed it a couple of times a day until it returns to its old pattern. When that occurs, it is ready.
Happy baking (and stay healthy).
Ted
"This is my white bread flour starter which I had left in the refrigerator at 37°F for 30 days with no feeding or anything else. I stirred it, removed 75g to a clean container and sterilized my primary container which is 32oz by volume. To the sterilized container I added 75g old starter, 75g purified water and 100g white bread flour. This doubled in about 8 hours and I left it on the kitchen counter for a full 24 hours. At that time I fed it another 75g white bread flour and 100g purified water. The volume subsequently tripled (peaked) in about 3 hours and I used 330g to make sourdough bread. Best wishes. Dave"
(I used the oven-with-light-on as an incubator)