Do you keep your starter in the fridge?

Do you keep your starter in the fridge?

by Azélia on 14/01/2013

in Bread Techniques,Flour,Sourdough Recipes,Uncategorized

If you keep your starter in the fridge you can be of help with the starter taste test experiment I’m carrying out as I type for my sourdough book.  I’ve started to feed 6 different starters, a mix between using different flours and different hydrations, and one of them I’m keeping in the fridge.  I would like to know if you keep your starter in the fridge what routine do you have?

How often do you feed the ‘mother’ starter?

When you’re preparing to bake what do you do?

How many feeds before you use it in the recipe?

Do you bring it out of the fridge and leave at room temperature?

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My fridge starter above after being duly neglected in the fridge since August (6 months), no feeds at all. This was to see how many feeds it would take before it was lively ripe and ready to use.

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These different fed starters will be ready to use at the end of the month, at which point I shall make loaves and send them to two tasting experts for feedback.  Very excited.

 

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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

Stephen harrington January 17, 2013 at 5:59 pm

I feed mine about once a week-using half the original starter each time-
Bring it to room temperature and utilise with relevant flours for my bread-
At least two-

John Sharp January 17, 2013 at 8:24 pm

I bring mine out of the fridge Thursday night, leave 2 hours to warm up, feed, feed again Friday night, increasing quantity but maintaining ratio, bake Saturday afternoon or, if Sunday baking, feed again Saturday night, discarding half or splitting and feeding both halves if making a lot of bread.

Neil January 17, 2013 at 9:41 pm

only 25gms in fridge but bake x1 weekly.Day before baking refresh with 50gm flour and 50 grm water,no need to return to room temp. Next day take 50 grm starter and add 100gm flour and 100gm water.Leave for 3-4 hrs then use with 1kilo flour

Simon January 17, 2013 at 10:38 pm

bake sourdough every two weeks, on Fridays. take wheat starter out of fridge on Wednesday morning, refresh with 100gm white flour, 100 water @ ar
ound 40c in the evening. Thursday am, take around 200gm starter to put back fridge, then add 100 gm flour, 100 gm water to starter. make dough Thursday evening, stretch & fold 3 or four times over four hours, then shape loaves and pop in fridge for overnight prove for bake in the morning. works really well..

Jane @ The Wayward Oven January 18, 2013 at 4:18 am

I take my mother starter out of the fridge (usually every seven to ten days), remove all but 50g of it and feed it with 80g water and 100g atta (chapati) flour. I leave it out until it bubbles (usually the whole day), then put it back in the fridge until the next feeding.
To use in breads, I refresh the mother starter (the “discard”) with white bread flour, and leave it out until bubbly before baking.

Sandra January 18, 2013 at 6:46 am

I feed the “mother” starter every week, when I bake.

Levain dough starter (from wheat): I always have 350 grams in the fridge. When I bake I feed it with 210 grams flour+140 grams water. I leave it for 8 hours, until it has doubled in size. Now I make the bread dough. Before I add the salt I remove 350 grams of dough for next week into the fridge.

Rye/wheat sourdough starter: I always have 100 grams in the fridge. When I bake I feed it with 360 g flour + 220 grams water (wheat – perhaps a few more spoons of flour). I leave it for 8 hours, until it has become fluffy and nice like choclate mousse. And now I remove 100 grams into a jar, and place it in the fridge. I use the rest of the sourdough starter to make my bread.

And yes, I leave both types of starters at room temperature for a couple of hours. Both the levain dough starter, and the rye sourdough. They tend to rise better if you let them get to room temperature before you feed them.

Emily January 18, 2013 at 10:10 am

Gosh, I’m going to be the chaotic one again…I used to keep it in the fridge, without refreshing it while it’s being stored. Now I keep it out and refresh it maybe once a week if I’m not using it regularly. I’ll refresh once or twice if I’m going to use it…sometimes I find if it has been a while that it takes at least 18 hours for it to start growing again. And I do realise that what I’m getting if I don’t refresh it every 12 hours is probably more lactobacillus than yeast, such that my dough will probably rise more slowly, but it does taste good…

Oh, and I haven’t been measuring flour and water for a while now, though I do aim for a starter that’s not too wet.

Carol January 18, 2013 at 12:56 pm

I’ve had a hiatus in my baking and the starter has been in the fridge for three weeks without refreshment again! I like to bake once a week usually. My grandchildren prefer bread made with yeast at the moment – two of them don’t have a full complement of teeth right now and find sourdough too chewy. I’ve been baking for them recently.

Last time I took 25grams and added 25 of flour and of water. After eight hours, I refreshed 50grams with equal amounts of flour and water. Next day, it seemed to be very active and I took 50 grams, added the same weight of flour and water and this became my fridge starter. Another 50grams was refreshed and then used to make the levain later that day.

I am intrigued by the idea of keeping the levain dough in the fridge and will try this as well. I think I’ll still keep a starter – I like the security and it’s matured into a nicely sour taste since I first made it.

Daniel January 18, 2013 at 6:07 pm

I bake 2 or 3 times a week so I only feed before I bake. The night before I remove the starter from the fridge and immediately add flour + warm water. In the morning I remove a small amount to put back in the fridge and start mixing!

Elaine January 19, 2013 at 1:38 am

I bake once a week with a rye starter, 100% hydration.
In summer it takes less than 3 hours to mature; in very humid hot weather i.e. in excess of 35C the starter is so active I leave in the humidity controlled wine fridge set at 14C to try and slow it down; in winter 6-12 hours to mature.

Gaye January 19, 2013 at 9:56 am

What a great experiment. Researching all the different feeding routines lots of unanswered questions spring to mind. I don’t like particularly sour/chewy bread so I keep my white wheat starter and rye starter in the fridge. Before baking I keep at room temperature and feed 3 times x 12 hourly intervals. I triple the volume each time so 50g storage starter + 50g flour + 50g warm water. I know the rye starters are often kept at higher hydration but I find the maths easier (100%) when converting recipes. Have often wondered if a storage starter that has just recently been fed and then popped in the fridge can be used straight from fridge half a day later. Please let me know if you would like any help with experiments.

w January 19, 2013 at 9:28 pm

Hi Azelia,
good to hear you’re going strong with your book.
I’m one of those who keep my starter in the fridge since i only bake once a week.
– I take it out of the fridge to ‘thaw’ for at least one hr, but in winter (15/16 degrees celsius temp), can be 2-3 hrs. Incidentally I’ve always wondered how much of a diff it really makes if i didn’t bother thawing and just dumped flour and water in from the start.
– i generally use only a part of it, but that’s just so as not to end up with too much leaven.
– I generally use a 100% hydration ratio but occasionally 125% or 50%.
– i take it through two feeds. I notice that for the first feed, it can be sluggish and it can seem like nothing is happening, but sure enough towards the end it comes round. Currently, in winter, that’s 6-8 hrs, but once I feed it, I place it next to the radiator. By the second feed, it behaves normally.

You didn’t ask but just in case it helps, I use a mix of flours depending on what i have. I know, my poor leaven…It loves (and so do I) whole flours, rye flours, stone-ground coarser ones. I sometimes catch it at its most fragrant, something elusive, wheaty flowery, wonderful, but since the feeding is not clockwork regular and I use different flours, I don’t aim to pin it down and replicate that. Not yet at least. Meanwhile I just go with the flow :)

I noticed sth interesting. last week, for once, I fed it at a 50% hydration ratio and boy was it happy. Otherwise, erratic feeding notwithstanding, it has been a good little fella. A few near-death encounters, yes, that scary greyish foamy liquid on top when I go on vacation, it’s travelled with me to three countries, and still robust :)

Julia January 22, 2013 at 9:52 am

Hi Azelia – well I seem to be the truly random one here…. I keep mine in the fridge as I live in Adelaide South Australia and it gets to 45C in Summer…..I only feed when I’m about to bake – anywhere from 1x week to 1x in 3 weeks depending on how my willpower against the carbs is going!! I don’t measure, I don’t pre-warm – I’m brutal! I take out what I need for the bake (usually about 100g) then to the remaining starter left in the jar I add about the same amount of water, put the lid on, shake it all about, tip out to about half full then add enough flour to make a thick pancake consistency, then back in the frigde. If its been a while between bakes – longest was about 5 weeks – I’ll do the fill, shake, tip, flour routine the day before. For the ‘baking’ feed I add water/flour to the starter straight from the fridge. Aren’t we all so different??!! As always dear Azelia fascinating stuff, can’t WAIT for the book – love ya work. XXX

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