no wrote:
> "Mike Avery" > wrote:
>> How are you maintaining your revived starter? How do you store it? How,
>> and what, do you feed it? I suspect that is where the answers will lie...
>>
> Mostly following "starters.txt"
>
I hadn't read that document before. Sadly, I am not impressed. He
seems to think that sourdough comes from the air, a view that is no
longer commonly held. And he doesn't feed his starters often enough.

A feeding, followed by 24 hours of cultivating, and then into the
refrigerator isn't a good way to maintain a culture. It's too
infrequent to maintain a culture, much less rebuild one.

One of the recurring problems I've seen in the newsgroup and in
correspondence with hobbyist bakers is that there starters are on the
edge of death. Frequency of feeding is a big issue.

The starter paper you pointed to put a lot of emphasis on temperature.
I haven't found it to be very critical. Remember, historically speaking
effective temperature control is a relatively recent technology -
sourdough has been used since at least the time of the pharaohs. On
that scale, thermometers are recent introductions. And yet, sourdough
worked. Frequency of feeding is more critical.

I'll suggest switching to a more frequent feeding. A good cycle is to
feed the starter twice a day. To 2 parts of starter by weight, add 1
part of water and 1 of flour. By volume, feed it 2 parts of water and 3
parts flour and add enough to double the volume of the starter with each
feeding.

If your starter is sluggish, which you didn't comment upon, I'd suggest
feeding the starter 3 times a day, and feeding it enough to triple it's
size with each feeding. 1 part starter, 1 part water and 1 part flour
by weight is the easy way to measure the ingredients.

When you feed like that, you produce lots and lots of sourdough
starter. In a week or so, you get a swimming pool full of starter. So,
at some point you have to start discarding, or using, the starter on a
regular basis. The usual approach is to discard half, or two-thirds, of
the starter before each feeding to maintain a steady state.

Once the starter is healthy enough to double its size between feedings,
if you aren't going to use it regularly, that is, frequently, you should
feed it one more time and then refrigerate it. Some studies suggest
that a freshly fed starter will tolerate refrigeration better than one
that has had time to mature after feeding.

If your starter doesn't return to a better conditions in a few days, you
might want to start a new one from your collection of dried starters.

Best wishes,
Mike