Sourdough Starter Article

[BakerAunt]

A friend sent me this article on sourdough:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/10/28/499363379/discovering-the-science-secrets-of-sourdough-you-can-help

I recall reading this summer, in Samuel Fromartz's In Search of the Perfect Loaf,that there is no particular reason to keep a sourdough around for a long time as the new ones perform and taste the same as old ones. However, I still have the one that I started over 20 years ago and brought with me when I moved from California to Texas, and it will move with me to Indiana next year. Mine is milk and flour based and soupier than most. It seems to do ok without a regular feeding schedule.

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[Italiancook]

When I married, my mother sent me a newspaper article with a recipe for sourdough starter. I didn't think I could depend on myself to feed it on schedule, so I tossed out the article. I find it interesting, BakerAunt, that your sourdough does ok without scheduled feedings.

[Mike Nolan]

I know a lot of sourdough fanatics who would dispute that a new starter tastes 'just like' an old one.

Chad Robertson (Tartine Bakery) talks about 'mature' versus 'young' starters, and the methods he describes in his book produce a starter that is always 'young'.

There are also 'cold storage' starters and 'warm storage' starters, and the cold ones are more sour than the warm ones, because cold encourages a different type of bacteria than warm.

IMHO a reasonably well-established starter is a pretty hardy beast, folks have left one sitting in the back of the fridge for months and it bounced right back.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: My recipe came from Sunset Magazine, back in early 1990s. My starter lives in the refrigerator in one of those glass jars with the rubber ring and the metal clasp. I let it come to room temperature before using and feeding it. I use mine mostly in sourdough crackers and breads.

[Joan Simpson]

My starter is 5 years old,got the recipe from KAF and keep it refrigerated.I don't do regular feedings either,when I'm wanting to bake bread I take it out stir it up sometimes I throw some away sometime I don't .After about 3 or 4 feedings it's up to par and makes really good sourdough.I really like the flavor and like to make it half white and half wheat.

[BakerAunt]

I've never made a sourdough bread without some yeast. My schedule does not allow me to sit around and wait for long rises. That would be a project for when I am retired. I do use less yeast in breads that include my starter, and some of those recipes require an initial sponge that sits for 8 hours or so. My favorite bread recipe is the Marilyn's Sourdough Oatmeal Bread from an older Baking Sheet issue. (It's also excellent with 5-grain cereal substituted for the oats.) My husband does not like my white sourdough loaf, so I only bake it if other people are around to help me eat it.

I can't prove that my sourdough has a more complex taste than when I started baking with it, but I certainly think that it does. It must be about 25 years old. I've given starter to anyone who asks for it, but I'm pretty sure that most of those people eventually tossed it. I'd like to think that my starter would live on with someone after I'm gone, but I think that unlikely.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by BakerAunt.

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