@gretabakes
keeping a starter alive with a day job
9 items
- 011:1:1 by weight (50g flour, 50g water, 50g starter)↗
- 02on the counter: feed once a day, but only if you're baking that week
- 03in the fridge: once a week is plenty
- ··6 more entries
17801
🍞reviving a starter you left for weeks
the exact steps, in order, even though i skipped two of them the first time and paid for it
01
Smell it before anything else
02
Scrape off the hooch layer
don't stir it back in like i used to, just peel it off
03
Discard down to 50g
(feed it first) i mean it, resist feeding the whole jar of dying starter
04
Feed 1:1:1, flour water starter, at room temp
05
Move it somewhere warm, 75-78F if you have it
06
Feed every 12 hours, not once a day
twice a day is what actually pulled mine back the first time
07
Watch for doubling within 6-8 hours
not just any bubble, actual doubling
08
Give it three to four days before declaring it dead
day two looked hopeless. day three it was back like nothing happened
09
Do a float test only once it's rising on schedule
did this way too early for years. means nothing on a weak starter
10
Clean the jar between feeds
11
Switch to unbleached flour if you'd been using bleached
12
Crumb shot or it didn't happen, bake a test loaf
baked mine on day five, crumb was uneven but it rose
13
If it still smells like nail polish after a week, start over
sunk cost is real but a truly dead starter won't save you another week of flour
14
Name it again if you gave up on the old name
Or start a list of your own. Free, it takes a minute.