Revitalizing Your Starter after Vacation! (5)

Hello again gentle reader! Wondering what to do if you left your starter in the back of your fridge for a couple of weeks or longer? Not to worry, whether you took a few weeks off for vacation or just from baking, your starter can easily be fed and ready to bake in just a few days.

1. By now you should be familiar with feeding your sourdough on the schedule that works best for you. If you've left your starter (Did you name your starter? I just refer to my starter as my "pet". 😊 ) unattended for more than week or two you will need to give it a bit more attention for a few days.

2. First, you will need to double check that there is not any pink streaks that could suggest mold has invaded your starter. If so, you can't save it and should just throw it out and begin again. I think that is a fairly rare situation if you have kept up with regular feedings (at least weekly) and kept your unfed starter tightly capped in the fridge between feedings or baking times.

3. You will likely see a dark "sludge" or commonly referred to as "hooch" on the top of your starter, that is absolutely normal and not cause for concern. I pour off the dark liquid and scrape off the gray portion of the starter and just pitch that in the trash. Then feed as you normally would with 1 part lukewarm water and 1 part all purpose flour. Store in a warm place on the counter and let it "re-charge". I feed it again either several hours later or in the morning. You should start to see some bubbling action. If you don't, not to worry, it may take another day or two, just feed it once or twice a day until you see it's back to it's normal bubbly self.

4. My starter is about 5 years old, so it was ready to use for baking in just 2 days. The vitality of your starter might be different, so don't be surprised if it takes a bit longer.

5. Once its back to it's old self, you can bake using the discard or your stand-by traditional sourdough loaf.

   
   

   

   Starter after 4 weeks in the fridge since last feeding.

   

   Feeding has begun!

   
   

   

   Fed and bundled up!

   
   

   

   Ready to use for baking!