Tips on Maintaining a Healthy Starter (8)

Healthy Starter

Hello gentle readers. I hope you are all doing well! I have been busy visiting grand-kiddos and watching basketball, but am ready to spend some time with you guys today. First I want thank those of you who have subscribed. This post should "ping" you that there is something new to see! For those of you who have not subscribed and want to receive notifications, just scroll down on my home page and sign up!. Thanks for doing that. Now back to business.

I thought it made sense to spend some time on maintaining starters given that I have had some questions on “best practices” for maintaining your starter:

*Should I feed my starter every day?

*When may I leave my starter out on the counter and when should I refrigerate it?

*What exactly is the difference between starter and discard?

*How can I tell my starter is healthy?

*Is my starter still viable if there is a grey film or liquid on top?

*What if I see a pink or orange streak?

*What about when I go on vacation?

These are all great questions and I will address each one in this post.

1. Should I feed my starter every day? The answer is "it depends". Wow not very helpful right? I will explain. If you bake with your sourdough often, you may want to feed it regularly. It's important to feed your starter at least daily if you plan to leave it out on the counter. That point actually speaks to our question regarding leaving on the counter or in the fridge. (Side note: I'm snacking on one of my sourdough banana muffins as I type this. Just stuck it in the oven at 350F for a couple of minutes, yum!)

   If you don't plan to bake regularly, feeding your starter once a week is fine. Once you feed it, leave it on the counter for 4-6 hours and then place it back in the fridge. If you are planning to bake with discard later you can use it straight from the fridge. If you have recipe that calls for "active" starter, then you need to feed it and monitor until it's nice and bubbly, has "peaked" and not yet settled back down. I find it helpful to feed my starter anytime I use it for baking. I replace what I take out. So if you need 200g for your recipe; feed with 100g of lukewarm water and 100g of KA all purpose flour.

   
   

2. When may I leave my starter on the counter versus in the fridge? We spoke to this in the question above, but I will reiterate here. If you feed your starter daily, you may absolutely keep it on the counter. If you only feed once or twice a week then you should keep it in the fridge. I generally feed my starter after taking some out to use for baking. I leave it on the counter while "it eats"and after 4-6 hours I seal it up and place in the fridge. I think my starter stays healthier in the fridge if it is tightly sealed.

   
   

3. What exactly is the difference between "starter" and "discard"? Discard is the term we use when talking about starter that is not "ripe". This is the portion we take out to use for baking in a "discard" recipe or just to make room for a feeding. As I'm sure many of you know or have discovered, there is limited space in your starter container. To keep it healthy and well fed, you must remove some portion of the starter to make room for the "new food". However, there is nothing wrong with adding a feeding to a starter that has plenty of room (so no need to discard) and that's something I do when I know I need extra starter for a recipe like baguettes or my sourdough friend Sue's pancake recipe. (I will add that recipe to my recipe section so you can enjoy making those too!) So, in a nutshell, discard is just starter that you remove for baking or feeding.

   
   

4. How can I tell if my starter is healthy? The good news is that it's pretty easy to keep your established starter alive and well. If you are creating your starter from scratch as described in my 2nd post ("Let's Get Startered") it can be a little bit more challenging and you starter needs lots of attention until full established. If you began your starter with a mature starter from a friend then it's very difficult to "kill" your starter. A healthy starter, especially shortly after feeding, will have bubbles and visibly rise in your container. It will be a bit like marshmallow fluff or pancake batter. That's pretty easy to judge. What about if there is a liquid on top of your starter, especially grey or very dark grey. That's fine, that liquid is referred to as "hooch". It just means your starter should be fed. I typically pour off the hooch, but others suggest to just stir it back into your starter. Then feed it and you will see it come back to it's happy self. If you see any orange or pink streaks though, that does mean your starter is no longer viable and should be totally pitched/discarded. You should not use that starter for any baking. Just begin again. My experience is a starter that does go bad was left unfed on the counter for multiple days. As long as you feed it while at room temperature or store in the fridge when leaving it unfed for several days, you should not have issues. (Note: If you starter is healthy, but seems a bit "sluggish", you may want to feed with whole wheat flour instead of all purpose for one or two feedings. That may help "perk it up".)

   
   

5. What about maintaining your starter when on vacation? The good news is your established "happy" starter will do just fine if you have to be gone for a while. I have left my starter for 5 or 6 weeks without any issues. My best practice is to feed my starter several times in the week prior to leaving. I then make sure it's tightly capped in the fridge. Upon my return I deal with the "hooch", feed my starter over the course of the next few days and it's back to it's happy self very quickly. Remember the discard when re-establishing your starter should be trashed and not used for baking. I also have addressed revitalizing your starter after vacation in my blog post 5 in a bit more detail.

   
   

   Well that's it for this post gentle readers. Hope this has been helpful. If you have more questions, just ask in the comments section for this post and I will be happy to address. Take care and talk to you soon. Hope the pictures below illustrate some of the topics we reviewed.

   
   

   

   Sad starter ready to be fed!

   

   Pink/orange streak, must be discarded and start over.

   
   
   
   

   

   Ripe starter ready to be used in any recipe requiring "ripe" or "fed" starter