Werner Gansz said:
>Building a new fully usable starter from scratch takes about 4 or 5
>days using wheat flour and about 3 or 4 days using rye flour. Since
>Ed's starter revival technique involves adding new flour, and it
>takes several refreshments to get the revived starter going, it is
>far more likely that the revived starter is actually a new sourdough.
That's something which had never occurred to me. Why not? It makes
such good sense!
I take my 'starter' from the fridge three days before I want to make
bread and once the full amount of dough is made I leave it overnight.
It would take the same length of time if I began with flour and water
three days before I wanted to make bread AND give me a bit of shelf
space in the fridge.
Thanks, Werner :-)
...
>If you consider your nearly-dead starter to be just a piece of
>spoiled food rather than a family heirloom,
I've never thought about mine like that but I know some do.
>... Once you start over you will likely find that for occasional
>sourdough baking, starting over each time makes better bread and you
>don't throw anything away.
Throwing anything away is anathema to me so I never do it with 'starter'.
>I can't remember where I read these guidelines but they make sense to me:
>
>If you don't bake often you are not likely to keep refreshing your starter.
Now that there are only two of us with small appetites, rather than
seven with enormous appetites, I only make bread about every two
weeks - unless the ravenous hordes are expected :-
Mary