Are you crazy about Friendship Bread? Some people are. They use their starter every week but this may not work for you. You may love your starter and want to hold on to it for a long time, but you might only want to make bread once every couple weeks or even once a month. You could keep your starter at room temp and feed it every day, but this would be a big waste of flour. The better option would be to refrigerate it. Refrigerated, starters rate of fermentation will slow drastically, enabling you to feed it occasionally and not worry about it surviving. To do this, I recommend making a stiff starter, which will slow fermentation even more. To turn your starter into a stiff one, simply take 2 tablespoons of mature starter and add 2 parts flour to 1 part water. Put a lid on the container that the starter is in, and place it in the coldest part of your refrigerator. (The coldest part of the refrigerator is usually the area nearest the freezer compartment, but a refrigerator thermometer will provide an accurate check). In the fridge it can stay up to a month without being fed. I know it’s hard to believe and I wouldnt believe it either unless I had tried it myself. Some people advise you to feed it once a week if you keep it refrigerated. It’s very good advice but it can go longer if you need it to. You can even freeze your starter if you like but there’s not much of an advantage here over just putting it in the fridge.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 21:54:24 +0000