Sourdough Discussion Thread

[CrownofThorns]

My sourdough starter has been sitting in the fridge all winter and I haven't touched it. Can I still revive it, and how do I do that?

ETA much later: I changed the name since I'm sure I'll have many more questions in the upcoming weeks.

 

[ORChick]

This might work, but then again, it might not. Still, worth the try.

Mix up a cup of all purpose flour with enough water to make a batter; stir your old sourdough, and mix one tablespoon* of sourdough into the new batter; cover loosely, and leave at room temperature. 12-24 hours later you might see some bubbling; at that point add some more flour, 1/2 cup or so, and water, and leave it again. If it becomes active you can then treat it as you normally would. If it doesn't, you'll need to make/beg/buy a new one.

*It is tempting to mix in more of the old sourdough, but I have read that less is better. 1 Tbls. will innoculate the new batter with the proper yeasts etc. if they are there, and a larger percentage of new flour gives them more to feed on.

 

[FarmerDenise]

What Orchick says sounds good to me. I have managed to recoup sourdough a few times. but I never left it quite that long.

 

[CrownofThorns]

I'll give it a try, thank you!

 

[CrownofThorns]

Update and two new questions:

First of all it worked beautifully, and it tastes a million times better now too! It has a great aroma when I smell it, and the sourdough hotcakes I made from it were scrumptious!

I have been using my sourdough enough to keep it out without putting in back in the fridge, but yesterday I was SO busy that I didn't get to stir it or feed it. This afternoon when I went to feed it it had mold growing on the top, only it looks more like flower of kefir then mold. I read online that I should scrape off the mold and follow the same procedure as was recommended in the above replies.
Since it looks more like flower of kefir then actual mold, I was wondering if anyone knows if it is like flower of kefir, which is not a problem? Or is it really something I need to get rid of?

Second question: Can I take only a really small amount of starter, about 1 T and add it to about 4 C of "food" and it be ready for flapjacks in the morning? I want to make sourdough flapjacks in the morning, and my mom is gluten intolerant so I was thinking about taking a really small amount of my wheat starter and putting it into the spelt "food" I would need for flapjacks in the morning.
My mom can handle sourdough wheat ok, but I don't want to risk her having a reaction when her adrenals are SO low right now.

 

[ORChick]

I'm not sure what you mean by *flower of kefir*, but what you might do, if you think that what you have is really OK, is to scrape off what is on top of your sourdough, and divide the rest in half. Add the scraped off bit back in to one half, and treat both of them as you normally do your sourdough. This is by way of an experiment to find out what you can do in future if it happens again. If the one turns out to be bad then you still have the other to work with; if they are both good then just combine them again.
I'm not sure if 1 Tbls would be enough for overnight, but you could always give it a try. If you have more time you could add that 1 Tbls to some spelt, not too much, and then work it up to a separate spelt sourdough culture over several days. That's what I did to get a rye culture going; I keep the two separate now, and they are both quite lively. The rye culture has only miniscule amounts of wheat iin it at this point.