First, I am very new to baking, especially bread. I am reading and trying a number of things in order to learn. Perhaps this is just another one of those stupid questions, but I would really appreciate an answer. Regarding refrigerating starter. On the one hand, KAF tells us that if we feed the little sucker once a week and keep it in the refer, then it will be fine. KAF also sells the book "BREAD" by Jeffrey Hamelman who according to the book is the "Director of the bakery and baking education Center of King Arthur Flour. On page 355 of "BREAD" under the notes on Sourdough, "To maintain the viability of the culture, it is necessary to insure that the temperature of the refrigeration chamber stays between 8 degrees and 10 degrees C [or 46.4 to 50 degrees F] whenever the chef [mature culture] mature culture is retarded for periods of 48 hours or more. At lower temperatures, part of the flora of the culture may be destroyed, and consequently the taste of bread produced from this culture may be spoiled." ....."Below 8 degrees C it is usual for wild yeasts in the culture to be destroyed, while the acetic acid bacteria will continue to thrive." This would be a permanent destruction of a major element in the sourdough taste. It is my understanding that 40 degrees F is the absolute top of the 'safe zone' for refrigerators. Does this mean that our home sourdough breads are 'unworthy' {to use a nice name]? I really do not want to have a special frige for my starter and another for the rest of my food, nor do I want to waste my time on home baked sourdough if it will always be 'unworthy.' One the other hand, I love sourdough breads and would hope to enjoy their flavors for the rest of my life. While writing this, I am nibbling a slice of my first sourdough bread made from a KA starter package. I would certainly appreciate some enlightenment on this issue. Thank you in advance. Homer Homer, NO question is a stupid question - it's all part of the learning process, and learning is always a good thing. Think of bread-baking like, oh, playing golf. You can go out on a Saturday afternoon and have a whale of a good time whacking the ball around with your friends and having a barbecue afterwards. At the other extreme? Tiger Woods. Ultra-serious, precise, striving for the ultimate perfect game of golf. Now, Tiger Woods wouldn't consider the way I play golf (oh, about a 29 handicap) good, or probably even acceptable. Yet I have fun. Now let's take sourdough. Jeffrey is the Tiger Woods of sourdough. Precise, serious, producing the ultimate results. So, you can try to emulate what he says, and probably make a great loaf of bread, with rich flavor and superb texture. If you practice a lot. And give yourself time. Or you can do what most of us do - give it a good, reasonable effort, and enjoy sourdough bread that will range from OK to superb to "WOW, wonder what I did right THIS time?!" Bread-baking is as much art as science. And you have to be willing to just wing it sometimes - just step off the metaphorical cliff, and see where you land. No loaf is ever a failure - someone, somewhere (even if it's the birds) will like it. And each loaf is a learning experience. My opinion is, short of killing the yeast with boiling water, there's no "right" or "wrong" with yeast baking. There are corners you can cut that don't matter, and others you cut that matter just a little bit and you cut the corners anyway. There are limits you can push hard, and those you can't push much (e.g., at a certain point, too much sugar or too much salt will slow down yeast's rising to an unacceptable level). But at the end of the day, bread baking is as much about the journey as the destination. If you expect to exert total control over your bread dough, best to find another hobby. Yeast is a living thing, and like all living things can be capricious at times. Don't be discouraged; learn as you go; and very soon you'll be baking a tasty loaf of sourdough consistently. In fact - sounds like you've already baked your first tasty loaf! Hope this helps - good luck, Homer. PJH

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