I managed to get starter going using your method. I've started starters several different ways over the years and I've had success with several different methods, some complicated, some simple.
I ran into a problem this time, and I hoped to run it by you. I recently moved into an apartment with a roach problem, so all of the food is either kept in the refrigerator, or freezer (we don't have many airtight containers around yet). I had small bits of flour in some sealable plastic bags (the rye and AP) to get things started and after a day, I was already seeing bubbles. Things went well for the first three days. On the fourth day, I fed the starter with flour from the freezer. The activity of the starter was stopped dead in its tracks. I made sure to compensate for the cold flour by using warmer water (I usually used water at about 85).
So, does freezing flour make it a poor substrate for feeding? I thought the existing yeast was using the flour as fuel, so I assumed the freezer-kept flour would be a fine way to go. Was it using the warm water that did this? Any other ideas?
Thanks!
November 14, 2013 at 5:13pm