I always thought my sourdough starter was bulletproof until it completely died on me last Tuesday after I forgot it in my car during a 4-hour grocery trip.

I had to start over from scratch with a new rye flour base and now I'm wondering if anyone has a solid backup plan for when their starter goes sideways, maybe a dried flake method or something?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabeth2208d ago

Oh man, the car part got me. Four hours in a hot car (or even a cold one, honestly) is a death sentence. That's like a sourdough murder scene. My backup is stupid simple. I dry some starter on parchment paper, let it become a brittle sheet, then break it into flakes in a jar. It's basically starter jerky. I've brought it back from that state after a few months when my main one got weird. Just mix a flake with warm water and a little flour, and it wakes up in a day or two.

mark_smith598d ago

Doubt it's that big a deal, @elizabeth220. My starter's survived worse in the back of my fridge.

elizabeth_ramirez6d ago

Wait, your starter survived in the back of the fridge, but for how long, @mark_smith59? That dried-out backup is my safety net because I don't trust the fridge alone. Things get forgotten back there. The dried flakes are just sleeping, so bringing them back feels more sure. A fridge starter can slowly fade or pick up weird smells after a while. Wouldn't you rather have a backup that's basically indestructible?