How can you keep sourdough lively?

freezing sourdough mother

A few weeks ago I had a large amount of lively, quickly rising sourdough mother, so I decided to cut several 50g balls,wrap them in cling film and freeze them. When I defrosted the first one, brought to room temperature, and fed it once, the new piece of mother dough did not rise. Should I assume that also the remaining balls are dead and throw them away, or should I try to re-start them?

: 2012-02-01 Add reply

my mother seems to flat and doesn't foam when flour added -after only a week in the fridge. She's already quite big so I don't want to add too much more flour and water. She's been out for nearly 24 hours and not much activity evident. What should I do?

kazzieb: 2011-12-19 Add reply

managing your starter

I have been making hand made sourdough bread for quite a while. My inspiration is an excellent book called ‘The Handmade Loaf’ by Dan Lepard; he describes the process of making a sourdough starter and maintaining it in an easy step-by-step way. It’s well worth getting your hands on a copy if you can. Why not plan your bread making days well ahead and get your starter out of the fridge two or three days before hand. Avoid using the fridge if at all possible by adding flour late at night or early morning until you get a fully active starter over a 4 to 5 hour period. This works for me most of the time.

cadsa: 2011-08-30 Add reply

Liven it up

I normally keep my sour dough in the fridge. I take it out a couple of days before I want to use it, give it a good whisk and add a cup of warm water and cup of flour. I do this for several days, (either using a cup of starter making other bread or chucking it away) and then it's really frisky, bubbles galore and ready to go.

: 2010-06-28 Add reply