A quick warning for people interested: do not make a sourdough starter unless you intend to bake bread at least once a week. A sourdough starter is basically a pet that eats flour every day. If you don’t bake bread regularly then you’re going to be wasting tons of flour feeding this thing that you don’t even use!
I made that mistake and wasted a ton of flour before finally giving up because I really didn’t have the time for it. It’s not just about using some starter to mix a dough and then letting it rise and then bake. You gotta do bulk rise, stretch and fold, proof, shape, and bake. The timing can vary specific to your starter, the temperature of the dough/room, the dough hydration, and more. This means monitoring the rise and proof to make sure you don’t under/over rise. It takes a lot of practice. It’s a legit hobby to learn how to bake really good bread.
I doubt it’s good for the yeast, but you can apparently (did a quick search).
I recently heard on the show QI, that there are sourdough hotels, where they feed the starter after your specifications. Did another search and found that it’s true, and there also exists a sourdough library/museum, where they feed it. That makes me think freezing is not the best option.
A quick warning for people interested: do not make a sourdough starter unless you intend to bake bread at least once a week. A sourdough starter is basically a pet that eats flour every day. If you don’t bake bread regularly then you’re going to be wasting tons of flour feeding this thing that you don’t even use!
I made that mistake and wasted a ton of flour before finally giving up because I really didn’t have the time for it. It’s not just about using some starter to mix a dough and then letting it rise and then bake. You gotta do bulk rise, stretch and fold, proof, shape, and bake. The timing can vary specific to your starter, the temperature of the dough/room, the dough hydration, and more. This means monitoring the rise and proof to make sure you don’t under/over rise. It takes a lot of practice. It’s a legit hobby to learn how to bake really good bread.
Can’t you freeze it?
I doubt it’s good for the yeast, but you can apparently (did a quick search).
I recently heard on the show QI, that there are sourdough hotels, where they feed the starter after your specifications. Did another search and found that it’s true, and there also exists a sourdough library/museum, where they feed it. That makes me think freezing is not the best option.
Maybe? But probably not indefinitely.