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Cold is not aunt - is it worth keeping sourdough in the refrigerator?

If you have a leaven, then you must be prepared for the fact that it will have to be fed with a certain regularity, maintained in working order in order to bake delicious bread on it. I usually keep my sourdoughs at room temperature and feed them once or twice a day, but I just recently sent my rye to the refrigerator, because I have not used or baked on it for a long time: there is wheat sourdough for wheat bread, and rye is an infrequent guest ... So I removed it and now I think what to do with it, keep it cold or put it all on pancakes and then, when necessary, start a new one?

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

The question, in fact, is this. It is reliably known that already at a temperature of 10 degrees the microflora of the starter culture begins to suffer greatly: the activity of lactic acid bacteria decreases, and in general a large number of bacteria simply simply die in the cold. Taking out such a leaven from the refrigerator and feeding it, we restore its flora and capabilities to a certain extent, but all the same, its lifting force becomes worse, and the baked bread is not so scented.

Nevertheless, sometimes you have to hide the leaven in the refrigerator, because no one canceled vacations and business trips, rush at work and an elementary lack of time and opportunity to monitor the leaven and bake bread for a week. Therefore, sometimes a refrigerator is a necessary measure, so to speak, the lesser of two evils. Frankly, I have repeatedly resorted to this choice and hid the sourdough in the refrigerator so as not to drag it with me on a visit for a week, so as not to feed and not waste time. Then she took out, fed, baked and the result was not always and not immediately pleasing. There are secrets and subtleties in how to properly hide the leaven in the refrigerator, how much to store and then return to life.

A holy place is never empty, and we already know that lactic acid bacteria and yeast, if not ensure their prosperous existence, are replaced by "bad" bacteria - putrid, slimy and other nasty things. The sourdough deteriorates, mold starts and, most importantly, it stops raising the dough. Therefore, immediately after feeding, you cannot hide the leaven in the refrigerator, you need to let it begin to ferment in order to accumulate a little acid and yeast. If you put it on a refrigerator shelf right away, its flora will remain vulnerable and staying in the cold for several days or even a week will adversely affect its capabilities. Lack of lactic acid bacteria, which cannot multiply intensively in the cold, will give a chance for mold and other evil spirits to appear in the leaven. Therefore, before sending her to cool off, you need to let her stand for 2-3 hours to start the acid accumulation process, and so that she goes to the refrigerator already prepared.

I spent about a week in the refrigerator for rye sourdough, I hid it after a couple of hours of standing in the warmth after feeding. During this time, she began to look not in the best way, on the surface there was such a plaque, similar to mold, inside she was a little "blown away", settled.

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do? Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

In the refrigerator, the leaven can darken, lighten, liquid can be cut off and float freely on the surface. It is important that the smell remains relatively pleasant, so that there are no "nasty" notes. Mine had a distinctly winey aroma, not very fresh, but not unpleasant, like accidentally forgotten fermented fruit. The taste is sour with bitterness.

According to what scheme and how to feed?
Before sending the leaven to the "cold lands", feed it by taking 5-10 grams. starter and equal amount of flour and water. My now has 30 grams. water and 30 gr. flour, plus 5 gr. starter. Why don't we use a scanty amount of a starter, as we did quite recently, but take a noticeable amount? Because the conditions of detention have changed: if earlier the sourdough was very hot, now it is very cold, therefore, in order to maintain fermentation, we take more starter for feeding.

How to start using it again?
After the refrigerator, the leaven needs to gain strength, restore the flora, this will require several dressings. It is not advisable to use a starter immediately or even from the next feeding, such a leaven will not be able to raise the dough properly.

We take out the leaven from the refrigerator, warm it to room temperature (a couple of hours on the table). Remove the top layer, wash the fork-spoon that was removed.

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do? Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

We take about 5 gr. starter, put in a clean jar, add water, add flour, mix.

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do? Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do? Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

Five and a half hours later in the bank

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

But the leaven is at its peak, if you look closely, you can see that it has become even more loosened.

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do? Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

From the second feeding, it became interesting to me to check what kind of bread she would give. I put a dough of 100 gr. flour, 100 gr. water and 3 gr. starter. Fermentation at room temperature for about 12 hours.

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

And here is the bread made with rye sourdough from the refrigerator.

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do? Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

Frankly, I cannot call this bread successful. Despite the fact that the dough grew well during fermentation (two hours with one folding, at room temperature), it behaved very sluggishly during proving (more than 2.5 hours at room temperature). As a result, although the bread puffed up in the oven, it clearly did not grow to the expected volume. And the porosity of the crumb should not be so. I have already baked bread according to this recipe, using rye sourdough, which only lived in the warmth. This is how I got it before.

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

Now, after keeping the sourdough warm for two or three days, you can again hide it in the refrigerator... Feed it, wait for fermentation to start, and send it back to the refrigerator.
How long can starter culture be kept in the refrigerator without feeding?
I try not to hold mine for more than a week, then I take it out, warm it up, feed it. But once my rye starter lived in the refrigerator for almost three weeks and the bread on it was excellent

Should I keep starter culture in the refrigerator? What to do?

Having observed the path of the leaven into the refrigerator, then from the refrigerator and back, having seen what kind of bread is obtained with such a leaven, it is still impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of whether it is worth keeping the leaven in the refrigerator. In production, they do not store it like that simply because they do not need it, there are liters and tens of liters of a starter every day. Opinions differ among the “home” bakers I know who store or have tried to keep sourdough in the refrigerator. Someone keeps the sourdough in the refrigerator, feeds it once or twice a week and is satisfied, while someone immediately feels the difference and moves it to the warmth. I am inclined to think that keeping the leaven in the refrigerator is only possible if necessary, if there are no other options. And if you prefer wheat bread, but do not have the opportunity to bake regularly, start yourself a sourdough with Sekowa bacon ferment. A starter derived from it does not need additional feeding and feels great in the refrigerator for up to four months.

Author Elena Zheleznyak, 🔗

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