Found a trick for keeping sourdough starter alive in the fridge for weeks

I got tired of feeding my starter every day and was about to just give up on baking altogether. Tried putting it in the fridge like everyone says but it kept getting hooch and dying on me after about 10 days. Then a baker at the farmers market in Austin told me to mix it way stiffer before refrigerating, like a 50/50 flour to water ratio. Tried that 3 months ago and I only feed it once every 2 weeks now. No hooch, no weird smells, just grab it, let it warm up, and bake. Has anyone else tried this or got another method that works better?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_linda1d ago

That's wild. So you basically turned your starter into a stiff little dough brick and it just...behaves itself? Sounds like you discovered the secret to a pet that doesn't make a mess and stays quiet. I swear, mine was more drama than a middle school sleepover with all the hooch and weird smells. Guess the trick is to make it so dense it can't even think about misbehaving. Gonna try this on my next batch and see if it finally stops giving me the silent treatment after a week.

ruby_jones1d ago

Wait, did you actually try that or is your friend the one who swears by it? My buddy Mark did this last year with his starter, turned it into this little rock hard disc that he kept in the fridge for like two months. He said he just scraped off a tiny piece and fed it water and flour and it came back to life in a day, no drama at all. For real, he's been baking the same loaf every weekend and swears the dense starter is the only thing that stopped his batch from going full sourdough tantrum on him.