sourdough or don't?
June 10, 2020 10:10 AM Subscribe
This is probably obvious but... it's not obvious to me. I have a small baggie of sourdough starter that I bought from a small local bakery. It has been in my fridge for a month or so.
I don't know if it goes bad (like yogurt) or if it is fine for a long time. It's not sealed or anything, this bakery is super small and in someone's house, & they just sold bits of their own sourdough starter (it looks like yeast) in little baggies.
Thanks!
I don't know if it goes bad (like yogurt) or if it is fine for a long time. It's not sealed or anything, this bakery is super small and in someone's house, & they just sold bits of their own sourdough starter (it looks like yeast) in little baggies.
Thanks!
Your sourdough should be edible as long as it doesn't smell or look off.
By the way, plain yogurt doesn't typically "go bad". I know someone with a sensitive stomach who ate unopened plain yogurt out of my friend's fridge that was a YEAR expired and was just fine. Ever since then, I've trusted cultured products a LOT more. And been fine. That's what the cultures are FOR. :D
posted by aniola at 10:33 AM on June 10, 2020
By the way, plain yogurt doesn't typically "go bad". I know someone with a sensitive stomach who ate unopened plain yogurt out of my friend's fridge that was a YEAR expired and was just fine. Ever since then, I've trusted cultured products a LOT more. And been fine. That's what the cultures are FOR. :D
posted by aniola at 10:33 AM on June 10, 2020
By the way, plain yogurt doesn't typically "go bad". I know someone with a sensitive stomach who ate unopened plain yogurt out of my friend's fridge that was a YEAR expired and was just fine.
For the sake of the historic record, I think it is important to clarify that I think you mean unopened containers of yogurt don't go bad. Open containers can grow mold (as I've discovered to my disappointment) and should of course not be eaten when they do.
So, to the OP - what does the sourdough you've gotten look like? Does it look like a big wodge of dough, or is it flaky, or something else? That may affect things. If it's dried and flaky, that's good - you may want to follow the instructions on King Arthur Flour's site here for advice about storage and how to wake it back up. If it's a wodge of something soft and gushy that looks like dough, you just have to invest a little care-and-feeding to keep it going - and this is the best advice I can find for how to do that.
Sourdough doesn't necessarily "go bad" as such - basically the starter is a colony of yeast that you're trying to keep around as a pet. The colony can get taken over by other mold and bacteria, but it's easy to keep that from happening if you take care of it (fortunately taking care of it is pretty easy). If it's dried, then it's even easier to take care of it - you've gotten a colony that's just been dried out and is in suspended animation.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:41 AM on June 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
For the sake of the historic record, I think it is important to clarify that I think you mean unopened containers of yogurt don't go bad. Open containers can grow mold (as I've discovered to my disappointment) and should of course not be eaten when they do.
So, to the OP - what does the sourdough you've gotten look like? Does it look like a big wodge of dough, or is it flaky, or something else? That may affect things. If it's dried and flaky, that's good - you may want to follow the instructions on King Arthur Flour's site here for advice about storage and how to wake it back up. If it's a wodge of something soft and gushy that looks like dough, you just have to invest a little care-and-feeding to keep it going - and this is the best advice I can find for how to do that.
Sourdough doesn't necessarily "go bad" as such - basically the starter is a colony of yeast that you're trying to keep around as a pet. The colony can get taken over by other mold and bacteria, but it's easy to keep that from happening if you take care of it (fortunately taking care of it is pretty easy). If it's dried, then it's even easier to take care of it - you've gotten a colony that's just been dried out and is in suspended animation.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:41 AM on June 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
Wild sourdough yeast is crazy resilient. What I would do is to take what you have (I'm assuming you have around a quarter cup, but not important), pour off any liquid (if any) and mix it with a cup of flour and a cup of lukewarm water in a bowl. Cover with just about anything - damp dishtowel is traditional, but foil or plastic wrap works fine too. Then let it sit for a day. If its expanded a bit and you can see bubbles on the surface and it smells breadlike, you have the beginnings of a good starter.
You will then want to make it more roubust - EmilyFlew's routine looks good - but sourdough is pretty forgiving - just add water and flour to a portion of what you have for a few days should work. Then you are ready to go. Emilie Raffa decribes her starter routine and has my favorite basic recipe here, and her books have lots of great ideas (my current favorite is her Dill and Aged Chedder).
posted by rtimmel at 11:21 AM on June 10, 2020
You will then want to make it more roubust - EmilyFlew's routine looks good - but sourdough is pretty forgiving - just add water and flour to a portion of what you have for a few days should work. Then you are ready to go. Emilie Raffa decribes her starter routine and has my favorite basic recipe here, and her books have lots of great ideas (my current favorite is her Dill and Aged Chedder).
posted by rtimmel at 11:21 AM on June 10, 2020
It's almost certainly fine! Just start feeding it with equal parts flour and water.
posted by amaire at 11:29 AM on June 10, 2020
posted by amaire at 11:29 AM on June 10, 2020
It's probably hungry. Sourdough is yeast, and with no fresh food (flour, sugar), it will die off. After a month, it's likely revive-able. Add water and flour and maybe a little sugar. It might take a couple days for it to be usable. Revival instructions tell you to discard 1/2. That's because you can end up with a lot. There are recipes for sourdough discard; I used some to batter veg yesterday.
posted by theora55 at 11:34 AM on June 10, 2020
posted by theora55 at 11:34 AM on June 10, 2020
Response by poster: Wow, this is fascinating. I have about a T of flaky stuff that looks like yeast. I guess I'll feed it and see what happens. Thank you everyone!
posted by nantucket at 12:06 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by nantucket at 12:06 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Oh, that's perfect - I'd follow the advice on the King Arthur site. They say to store it in a cool, dark place, and you can leave it there a good while; when you feed it, it tells you how much to feed it and how to feed it.
Good luck!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:17 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Good luck!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:17 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yep, I got a starter from a local bakery, forgot about it in my fridge for about 6 weeks and it's now merrily making discard for pizza dough, banana bread, cookies, and one sort of wonky loaf of actual bread.
posted by assenav at 1:56 PM on June 10, 2020
posted by assenav at 1:56 PM on June 10, 2020
Faced with a similar situation, after finding a freeze/thaw cycle wasn't working so well for us, we were a little unhappy at the amount of flour overall we'd be discarding by moving to such a strict feeding schedule. Happily, there's an answer for what to do with discarded starter. They're delicious, y'all, I'm not even sure I want to make bread anymore (just kidding I definitely want to make bread anymore).
posted by solotoro at 2:39 PM on June 10, 2020
posted by solotoro at 2:39 PM on June 10, 2020
It sounds like you have a dried starter, so you'll need to add liquid to it before you start the feeding process. Breadtopia has some good instructions here.
posted by MeadowlarkMaude at 5:17 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by MeadowlarkMaude at 5:17 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by LeeLanded at 10:20 AM on June 10, 2020