My sourdough starter died after I left it in the fridge for 3 weeks on vacation

Came back from a trip to the coast last month and my starter had this weird pink layer on top. Tried to scrape it off and feed it but it never recovered. Had to trash the whole jar and start over from scratch. Been babying this new batch for 10 days now and it's still barely bubbling. Anyone else had a starter go bad from just sitting too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

angela_park28d ago

Wait, isnt letting it sit in the fridge basically how people keep starters alive for months?

anthony88328d ago

Exactly. The fridge slows them down to a crawl but they're still alive and doing their thing, just way slower. If you take care of it and feed it every week or two, that starter will outlive you. People have been doing this for generations, long before anyone overthought it with scales and timers.