cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/72187134
Haven’t baked all summer bc it’s too hot. Left my starter alone for that time. Apparently it wasn’t dead. Neat. Not as vigorous as I remember but next feed should be better.
Starters are hard to kill! There is almost always a little bit of life left. Might take a couple of feedings to fully come back
I have questions. I stopped sour starters because mine would get this weird water that tasted really bitter. I would feed and water and discard or use the dough to make bread daily. It accumulated this viscous water and it would hold onto the flour into a weird pasty like consistency, like the water separated out from the dough. The smell was awful. Would love to get some help and or pointers what the weird smell and texture was.
Quoting my partner (the expert on the matter):
You need to mix the separated starter before feeding. The ‘water’ is part of the ecosystem of the starter.
Starters learn from what you are doing, if the smelly water appears it means that food was not on time.
As long as you keep some discard in the freezer your starter will never truly die!
As long as you don’t leave it at room temperature for weeks, like I have, it should be fine
