I enjoy making sourdough, but I don’t want to make it every week. I would like to make it maybe once a month if that. I don’t like the hassle of feeding a starter constantly, it doesn’t feel worth it when I’m only making sourdough every once in a while.
Is there an alternative to maintaining a starter? I’ve tried throwing the starter in the fridge but I’m so lazy it just becomes a little cup of mold by the time I take it out two months later.
Many thanks for your wisdom oh Bread Lemmies.
I keep 60 grams of starter going in the fridge. I sometimes bake once a week, and sometimes once a month, and it’s always fine. I keep some in my freezer to start over if there’s any mold (though I haven’t had a starter go moldy for like 7 years now). When I want to bake bread, I pull half of it off, feed it, and put it back in the fridge. When that 30 grams I pulled off is nicely fermented on the countertop, I ramp it up to the actual full amount I need.
It takes a couple days for me to get to having bread ready, but it’s worth it to not have to deal with constant feeding or throwing out any discard.
I also keep my starter in a small jar, and every few months, I transfer to a new jar. When I did have starter go moldy in the past, and when I’ve seen other people’s starter go moldy, it’s typically on the edges up the sides of the jar from where it was stirred. The main bulk of a healthy starter is probably too acidic for mold to take hold, but the dried bits up the sides of the jar might be more susceptible.