Summer Vacation… for your starter
Starter about to go on vacation
I just got back from a 2 week stint in Hawaii! The humid salty air and ocean breeze was very welcoming to my dried skin after being in the arid hi-dez. I put my starter on vacation too, so that when I came home it’d be in a dormant state that could easily be reawakened by spooning out a portion from the fridge into a clean jar and adding equal parts whole wheat flour and water. Observing the reactivation over the next few hours for the yeast to rebound to it’s familiar lively self is like visiting an old friend.
Here is how I fed the starter to give it sufficient food before putting it to sleep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks:
In a clean jar, add 10 grams of starter as your seed.
Mix a ratio of 1 : 10 : 10 so, 10 grams starter : 100 grams water : 100 grams whole wheat flour. Ensure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in the jar.
Tighten the lid on the jar and put in the refrigerator. Enjoy your vacation!
Reactivating your starter:
When you are ready to bake after a long vacation, remove 10 grams from your refrigerated mixture and feed it 1:3:3.
I recommend feeding it a second time 1:1:1 with the quantities you will need for your batch of dough as this ensures the mixture has fully adjusted the acidity to a neutral pH and will allow for optimal fermentation of your dough.
The longest I have left my starter on vacation is 3 weeks. If you are away for longer it would be more advantageous to start one again from scratch to obtain the healthiest bacterias and yeast for your sourdough!
