Will wrote:
>
> Brian Mailman wrote:
>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherit...red_characters
>
> But... I'm not expecting inherited characteristics. I'm expecting
> among a multi-species population of critters, that the ones which
> thrive in cold and acidic environs to increase (via reproduction) and
> the ones which need heat to die back (via not reproducing).

Ah, ok. You're positing the oft misunderstood 'survival of the fittest'
as accelerated because of the fast reproductive cycles.
>
> So it is with the refrigerator... which is why I do not keep starter
> there. My view is that well balanced starters do not thrive at 35
> degrees.

38 is the standard recommended refrigerator temps.

If commercially yeasted doughs rise at 38 degrees, I don't understand
why sourdough cultures which are much more hardy would not survive.

Mine does quite nicely, and there are periods where I'm not sourdough
baking for weeks at a time.

> I am sure that Acme Bakery in S.F. would never subject it's
> starter to 35 F.

I'm sure the Acme Bakery (and I believe it's over on the Continent in
either Oakland or Berkeley, not here in SF) doesn't refrigerate its
starter at all, since it's in constant and continual use.

B/