"Michael" > wrote:
>I have some starter in a plastic container and punched 3 or 4 small holes
>in the top of the lid.
>
> I just made it from storebought yeast a few days ago.
>
> I was wondering, if I feed it and stir it EVERY day and use 1/2 or so at
> least once a week, will it store alright at room temperature?
>
> Like I say, I have a tight lid on it with just enough small holes to let
> the gas out.
>
> I know you're "supposed" to store it in the refrig but?

I'm not sure what you mean by "feed it" every day. Do you refresh it every
day, throwing half of it out? I don't think you can just keep adding to it
("feed it") every day without tossing or using part of it. Dividing it just
once a week isn't going to do it, I don't think. Not out of the refrig, but
who knows.

I refresh the starter between once a week and once every three weeks, and
store it in the refrigerator. It depends when I get around to it, and what I
am doing with it. When I refresh mine, about a 1/4 cup goes into the
refreshed starter, and the rest goes into a recipe. A common thing I do with
the rest is put it in a very liquid mixture (poolish, biga, whatever?) of
the starter, flour and water overnight to ferment as the base for the next
day's bread baking. Or I use it early in the day to start a batch of pizza
dough.

I usually leave the refreshed starter out of the refrigerator and in various
places depending on season and temperature and let it ferment for about a
day, stirring it down a couple of times, until it looks right. Then I
refrigerate it.

I store my starter in a quart(?) stoneware crock with a wooden lid I made
for it. The lid is loose enough to vent it. I started it about two years ago
and it is still going strong in spite of the occassional three weeks between
refreshing. When I make that that poolish overnight, it ends up being quite
strong the next morning... if I stick my nose down in the bowl it is quite
overpowering... in a nice way.

The newsgroup rec.food.sourdough has quite a bit of information on the
topic. There's a faq that is periodically posted, and can also be found at:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/food/sourdo.../preamble.html

I think if you store it at room temperature and you neglect it for a little
too long (which is inevitable), you will end up with a very interesting
biology experiment on your kitchen counter. Shades of pink and such are not
a good sign! ;-)

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