Sorry, this was supposed to be posted to the group and not sent as a private
message.


----- Original Message -----
From: "TG" <
>
Newsgroups: rec.food.sourdough
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 1:20 PM
Subject: Carl's invincible starter!

> On 30 Jan, 18:35, "Aaron" <
>
> wrote:
>> Well, I slacked off for a while. I had some of Carl's starter that I had
>> been using exclusively. But we were going to be gone on vacation for a
>> month, so I took the starter and mixed it with as much flour as it would
>> hold to form a very hard dough. I then put this ball (about 3 inches in
>> diameter) in a ziplock bag, squeezed out all the air, and sealed it.
>> This
>> ball of starter sat in my fridge from about Nov. 20th 2005 until about a
>> week ago.
>>
>> When I finally took it out, I had to use a knife to break it apart. I
>> dropped the pieces in some warm water to let them soften up. I then put
>> in
>> enough plain white bread flour (what I usually feed with) to bring it to
>> "normal" consistency. After about a day, I saw some definite activity.
>> I
>> then proceeded to throw away a bunch and feed like normal.
>>
>> This weekend, I made bread with it. By all indications, it seems to be
>> back
>> to it's old normal state.
>>
>> Anyway, I just wanted to share because I've heard of people who have kept
>> starter in that state for half a year or so, but I made it about 14
>> months.
>> Anyway, just thought someone might be interested.
>>
>> Aaron
>
> Hi Aaron,
>
> this isn't so surprising. It's not that long a time. I've had them
> revive after much longer, 10 months I think is the longest. Are they
> the same starter after? Some would say probably not. I don't know but
> I have found that they revive so quickly given the right treatment, by
> quickly I mean 24 hours that I'm sure they are the same. But anyway as
> long is it does the job, that's all that matters.

I think you misread my message. It was in the fridge from Nov. 2005 until
late Jan. 2007. That's about 14 months. But anyway, like you said, as long
as it does the job.

Aaron


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