I will be going on an extended trip and would like to save my starter.
My starter is based on Carl's starter but over time the starter has
picked up a wonderful character of it own. I still have some of the
orginal dried Carl's starter, but I would really like to keep my
current starter. Which method, freezing or drying will produce the
best results?

Neither...

Run it through a refreshment cycle and then take two tablespoons and
make a firm whole wheat dough ball. Firm. Be sure to use whole wheat.
Refrigerate that. Should hold for several months. The outside will dry
and darken over time but the inside will be good.

Will

On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 11:40:43 -0600, Bob K
> wrote:

>I will be going on an extended trip and would like to save my starter.
>My starter is based on Carl's starter but over time the starter has
>picked up a wonderful character of it own. I still have some of the
>orginal dried Carl's starter, but I would really like to keep my
>current starter. Which method, freezing or drying will produce the
>best results?

How extended...?

If on the order of a few months, I would do neither...

I would take about a teaspoon of active starter, and mix
into it as much flour as you can manage. Eventually you will
have a firm, clay-like ball of dough.

Put it in a screw top jar and refrigerate.

It will last months happily.

When you are ready to bake with it again, pinch off half the
ball, add, say 100g water, soften the lump, then add 100g
flour. In a few hours you will have the starter active
again.

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 13:52:15 -0500, Kenneth
> wrote:

>On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 11:40:43 -0600, Bob K
> wrote:
>
>>I will be going on an extended trip and would like to save my starter.
>>My starter is based on Carl's starter but over time the starter has
>>picked up a wonderful character of it own. I still have some of the
>>orginal dried Carl's starter, but I would really like to keep my
>>current starter. Which method, freezing or drying will produce the
>>best results?
>
>How extended...?
>
>If on the order of a few months, I would do neither...
>
>I would take about a teaspoon of active starter, and mix
>into it as much flour as you can manage. Eventually you will
>have a firm, clay-like ball of dough.
>
>Put it in a screw top jar and refrigerate.
>
>It will last months happily.
>
>When you are ready to bake with it again, pinch off half the
>ball, add, say 100g water, soften the lump, then add 100g
>flour. In a few hours you will have the starter active
>again.
>
>All the best,
Thanks for the 3rd option. I might try all 3. And thanks for the
response.

Bob K wrote:

>>
>> Which method, freezing or drying will produce the
>> best results?
>>


What Kenneth said. I would make enough of a clay ball to completely
fill a small container with a tight lid.

If you wish to freeze some additional for back up, I would also thicken
the batch for the freezer.

Drying works and so does freezing in most cases. However, if you think
that your start has aquired some special quality, the critters that
produce those qualities may not survive straight freezing or drying and
reconstitution.

Regards,

Charles

Will wrote:

> make a firm whole wheat dough ball. Firm. Be sure to use whole wheat.
>

Why Whole wheat?

Regards,

Charles

Charles Perry wrote:

> Why Whole wheat?

Added insurance. You could use regular bolted flour, but I've noticed
that firm whole grain storage holds better and regulates moisture
better since the bran absorbs water. So I figured if the OP is going
off for a couple of months or longer, he might want the industrial
solution.

Will

Will wrote:

> ... he might want the industrial> solution.
>

Plain ol white flour works just fine. It won't dry out in the
refrigerator if you pack the thickened start in a small food grade
container with a tight lid.

Some think that there are more growable organisms on Whole wheat and
rye. That would provide more opportunity for the culture to be changed
by "foreign" critters.

I would say use white flour or the flour that you normally feed your
starter with, if it happened to be a non- white starter.

Regards,

Charles