starter jar

marianthi

Hiya! I'm new to this forum and new to sourdough baking. My starter was born two weeks ago and I made my first loaf a week ago and it turned out amazing. I'm really pleased! I need some advice though please (one of many pieces, I'm sure!)

Do you wash your starter jar or do you move it to a clean jar from time to time? With all that feeding it does get very messy and I'm not sure what to do. I am not sure if it benefits from being in a messy environment or whether it should all be tiptop clean. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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farinam's picture
farinam 2015 April 2

Hello marianthi,

I haven't washed/changed the container that my starter lives in for several years now.

I use a small ladle to dip out the quantity that I need to start my levain for making bread.  This minimises the amount that might get on the walls of the jar.

When I add the flour and water to feed, I mix it in with a chop-stick and scrape down any flour etc that might be on the vertical faces with a spoon or spatula and give that a bit of a mix in as well.  However, there are always traces of stuff left which dry off and probably eventually get re-incorporated next time around.

The starter is good and active, has been left for a month in the fridge without feeding and has never suffered from any sort of mold or infection.

So, if you want to be super hygienic you can change/clean your container but I would say that by and large you would be only making work for yourself.

I also recall reading in an old cook-book where it recommended that you keep your starter in a 'well-seasoned' jar which I would think translates to one that hasn't necessarily been scrupulously sterilised.

My only cavaeat would be that if your were unfortunate enough to get some sort of mold or other nasty infection then reverting to clean equipment would be a good idea.

Good luck with your projects.

Farinam

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