Arg! I started reactivating a dried starter yesterday and put it into my oven with the light turned on and a spatula wedged between the door and the oven, which reliably gives me 88 degrees. Went out to dinner, and when I got home I discovered my kids had made a pizza in the lower oven and the temp in the upper oven was 118! I took it out and cooled it and the oven down, stuck it back in at 88, and went to bed. This morning it has tiny, tiny bubbles in it. Does this mean it survived? Or is 118F likely to have killed it off?
My apologies if this is covered somewhere -- I tried to search, but didn't find anything so I decided to go ahead and start a topic! Thanks for any help!
Val
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Celcius or fahrenheit? Hopefully fahrenheit. Forget it, I see it was fahrenheit. Being a celcius girl I have no idea how warm that is ......... chuck half away and feed it again, leave at room temp (or warm oven up slightly, put in the fed starter, close door and turn oven off - that's if you're convinced your kids don't need the oven) and see if it comes back to life :o)
Good luck with the resuscitation! KC
Thank you! 118F is 50C. It seems to be working out...I've still got bubbles, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The problem is that I'm a total newbie to sourdough cultures, so I'm only guessing that it's looking like it's supposed to. Add in the uncertainty about the temperature and I'm just trusting that the bubbles mean I haven't killed it. :)
Being a microbiologist I can tell you that 50C is toooo hot! Try about 30C and the bugs will love you forever :o)