Reviving a starter vs. starting a new one - that is my internal debate. I freeze and revive, but the choice between doing that and starting over is not obvious.
After that debate,
I go on to the adventure of a whole wheat bread that turned out surprisingly well. Always a treat when deliciousness is snatched from the claws of disaster.
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Hi Sheryl,
I have tried a few ways of keeping starter with very variable success and this is what I tried while away for a month recently.
What I did was get the starter into good condition then added a lot of its regular flour all at once to achieve the consistency of cookie dough. I then rolled the dough into balls, wrapped each ball in cling film then put the balls in a snaplock bag with air removed. The bag was placed at the back of a shelf in the coolest part of the fridge. When I returned after a month I just put one ball (about 30 g) into my normal flour/water starter feeding mix, broke it up with stirring and it was business as usual! I fed again before making bread but that was just because I was worried about odd tastes maybe coming from the stored starter dough. I kept the rest of the balls for a week or 2 just in case, but they ended up in the compost at my next fridge clean out as they were not needed at all.
My problem with just putting the regular starter in the back of the fridge is sons who hold the fridge door open to forage. I have kept it just in the fridge for up to 2 weeks if everyone is away, but if it is only me away then it gets too warm and has to be discarded.
Cheers