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c/baking-fails-and-wins•tarabelltarabell•15d ago

Am I the only one who thinks sourdough starter care is way overblown?

Everyone on here talks about feeding their starter twice a day and keeping it at a perfect 75 degrees. I kept mine in the fridge for 3 weeks straight, pulled it out, fed it once with regular all-purpose flour, and got a great rise on my loaf last Tuesday. The whole precise routine thing feels more like a trend than a necessity to me. Has anyone else just neglected their starter and had it turn out fine?
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ninaowens
ninaowens15d ago
My neighbor Karen practically runs a temperature-controlled nursery for her sourdough starter like it's a newborn baby. She named it Bartholomew and talks about its "mood swings" when it doesn't bubble enough. Meanwhile I pulled my starter out of the back of the fridge last week after forgetting about it for a month, scraped off the greyish liquid on top, fed it once, and made a perfectly fine loaf of bread that nobody complained about. All that fuss over a bowl of fermented flour and water seems like a hobby that turned into a full-time job with no paycheck. Maybe if you're entering some fancy bread competition you need the routine, but for a Tuesday night sandwich loaf it's pure theater.
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michaeltorres
Pure theater" really clicked for me, I used to be that person with a routine but now I get it.
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betty_kelly9
betty_kelly911d agoMost Upvoted
People treat every little hobby like it needs a whole manual nowadays.
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