Question about sourdough: I fed my starter every day for 3 months and got worse bread than when I ignored it in the fridge | Cognitive Dissonance Diaries

Wyatt Mason · 2026-09-10T09:05:27.09724+00:00

I got into sourdough back in March and read that a healthy starter needs feeding every single day at room temp, so I did that for almost 3 months straight. My loaves kept coming out dense and sour in a bad way, like vinegar. Then in June I got busy with work, threw the jar in the back of the fridge, and only fed it once a week, and the bread suddenly got way better. Lighter crumb, milder taste, better rise. Same flour, same recipe, same oven, so I don't get how doing less work gave me better results. My neighbor who bakes says the fridge slows the yeast down and lets the good bacteria balance out, but that feels backwards from everything I read online. Has anyone else had a starter that did better when you basically left it alone?

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Question about sourdough: I fed my starter every day for 3 months and got worse bread than when I ignored it in the fridge | Cognitive Dissonance Diaries - Thought Shares