Morris goes in the fridge for the summer
The kitchen thermometer read 28 °C at four in the afternoon yesterday, with the window open and the blind down. Morris, fed at nine in the morning, had doubled by twelve and fallen back by two, leaving a ring of dried starter on the glass and a smell somewhere between vinegar and paint thinner.
He does not like heat. Or rather, he likes it too much: everything happens at twice the speed and the acidity runs away with itself. I cannot feed him every six hours, and I do not want to bake at five in the morning to catch him at his peak.
So for the rest of the summer he lives in the fridge. The routine:
- Once a week, take him out, discard all but 20 g, feed 50 g flour and 50 g water.
- Leave on the counter for an hour, then back in the fridge.
- The evening before a bake, take him out, feed again, and use him in the morning.
I also cut the starter in the recipes from 20% to 10% while the heat lasts, which slows the bulk ferment down to something I can supervise. A loaf that would take four and a half hours in March was ready in under three yesterday even with half the starter.
He will sulk for a feed or two in September when he comes back out. He always does.