Bread

Any sourdough experts out there?

Just starting my second attempt at creating a starter. The first went well and seemed reasonably easy but I neglected feeding it regularly after about a year and it went bad.

Anyway, the question is, can I store my starter permanently in the fridge with no ill effects? I tend to bake once or twice a week and the 8-12 hour feeding schedule of a starter seems to be pretty wasteful with low quantities of baking.

At the moment it's living in the fridge and I'm feeding it a day or two prior to baking, removing it from the fridge the night before baking to bring it up to room temperature then baking, feeding it and putting it back in the fridge till I next bake.

At the moment I'm not getting all that much rise but the starter isn't very old yet, a few weeks.

My baking techniques may be at fault too - I use a no knead recipe (mix it all up, leave for 18 hours, fold and shape, leave to rise for 2 hours and bake) and just tend to make up required quantities of flour, water and starter till I have a nice dough consistency.

You should get 'Bread Matters', the book by the guy who runs the Real Bread Campaign. Its the best sourdough book i've come across, covers the chemistry and physics of it in brilliant detail. My starter took nearly 3 months to get fully lively. Try some spelt flour, that has heaps of yeasts in it.