5

I have recently moved to Colorado and now I live in a dry climate at about 5,000 ft (the western slope). I had a starter in Sacramento CA with me for years, but I'm told that it is too dry here to keep the starter alive. Is that true? My fridge sure is humid and I would think that would be fine. Anyone have any advice? Thanks!

Vonita Murray
  • 51
  • 2
  • 3
    Keep doing what you were doing; it might well change a bit due to local variation, but if you are not letting it desiccate there's no obvious reason it should expire. – Ecnerwal Aug 15 '16 at 03:50
  • 1
    @Ecnerwal That looks like an answer to me, albeit short. I know you're frequently busy, but wonder if you might want to write it up. Thanks! – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Aug 25 '16 at 23:47

4 Answers4

2

I moved from Monterey CA to Bullhead City AZ, a very arid climate. I brought my starter with me. The biggest change I had to make was using cling wrap and a rubber band around the jar. I didn’t do that in the beginning and I always had a dry skin across the top. This fixed my issue. My bread is just as great as before. I did also need to hydrate the dough a bit more. Otherwise it has been a success for me.

Cactus Wren
  • 3
  • 1
Chad
  • 21
  • 2
1

if things can rot in colorado, you can keep a sourdough starter alive in colorado. Just make sure you to keep an eye on the moisture content and maybe use a larger ratio of water to flour when feeding.

Sdarb
  • 1,109
  • 1
  • 8
  • 19
1

There will be no problems with keeping it alive, however, it will likely change over time. The local diversity of microbes will be significantly different than where you used to live, and some new bugs will get in and take hold, likely pushing others out. Also, if the humidity affects the overall hydration (water/flour ratio) of your starter, you will see selection pressure on a different subset of microbes. I believe that a dryer starter will favor acetic acid bacteria while wet starters favor lactic acid bacteria.

Kevin Nowaczyk
  • 1,840
  • 14
  • 20
0

I agree that you should have no problems. As an alternate approach, if you were interested in longer terms storage of your starter, it could be dried. You can dehydrate a sourdough starter, seal it in a jar in an air-tight situation, and store it in the pantry for months. Point being, while I am suggesting a state of dormancy, dry is not really a problem.

moscafj
  • 72,382
  • 3
  • 117
  • 207