Photos are of my favorite loaf I’ve made to satisfy mod rules. ☺️
My mother in law preheated the oven while my 6 month old starter was in there, after I fed it. I tried to revive it with the uncooked middle… but it wasn’t meant to be. So now I’m on day 3 of a new starter. I just wanted to whine about it to people who understand.
My recipe is:
115g Starter
500g Bread flour, KA brand
355g Water
13g salt
3 sets of stretch and folds over 2 and a half hours, add in blue cheese stiff olives and roasted red peppers, shape, BF for 8-10 hours, then CP overnight. Preheat with Dutch Oven at 500, and bake at 475 for 35 minutes covered, and lower to 425 uncovered for 15 minutes.
by UnicornGlitterZombie
27 Comments
Does this STARter killer MIL live with you?
Who comes in and turns on the oven and not look to see if pots and pans are in there?
My husband keeps turning off the oven light when I have my loaf in there to proof.
Finally, I figured out what was happening and explained it to him.
Sorry friend, that’s so unfortunate. I am also mourning the lost of my starter (which was my fault for preheating the oven with it in there bc I wanted a stupid pizza) so you have my deepest sympathies
I was so confused looking at your pics how the baked starter turned into olive bread before I read the rest of the post
What a nightmare
Many people do. Store pots and pans jn the oven.
I don’t know the situation of the OP but if someone is in my home and just turns on my oven without any further thought , then it’ speaks to their sense of entitlement, commonality ( do they live there) , thoughtlessness orr absentmindedness. Or other. Singly or in combination. Some or all. And whatever else.
Once you have an active starter, flake off a few pieces of dried starter from the spoon you use to stir it and save it in a baggy for emergencies.
Dehydrated a ton of starter and I keep it in an old spice jar
Oof – that’s rough. I’m sorry!
I think keeping things in your oven is common, and I also think that setting the oven to preheat without opening the door first is also common – and the two things are constantly at odds. I have a piece of paper I put on the oven control panel if somethings in there that cannot be heated – yogurt, bread rising, starter – and it has saved me multiple times (sometimes from myself!!).
This is why I put a piece of tape over the on button on the oven when using it for proofing.
recipe:
100g Flour
100g Water
put in Mason jar, bake until golden brown.
/s just in case
I see a lot of posts like this. I don’t recommend using the oven for proofing for this reason if there’s any other option. I heat up water in the microwave and use the microwave as a proofing oven, much safer.
I’m so sorry. That really stinks. Do you have a friend who can gift you some starter?
My husband is like a magnet for the AC remote when I desperately require a specific room temperature. If I’m doing a bulk fermentation, he decides the room must be 17 degrees and no warmer. If I’m baking biscuits and require room temperature or colder? Let’s open some windows and let the tropical air in!
I’m sorry for your loss. Condolences. What was his name?
I always put a taped on sign where the preheat button is so that anyone who goes near the oven sees it. It has saved my starter and many proofing loaves multiple times.
This is why I dried some of my starter.
It sucks, but as someone from a “never store stuff in the oven” household (which I’ve carried into my adult life), I literally never think to check the oven before preheating it. Granted, I don’t use other people’s ovens very often (or really ever), but this feels like the kind of thing I’d inadvertently do. Sorry for your loss, hope the new starter works well.
hey at least your starter was only 6 months old and not 6 years! there’s a silver lining in that at least. sorry you have to start over though, I would be so upset if I lost my year old starter
Ugh, I’m sorry. The same thing happened to me.
Now I put my starter in the microwave instead. The only trick I use is that I keep the door very slightly open so the light stays on.
I killed my own 6mo starter about two weeks ago & have been feeding a new one ever since but really still in mourning 🤧
You should not be abbreviating whatever it is you’re trying to abbreviate in the first sentence of the last paragraph. Aside from that, my condolences. It’s why i keep a backup of my starter always.
I accidentally baked my starter while preheating last week too. I only salvaged 2g of starter but was able to revive it. I attribute that to keeping 150g of starter so it wasn’t fully baked through. Sorry OP
Sorry to hear that!! RIP starter 🙁
Idk if you’re in the US or not, but if you want I would be happy to dry some of my very healthy starter and send you some to help get your new one jump started!
This has happened to me so many times. I must quit doing it because it won’t stop!
I always put a big post it note on my oven control panel with “NOPE” when my sourdough is in there lol
Always important to remember in these types of events that your new starter will be exactly the same as your old one, once you get it going and it’s healthy. Longevity literally means nothing, so you didn’t really lose anything (apart from a bit of time)