50 Ways to Kill Your Starter

This video explores the topic that every sourdough baker fears -- accidentally killing your starter. We explore the most common (and uncommon) was to kill a sourdough starter, and demonstrate how to revive a starter after many of the most common mishaps, including:

Sections in this video:
0:00 Introduction
3:30 Five Feeding Rule
7:46 The Experiments
8:37 Preheating
14:25 Burning
19:33 Drowning
23:40 Scalding
26:04 Suffocation
28:22 Starvation
35:00 Foreign Invasion
38:38 Agitation
40:41 Forced Feeding
42:11 Microwaving
41:49 Freezing
53:33 UV Rays
54:31 Mold
1:02:51 Chlorination
1:07:04 Conclusion
1:07:40 Bonus Topic: Cloning (Dehydrating)
1:10:28 Epilogue

We also demonstrate techniques for removing the wrong ingredients from your starter using the 5 Feeding Rule. And the video includes a bonus section on starter dehydration.

Some people have clever names for their starters. In this video, the starters are anthropomorphic in a unique way.

I hope you will find this video educational and entertaining.

Tom Cucuzza
The Sourdough Journey
Cleveland, Ohio

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[DeForestRanger]

I've been making sourdough bread for over fifty years (generally every 10-14 days). I "killed" my first starter with contaminated water (it grew pink mold). I've been using my current starter for about twenty years now, and keep it in the fridge between Bread Days. Recently, I thought I'd killed it when my fridge got too cold, but using your 5-feeding technique, I brought it back to full strength. Your channel has taught me things I never knew about sourdough starters, and this video in particular has had me laughing and wide-eyed with amazement at what a starter can survive. They say that once humans are gone, ants and cockroaches will become the dominant species on Earth. I think they need to add sourdough starter into that list!

[debbieb]

The MOST ENTERTAINING tutorial I have ever witnessed. I am convinced that I can/will not kill my starter; provided it finally matures. Thank you for alleviating ALL of my fears. I accidentally tripped over this video and I am racing straight over to your channel to learn more from the humorous professor.

[rgugu]

Thank you, Tom, what you have done is just awesome. I love your experiments. This is way better than most of the TV series nowadays.

[beastsoccerninjaalic]

I am CRACKING UP at "this starter says....TRY THE BROILER NEXT TIME"

[kylewolfe_]

This was super entertaining. When I first clicked on the video and saw the duration I said to myself "Am I really about to spend an hour watching a video about sourdough starter?" and here I am 40 minutes in and loving it :)

[nikki-noir]

Wow. Talk about stumble onto the most informative and fun video. Coming from someone who has zero starter knowledge, watching your video's I feel like I don't need to know any more about it. Once I have every tool I need, I'm going to give it a crack. Thank you Tom!

[nastya_ul]

This video is both educational and hilarious. I just started my first sourdough starter the other day and this video gave me a boost of confidence I needed. Now I know what to expect and look out for - thank you!

[traceys]

So helpful, interesting, and hilarious. I loved the note about "diluted" not "deluded" 🙂

[evvie]

Sweet, you just answered most of my "What if..." questions. Thank you.
When I lived in Michigan I tried to make starter, and I thought I failed through neglect, and starvation. Thank you for showing me that I fed a perfectly good batch of starter to my garden, and the birds. In fact I don't think my garden got any of it. The birds, once they found it, ate it all, along with the ants and flies who were trying to eat it too.

[ConcordKenpo]

My wife made a starter many years ago and we would throw it in the out building freezer during Passover then revive after the week long holiday. The last one we forgot about and I found it a few years later. This was my start into sourdough. I thawed it but it never returned to liquid, it remained a dried clump (freeze dried?). Anyway, a little water day one, regular feedings afterwards and it did revive!

[annarucin]

Just brought my starter back from the "dead" after accidentally baking it, thanks to this video. Thanks so much for your quality content!

[Berengal]

This video was really fun. It seems some people online really stress out about their starters and making it much higher maintenance than it really needs to be. I think many of the guides are written at least partially from the perspective of a professional baker who requires a lot more consistency from their starter than home bakers do.

If you ever do a part 2, one way of killing a starter I'd like to see is the "oops, I used all of it" way. Can you revive a starter from an "empty" dirty jar? Given the small amount of salvage in some of your experiments I think the outcome is pretty clear, but how low can you really go?

[jimfromri]

I knew those are tough little guys because I keep my starter in the refrigerator and even though I sometimes have ignored it for a month it comes right back. Still, I would NEVER have guessed it would withstand an assault from a blow torch and bleach! Crazy fun video. Thanks Tom.

[brendadianne]

So entertaining! Thank you! I mixed up my first starter 5 days ago with much anxiety and constantly looking to see if it's still alive. (My history with house plants isn't reassuring). Your video eases my mind immensely. Thx!

[quakerweb]

This is great! Thanks for a really informative analysis. I guess the next question would be how these "survived" starters impact the flavor of the bread. One note on the hooch; it is not pure ethanol but perhaps 6-12% alcohol by volume (the bacteria can't survive in higher concentrations). The rest would be water. I'm in the group who have left the starter untouched in the refrigerator for many months and didn't know if the starter was kaput. Thanks to you the question is answered. I also want to make a more sour bread and I'm betting the hooch couldn't hurt that goal!

[sallywright]

I love your brand of sarcasm. Sitting in my chair and almost rolling onto the floor laughing. But it is difficult to kill a well established sourdough starter. It can be done, but mold, mildew or poisons are about the only ways to make it unusable.

[LukeXlll]

The dry humor in this video is amazing!

[margarettaormina]

Thank you Tom for all your troubleshooting the issues of sourdough. The first time I tried to start one has been 8-10 years ago and I ended up throwing it away and wish I was able to watch this video! Since I have been thinking of trying it all over again found your hilarious video and couldn't stop laughing. Love your sense of humor and am encouraged all over again to try....here I go!

[yarnexpress]

You've given me hope! Yesterday I was very tired & was continually interrupted while trying to mix Anadama bread using an old, old, yeast based recipe which I had done successfully once in the recent past. (It's a bit tricky has a cornmeal porridge & a good bit of molasses.) After I bulk fermented for about 6 hrs--nada. Stuck it into the refrigerator to deal with today. I figured my porridge was too warm or I mis-measured the molasses or both & killed the yeast. Your wonderful video has convinced me that if I give it more time all will be well. Please keep your experiments coming!

[katebinnie]

Hey Tom, can you make a video possibly about using imprecise measurements for a starter? Because that’s what I did and it looks pretty good but I can’t get it to rise, I ordered a scale so I’m gonna wait for that and do your 5 day rule but I’m nervous about all the imprecise measurements I’ve used already