My sourdough starter died at a rest stop in Nebraska of all places

I was driving back from a family thing in Omaha last fall and had my starter in a cooler in the back seat. The cooler slid into a sunny spot and sat there for about 5 hours of driving. By the time I got home it was bubbling strangely and smelled like paint thinner, and it never recovered. Has anyone else had a batch go bad from a car ride?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_paul28d ago

Oh man, that paint thinner smell is a dead giveaway something went real bad with the bacterial balance... maybe the heat killed off your good flora and let some wild yeast take over? I've heard of people's starters getting cooked in hot cars but never heard of one coming out smelling like chemicals.

jesser7924d ago

Haha yeah @garcia.laura that flour story is basically the same thing just cheaper ingredients. Congrats, youve got a chemistry lab starter now instead of a baking one. Honestly though, maybe just dump it and start over, that chemical smell isnt going anywhere. I bet it smells like a bad science fair project in your kitchen right now. At least you know for next time to keep that jar in the shade like its a vampire.

garcia.laura28d ago

And that's the thing, right? It's wild how much a little unexpected heat can mess up something that's usually so resilient. It reminds me of how many other things in our daily lives get thrown off by those little temperature swings we don't even think about. Like, I accidentally left a bag of flour in the car once on a warm day, and the whole thing got clumpy and started smelling like wet cardboard, totally ruined. So yeah, you're definitely not alone in learning that lesson the hard way.