The death of my sour dough starter

Yes, I let my sour dough starter die. I am so lame.

I haven't made sour dough bread in months and decided it was time to make some. I pulled my starter out of the fridge and it smelled good and sour. I let it sit out for a couple of hours to come to room temperature. You don't have to, but I thought I would since I had not used it in so long. It didn't bubble up and that should have been my clue, but it smelled so sour. So, I mixed up a batch of bread and set it aside to rise overnight.

The next morning, it didn't seem to have risen as much as usual. Not nearly as much. But I went  ahead and punched it down and made 2 loaves, sitting them aside to rise. They didn't rise much either, but I was NOT wasting 5 cups of flour, so I put them in the oven and baked them. It smelled SO GOOD!

When they were done, they were like Ellie May Clampett biscuits! If you have never seen the Beverly Hillbillies, you have no clue what I am talking about. Big hockey pucks. Does that give you an idea?

Hubby laughed and laughed. I told him to throw them away. He decided to take them with him camping and feed them to the birds. He said the crows and squirrels LOVED it. LOL! So, it was not wasted.

I rescued what was left of my starter by feeding it more flour and water, added a little yeast and let it sit out for several days. It bubbled up and came back to life! Yeah! I made more sour dough bread with it and it turned out great!

So, the moral of the story is to remember to use and feed your sour dough starter.