Reviving a neglected starter

What a lot of people don't realise is that it is extremely difficult to kill a starter. 

You can revive it from almost any state with just a few good feeds over a day or two. 

In the first picture, this was the starter I created a few weeks ago in my stories. After it was about 2 weeks old, I made an olive loaf with it and once I used what I needed I put it in the back of the fridge and purposely forgot about it. That was about a month ago now.

Second picture shows what it looked like when I got it out of the fridge just yesterday. It smelled alcoholic and it had a darkish liquid on the top (hooch).

I mixed in the hooch and discarded all but about 25g and gave it a double feed of 50g flour and 50g water. Today I gave it another good feed and in the last picture you can see how active it is again!

When you see hooch on the top, it's a sign of hunger and is in need of a feed. You can either mix it in or pour it off, discard most of the starter and give it a couple of really good feeds and then watch it bounce right back up again!

You're starter is an amazing thing that can withstand a lot of neglect! 

{The only reason to ever throw it away and start again is when it goes mouldy, but with proper care it should naturally resist mould growth. Like making sure you clean the sides of your jar regularly, not keeping it too warm and making sure it's covered properly at all times.}