Dr. Ed Wood wrote that he's never had a starter he couldn't
revive. A number of rec.food.sourdough folks have wondered if he's
always revived the same starter that he started with. Kinda like
Stephen King's "Pet Semetary".
Still, his washing technique does seem to be very promising. I think
you can find instructions in his second book and on his web site.
The idea is....
Discard all but 1 cup of starter (Mary - it's not good starter or
good food at this point)
Add enough warm (not hot) water to the quart container to just about
fill it, stirring vigorously.
Discard all but one cup of the diluted starter.
Add 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour and 3/4 cup of
water. Stir, cover and wait 12 hours.
Repeat the steps above until the starter takes off. In some cases,
Dr. Wood says, it can take 5 or 6 days. This is a thinner starter
than I usually use, which means that it will respond more quickly
than my usual starters would.
I'm trying this technique on a starter that turned bad on me, and it
seems promising. Notes at http://www.sourdoughhome.com/breadblog.html
Mike
*Bake With Mike <http://www.mikesbread.com>*
Mike Avery
A Randomly Selected Bread Saying Of The Day:
Hope is the poor man's bread.
-- George Herbert