Help what to do with my sour dough starter?!

[SmiledWithTheRisingSun]

Someone very kindly gave me a starter. My fridge is small so couldn't fit the jar in - so put it in the garden - is this ok??

Do I need to feed it? How do it do that??

Help me please wise Mumsnetters...

Anyone....?

It needs to be kept warm or it will die! At least 20 degrees. My house is cold do kept it in oven with light on. Are you feeding it?

Oh gosh I was told to keep it the fridge!

How do you know if it's died????

I've just googled and Paul Hollywood says you can put it in the fridge to slow the activity down if you're not usuing it every day.

A lot of explanation in here. It’s like a little pet - you need to feed it regularly

www.rivercottage.net/news/river-cottage-sourdough

I keep mine in the fridge then a couple of days before i want to use it i take it out. Leave it out overnight, discard some, then feed it, give it 24 hours then discard/use some of the starter to add flavour to something (King Arthur flour website has some goid ideas - love their cinnamon and raisin buns!) and feed it again. I then use it to make loaves etc.

I was given it a couple of weeks ago - just watched a youtube video about reviving it - I think it has "Hooch" on top :-000

Thanks for the link Moose :-)

I think you should bring it in from the garden! You don’t need to keep much starter, so a small jar in the fridge shouldn’t take up too much space. There is a FB group called Sourdough Nation that will help out with recipes and advice. It does take a good few attempts to get a really great loaf, but worth the effort!

Right poured the hooch off and it seemed ok underneath. Have brought it in and fed it. How many times should I need to feed it before I can bake with it?

It was a 5 year old starter that someone gave me so don't really want to start all over again!

Thanks for the FB group will check it out

The HFW page looks really useful too