SD in the Tropics

I live in Darwin, Australia. The year-round temp is around 33 Celcius (91F). I am new to SD (sourdough) and are having difficulty producing a viable starter. I believe the temperature is the root cause of all my problems ( retards yeast activity and promotes LAB activity - this is my suspicion). I am wondering if others from Tropical climates can share any tips that may help me produce a reliable starter and any SD baking tips in general in relation to hot ambient temperatures and SD baking. Thanks in advance for your time and assistance.

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I live in SW Florida and it has been hot here lately! What I do is feed my starter every 12 hours (1/4 c flour + 1/4 c water). The yeast is very active in hotter climates, so I just feed more often (compared to every 24 hours). If you end up with tons of starter, you can always pour off a little (up to 50%) before a feeding.
When making bread, this is also a concern, so my proofing times are shorter than usual. Just keep an eye on your dough and you can calculate your time according to temperature.

Thanks for your reply - I thinking of (a) not a ‘stiff starter’ but quite a thick starter (b) a pinch of salt to retard the starter © and placing in the fridge. I think investing in a half decent digital thermometer will help get some all importnat metrics. However as you mention - qualitative measures are just as important to watch.

NEVER put anything but flour and water in starter. Doing so can cause all sorts of problems.

The heat is your problem. It causes the yeast to work much faster. So it uses up all the food and dies. Leaving you with starter that has few yeasty beasties in it to leave your bread, etc. If you want to leave it out you will most likely need to feed it at least twice a day. Even then you will have to time use to catch it at it’s peak of activity, not as it gets more active or after activity has fallen off. Not too bad an option if you back a lot, make lots of pancakes, waffles, quick breads etc with sourdough.

Refrigerating your starter is an option. Just feed it, leave it out for awhile, to get things going, and in your climate that might be a half hour. Here in Chicago when it’s 90 F + and humid I still leave mine out an hour, just like I do in the winter when the house is about 70 f and dry. Seems to work for me. find what works for you. Many will say you need to feed starter in the fridge weekly. That’s a nice ideal and keeps the starter at tip top condition. Just pull it out let it get going and you can use it. Me, I’m lazy and cheap so I have throwing away all that flour with feeding when the starter is not in use. I may leave it in the fridge unfed for 6 weeks or 5 months. It gets lots of hooch at the top is very inactive and you can’t make much with it, even pancakes are kind of dense with 5 month old starter. But, there is hope! Take that starter out, pour off most of it, if you want a tangier flavor stir in the hooch first, then feed the starter the way you usually do. Leave it out of the fridge. Let it work. If you’ve let it sit forever in the fridge and it doesn’t seem to be as active as normal. Pour off most again and feed it again. I’ve had to do this 3 - 4 times with a few badly neglected starters. When it seems to be doing well use it.
Once I let a starter sit in the fridge so long there was no liquid left in the jar. Took some, fed it, let it set per the above and before the week was out I could make bread.

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Thanks Whippet

My son and daugther-in-law are visiting from Hawaii. They love my fresh sourdough, but are reluctant to try baking it on their boat in Honolulu. Anyone worked out proofing times for high 80s to low 90s daytime temps?

Over the course of their visit, I’ll try to gibe them hands-on experience with “correct proof”, but if anyone has some tested proofing times in that heat, it would help them get to success much faster.

Thanks

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