Baking bread takes a certain amount of time, and wanting to bake takes a certain amount of mental room. With sourdough there is also the starter to feed with flour and water at regular intervals.
Between being busy lately and being given a great deal of bread by a friend, the starter had been left asleep in the fridge.
The smell is just more acidic than usual, with nothing rotten about it. At this stage it can certainly be brought back. Scoop off and discard about half from the top, where it has dried out. Add equal weights of water and flour and mix well.
After two weeks of neglect one day is not enough, so repeat this twice. The web of strands returns and the starter comes back properly strong.
Once the starter is back, the rest is a matter of finding the rhythm of baking again. Once a week would be ideal.
For the record, for both the starter and the dough I use Kitanokaori. The dough stretches smoothly and the aroma is very good — a fine match for sourdough. The colour is slightly yellow. Blending in whole wheat or rye works well too.
I have written in detail about how to revive a sourdough starter here. Worth a look.
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