How to Feed and Maintain A Sourdough Starter
Feeding your sourdough starter is quick and easy. With just a few minutes each day—or once a week using the fridge method—you’ll keep your starter healthy, active, and ready to bake whenever you are.
Servings: 1 starter (about 2/3 cup)
Equipment
- sourdough starter jar with lid any 16 oz jar will work with cover
- mixing tool or spatula
- rubber band or dry erase marker
Ingredients
- 50 grams sourdough starter about 3 Tablespoons, ripe and active or over-ripe and needs feeding
- 50 grams all-purpose or bread flour about 1/3 cup
- 50 grams water about 3 Tablespoons
Instructions
- Take 50 grams of ripe or over-ripe sourdough starter. Place it in a jar. Add 50 grams water and 50 grams flour. Mix together until combined. Scrape down the edges and mark with a rubber band or dry erase marker so you can judge how much the starter has risen. Cover the jar with a loose fitting lid or plastic wrap and set in a warm 78ºF place to rise.Note: This recipe shows an example of a 1:1:1 feeding ratio. I recommend a minimum of equal weights of starter, flour and water be fed at any feeding. You can adjust the actual amounts to work for you.
- Over the next few hours, the sourdough starter will go through a fermentation cycle where it will begin to rise. Once it has at least doubled in size and reaches a peak height, it will be very bubbly throughout and smell milky sweet. If your starter is being kept around 78ºF, it will be peaked and active in about 3-4 hours. At this point the starter is ripe, active and ready to be used in a sourdough recipe.
- If you do nothing to it, the starter will continue through the fermentation cycle and will fall back down. It will become runny and will need to be re-fed to be used as active starter again. Discard (throw away or store in the refrigerator to use in a discard recipe) 100 grams of the starter. Feed the remaining 50 grams of over-ripe starter with 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour to begin the cycle again.
- Continue this cycle of feeding and then discarding the sourdough starter to keep your starter active and strong. You can re-feed the starter any time as it falls back down. At a minimum, once the starter has completed the fermentation cycle, it should be fed again. I find it helpful to change my feeding ratio, alter the temperature, and use my refrigerator to make a sourdough starter work for me (see recipe notes for more information).
Video
Notes
Note: Your sourdough starter is ready to use in a recipe when it has reached its peak height and is just beginning to fall. While you can use your starter as it starts to fall, it will be at its most active and full of healthy yeast right at its peak—this is the ideal time to bake with it.
Temperature: The temperature of your environment affects how quickly your starter reaches its peak. A cooler temperature slows down fermentation, meaning it will take longer for your starter to rise. A warmer temperature speeds things up.
Ratios: You can adjust the amount of starter, flour, and water you use during feedings to suit your needs. This allows you to make more or less starter, or to manipulate the timing of when your starter will reach its peak and be ready to use. I recommend a minimum feeding of equal weights flour, water and starter.
Refrigeration: If you're not planning to bake right away, you can feed your starter and place it in the refrigerator after it has risen and doubled in size. Once refrigerated, it can be used directly in recipes over the next 24–48 hours. Refrigeration helps preserve the starter and makes sourdough baking more manageable.
If you store your starter in the fridge, it only needs to be fed once a week to keep it healthy and active. After feeding, let it rise at room temperature, then refrigerate it until you’re ready to bake again. Just remember: the longer your starter sits unfed in the fridge, the more time and feedings it may need to become active again.
Flour: I typically use all-purpose or bread flour as my main flour. If my starter seems sluggish, I’ll mix in a little whole wheat or rye flour—both contain more nutrients and can give your starter a natural boost.
Water: Most water works just fine, especially for an established starter. I use tap water with great results. Just make sure it’s free of chlorine or chloramine—if your tap water is heavily treated, you may want to let it sit out overnight or use filtered water.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 54mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 0.1g | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 2mg
