Congratulations, you’ve just become the proud parent of a sourdough starter!
Or, perhaps you just bought your first starter and want to make sure you’ll be a good parent to it once you bring it to life.
Whichever one it is, we have compiled a list of everything you need to know about feeding your sourdough starter. That way you can keep the little yeasty alive for days, months and even years if you’re looking for something more long-term.
Before we delve into the nitty gritty of how to feed your starter and help it grow big and strong, let’s cover the basics of where to source your starter.
First things first: Where to buy a sourdough starter
Yes, you could make your own sourdough starter from scratch, but I much prefer to buy my own dried starter and activate it myself. By “activating your starter”, I simply mean adding flour and water to your starter, stirring and waiting patiently – which ironically is all there really is to feeding a sourdough starter, but I digress.
If you’re like me and just want to dive right in, then you can purchase a dried starter for as little as $20. You can also follow my step-by-step instructions on how to activate your starter using these dried flakes, so you don’t have to trawl the depths of the internet looking for answers.
Jump to:
How often to feed your starter
Assuming you’ve now successfully created your own sourdough starter you can move on to the fun part: keeping it healthy with regular feedings.
There are, in fact, two ways in which you can feed your sourdough, depending on how you store it:
- If you’re an enthusiastic baker and bake a lot of sourdough, then you’ll want to store your starter at room temperature and will need to feed it at least once a day.
- If you’re a more casual sourdough baker you’ll want to keep your starter in the fridge and will only need to feed it once a week.
Ultimately, how you store your starter depends on your own baking preferences – if you always want it ready to go, then opt for room temperature storage and vice versa.
How to feed your starter: step-by-step instructions
Sourdough feeding instructions
Room temperature starter
- After your starter has reach peak activity, discard all but 1-2 tablespoons. The discard can be used in a dough or in a discard recipe.
- Add 100g of bakers flour and 100g of room temperature filtered water to the jar/container.
- Mix the starter until there is no dry flour left in the jar.
- Repeat this process every 24 hours.
- The starter can be used to bake with when it reaches peak activity (usually in around 6-8 hours depending on room temperature).
- The starter can be placed in the fridge straight after a fresh feed if you do not plan to bake for a few days.
Refrigerated starter
- Take the starter out of the fridge.
- If there is liquid on top (known as “hooch”), then either drain this off or stir it in.
- Discard all but 1-2 tablespoons. The discard can be used in a dough or in a discard recipe.
- Add 100g of bakers flour and 100g of room temperature filtered water to the jar/container.
- Mix the starter until there is no dry flour left in the jar.
- Pop it straight back in the fridge and repeat the same process 7 days later!
Feed your starter before baking
- To prepare your starter for baking: take the starter out of the fridge or off the counter, discard all but 1-2 tablespoon of starter and feed it as usual with equal parts (100g of each) flour and water.
- Loosely cover the starter and let it rest at room temperature. It should start to bubble and expand within 6-8 hours, but this may take up to 12 hours if your house is cold.
- The starter is ready to use in a dough when it has reached peak activity (when it stops rising and starts to fall back down the jar.
- Once the starter is ready, spoon out what you need for the recipe and set it aside.
- Feed the remaining starter left in the jar (you only need 1-2 tablespoons left) as usual, with equal parts (100g of each) flour and water.
- Mix until there is no dry flour left. From here, you can either follow the bench feeding or the fridge schedule as noted above.
Food for thought
Now you’ve learned everything you need to know about feeding your sourdough starter, I’ll leave you with some little loaves of wisdom from one baker to another.
- Always use equal parts starter, flour and water when it comes to feeding your starter – regardless of whether you’re using ½ cup of starter or 2 cups of it. Best to weigh ingredients so the ratio is exact.
- Try using your sourdough starter discard to make pancakes, waffles, cake, pizza, flatbread, or cookies.
- Eventually you’ll get the hang of your starter’s rhythm: how it rises and falls, how it behaves when you feed it more regularly and how it behaves when you neglect it, so feeding and maintaining it will become second nature to you.
If you’d like to take things to the next level and start nurturing your own sourdough starter, then check out our Complete Sourdough Starter Kit. It’s got everything you need to get started, so buy your kit today.
Don’t forget to tag us at @youkneadsourdough on Instagram, so I can “ooo’ and “ahh” over your sourdough creations.