How To Feed A Sourdough Starter: Easy Starter Maintenance

So you've created a bubbly sourdough starter. Now you need to know how to feed a sourdough starter once it's established. Here you'll learn how to feed, maintain and store your active sourdough starter.

Creating a sourdough starter doesn't end at day 14. You need an easy starter maintenance routine to keep your starter alive - and most importantly - thriving!

This article aims to show you how to feed a sourdough starter once it's established. It will show you how to care for sourdough starter beyond the initial first few weeks.

When you maintain your sourdough starter correctly with the right sourdough feeding ratio, your sourdough starter will live indefinitely and can be come a family heirloom.

If you have purchased a dried sourdough starter, you'll find instructions on how to rehydrate it here.

What Is A Sourdough Starter?

A sourdough starter is a colony of living micro organisms. It's symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria. Unlike commercial yeast, the wild yeast in a sourdough starter come from various sources and are a little unpredictable.

Because it's alive, it requires regular and consistent feeding - just like raising a baby, right? Well, I'll tell you after raising 3 babies ... a sourdough starter is a damn side easier!

So once your sourdough starter baby has reached maturity, it still requires love and care, just in a different way to a baby starter.

There are lots of different types of sourdough starters! You can find out about 10 of the most common sourdough starters here.

When Does Sourdough Starter Move to Maintenance Mode?

Making a sourdough starter from scratch is very different to purchasing an established starter.

When starting from scratch, you will need to feed your sourdough starter twice a day for several weeks and keep it warm. Most sourdough starters will show signs of readiness from 14 days old - but some will take up to 4 or even 6 weeks.

If your starter takes a bit longer, it doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong.

Each sourdough starter is a unique product of the wild yeast found in your flour, your environment and on your hands! This is teamed with temperature, humidity, water quality. All of these factors have a bearing on when your sourdough starter is "bake ready".

As a general rule, if you have made a sourdough starter from scratch, it's best to keep your starter on the counter and feed it twice a day for 3 to 4 months.

Once it's around 3 to 4 months old, is doubling consistently and baking good bread, you can then place it into "maintenance mode". You can find a full guide to understanding when you sourdough starter is ready to bake with here.

Of course you can still bake with your starter while you are waiting for it to mature. Most starters will be ready to use from around 14 to 30 days. While your starter won't be mature at this time, you can definitely still bake with it.

Here are 5 great beginner recipes to test out your sourdough starter with:

• Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe
• Simple Sourdough Focaccia Recipe
• Easy Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread Recipe
• The Easiest Sourdough Discard Bread You'll Ever Make
• Easy Whole Wheat Rye Sourdough Bread

Keeping Sourdough Starter On The Counter

Once your sourdough starter has reached maturity and is ready for "maintenance" you can keep it on the counter. Many people insist that a starter needs to be put into the fridge at this stage, but there's no hard and fast rules here.

If you bake regularly (at least 3 to 4 times per week) then your starter is probably best kept on the kitchen counter.

While you've been feeding your starter twice a day up until now, at this point, you can feed your sourdough starter less.

I would first reduce the feeding to just once a day and see how your starter reacts. Generally, feeding it once a day is a good rule when leaving your starter on the counter.

Feeding it less than this can leave your starter open to mold and harmful bacteria, however you can also overfeed a sourdough starter.

If your starter seems to be ok with once a day feeding, it should be ok if you forget to feed it for a day or even if you intentionally skip a feeding - but ideally you should feed daily.

How To Feed Sourdough Starter on The Counter (Daily Feeding Method)

If you're baking every day - or at least 3 to 4 times a week, maintaining your sourdough starter on the counter makes sense.

Here's how to maintain your sourdough starter on the counter:

1. Weigh out 50g of sourdough starter using a digital scale. Discard the rest of the starter (this can be used for discard recipes so long as your starter is at least 7 days old).
   
2. To the 50g of sourdough starter, add 50g of flour and 50g of water. Stir the mixture vigorously.
   
3. Leave the sourdough starter to rise on the counter. Use it at its peak.
   
4. Repeat every 12 to 24 hours or as needed.

Using a rubber band can be an easy way to measure when your sourdough starter is doubling.

Storing Sourdough Starter In the Fridge (Weekly Feeding Method)

Once your sourdough starter is mature, you can store it in the fridge.

I do not advise putting your sourdough starter in the fridge before it is 3 to 4 months old. The wild yeast colonies are not established enough prior to this point.

Putting your sourdough starter in the fridge puts it to sleep. When your starter is asleep, it is not growing or building strength. So storing it in the fridge is purely for maintenance - not growth!

Fridge storage is perfect if you don't bake daily and just want to bake once a week or once a fortnight.

Before you put your sourdough starter in the fridge, you need to feed it at a ratio of 1:2:2.

I've written a full guide on how to store your sourdough starter in the fridge here.

If you want to put your sourdough starter on hold for longer, you might consider drying it out and storing it in the pantry.

Understanding Sourdough Feeding Ratios

Sometimes you'll see sourdough starter expressed as a ratio. You might see 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.

These ratios refer to the ratio of flour and water to starter. The ratio is expressed as SOURDOUGH STARTER : FLOUR : WATER

So you could feed your starter at a 1:2:2 ratio like this - 25g of starter : 50g of flour and 50g of water.

Feeding your sourdough starter at a higher ratio will slow the starter down. For example, feeding your starter a 1:10:10 ratio at 8pm at night would ensure your sourdough starter peaks when you wake up. So this would look like 10g starter : 100g flour : 100g water. Or it might look like 20g starter : 200g flour : 200g water if you have lots of baking to do.

Most of the time, feeding your sourdough starter at 1:1:1 is perfect. But there are times when higher ratios are handy. If you're increasing the ratio of your sourdough starter, make sure you're using the right sized jar.

You can read more about increasing the size of your sourdough starter here and more about how you can use ratios for creating baking schedules here.

Sourdough Starter Feeding Schedule

Sometimes it can be hard to imagine how you will do anything but feed your sourdough starter, it can seem a bit overwhelming.

But creating a sourdough baking timeline around your life is essential for successful sourdough baking.

I thought it would be useful for you to see how it might look to maintain your starter on a weekly basis - whether you're caring for your starter on the counter or in the fridge.

Sourdough Starter Feeding Schedule - Counter

Here's what your sourdough starter feeding schedule might look like if you're maintaining your sourdough starter on the counter.

You can see that the starter is being fed a bigger ratio (1:3:3) to ensure that it delays the peak.

DAY	TIME	STARTER MAINTENANCE
MONDAY	8 AM	Feed sourdough starter 1:1:1
	12 PM	Use sourdough starter for bake.
	8 PM	Feed sourdough starter 1:3:3 ratio
TUESDAY	3 PM	Use sourdough starter for bake.
	8 PM	Feed sourdough starter 1:3:3
WEDNESDAY	8 PM	Feed sourdough starter 1:3:3
THURSDAY	12 PM	Use sourdough starter for bake.
	4 PM	Feed sourdough starter 1:3:3
FRIDAY	7 AM	Use sourdough starter for bake.
	8 PM	Feed sourdough starter 1:3:3
SATURDAY	7 AM	Use sourdough starter for a bake. Feed sourdoughs starter 1:1:1
	1 PM	Use sourdough starter in a bake.
	8 PM	Feed sourdough starter 1:1:1
SUNDAY	10 AM	Feed sourdough starter 1:1:1
	2 PM	Use sourdough starter for a bake.

Sourdough Starter Feeding Schedule - Fridge

Here's what your sourdough starter feeding schedule might look like if you are storing your sourdough starter in the fridge:

DAY	TIME	STARTER MAINTENANCE
SUNDAY	8 PM	Feed starter 1:2:2 and place into fridge.
FOLLOWING SATURDAY	8 AM	Take starter out of the fridge, discard and feed 1:1:1, leave on counter.
	5 PM	Discard and feed 1:1:1, leave on the counter.
	9 PM	Use starter at peak in a bake.
SUNDAY	8 AM	Feed starter 1:2:2 and place back in fridge.
(two weeks pass)		Starter remains in the fridge unfed for 2 weeks).
FRIDAY	8 PM	Take starter out of fridge, discard + feed 1:1:1, leave on the counter overnight.
SATURDAY	7 AM	Discard and feed 1:1:1, leave on the counter
	1 PM	Use starter at peak in a bake.
	8 PM	Feed starter 1:3:3, leave on counter
SUNDAY	7 AM	Use starter in a bake. Feed starter 1:2:2 and put back into the fridge.

Best Tips for Feeding & Maintaining Sourdough Starter

Here are my best tips for feeding your sourdough starter. They might seem small, but every little bit helps you to have a successful sourdough starter.

• Use a digital scale to measure your ingredients (see the section below for more info)
  
• You don't always have to use a clean jar. Often your sourdough starter will thrive if left in its own jar. You can weigh your jar so you know what what it will weigh with 50g of sourdough starter in it. Then you can discard from the jar and feed into it.
  
• If feeding into a clean jar, always add water first, then sourdough starter then flour. This will enable you to mix it together more easily and you won't have such a mess (you'll find more cleaner sourdough baking tips here).
  
• Once you've discarded, add water to your jar, screw on the lid and shake to mix the water and starter, then add the flour. Your starter will love this! Watch it grow!

Measure Your Ingredients Carefully

Just like when you first created your sourdough starter, maintaining a sourdough starter still requires you to measure your ingredients carefully by weight - not volume.

Caring for your sourdough starter requires a digital kitchen scale for accuracy.

This is because half a cup of water and half a cup of flour do not weigh the same.

Measuring your sourdough starter ingredients by volume will starve your sourdough starter and make your baking efforts lacklustre.

Always measure your ingredients for sourdough baking using weight.

Do You Have To Discard Sourdough Starter Every Time You Feed It?

The short answer - yes! Sourdough starter must be discarded or reduced before each and every feeding.

If you do not discard the starter it will grow exponentially and the acidity of the starter can also be affected.

Of course, once your starter is mature, the discarding of you starter looks a little different. The part you use for baking is then considered you "discard" and the remainder of the starter in the jar can then be fed.

Discard can be a confusing topic - but if doesn't have to be. I've written this guide to discarding your sourdough starter here. This goes through the how and why of sourdough discard in detail.

You'll also find 60+ sourdough discard recipes here - perfect for using any discard you have.

What Happens If You Forget To Feed Your Sourdough Starter?

If you forget to feed your sourdough starter, check it for mold. If there's no mold, discard and feed as normal. Depending on the time that has lapsed since its last feed, it may take a couple of feeds to come back to its regular health and behavior.

Sourdough starter is incredibly resiliant however as it is a living colony of micro organisms, it does need to be fed regularly while it is on the counter.

The fate of your sourdough starter really depends on its age and maturity. If you forget to feed your one month old sourdough starter for 3 days, you have a high risk of losing your starter to mold or bad bacteria.

If you forget to feed your six month old sourdough starter for 3 days, it will more than likely smell terrible but it won't necessarily die.

How Long Can A Sourdough Starter Sit At Room Temp?

As above, this is a question that depends on so many factors. It depends on what the room temperature actually is and how old and mature the sourdough starter is.

A sourdough starter will last longer at cooler temperatures than at warmer temperatures. At warmer temperatures (above 28C) the sourdough starter will become hungry and develop hooch very quickly.

At cooler temperatures (below 20C) the sourdough starter will take longer to rise and will maintain its peak for longer, prolonging hunger and preserving it.

A young sourdough starter (less than a month old) will not last long without feeding. It will develop mold or harmful pink bacteria rendering it "dead".

A more mature sourdough starter will be able to last at least a few days unfed on the counter.

If it is fed regularly, a sourdough starter will last indefinitely at room temperature, no matter what that temperature is.

How To Tell If Your Starter Is Healthy

The health of your sourdough starter is imperative. The last thing you want to do is use a bad sourdough starter.

The most important thing to look for is mold. Basically, as long as there's no mold on your sourdough starter, it is considered alive and healthy.

Other things that you might notice or need to look out for are:

• Cloudy or dark liquid sitting on top of your starter (hooch)
• Kahm Yeast
• Watery or runny sourdough starter
• Smells like acetone or nail polish remover

As long as your sourdough starter shows no signs of mold, there's a pretty good chance you can bring it back to perfect health. One of the most frequently asked questions in my Facebook Group is "have I killed my sourdough starter?"

Frequently Asked Questions

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