How to care for your sourdough starter

Please note this has been updated from previous instructions. Last updated March, 11th 2023.

Not sure how to keep your new starter alive? Or maybe you just want to take excellent care of your starter so it gives you big beautiful loaves. This post will help answer some of your questions.

If you are wanting to make a starter from scratch, more power to you! I got my starter from a friend. This gave me the ability to make bread, or any other sourdough recipe right away! If you are local to me, I sell a jar of starter for $20 and I am more than happy to help you get going! If you’re not local and would like to buy starter, I can ship dehydrated starter to you (in the US) for $20. You can find the rehydration steps here!

lets get into it!

IMPORTANT – everyone has a different way of caring for their stater. You will, too, when you get the hang of things. You will gain much more confidence in the sourdough process if you follow ONE method and stick to it. I often hear people say they are getting confused with all the different verbiage and ways to care for the starter. To keep things simple for you, just follow these steps, at least for your first three loaves. Then maybe branch out and test other methods.

Feeding for a recipe – I recommend keeping the jar of starter in the fridge and when you are ready to bake, pull it out about 8-12 hours to feed before you plan on adding it to the dough. I also recommend keeping your starter in a large jar that will be big enough to hold all the starter once it rises. 16oz mason jar is the perfect size for fully risen 100g of starter. A small bowl or large mason jar typically works well if you need room for more.

Step 1 – Remove jar from fridge and ‘discard’ all starter except about 25g. You can keep the discard in a separate container (which would be stored in the fridge) for a discard recipe or toss it. *note* if you just received your starter from me – there is 25-50g of starter in the jar and no need to discard. The jar is 16oz and perfect for one loaf of sourdough or about 100g fully risen starter.

Step 2 – Add desired amount of flour and water, mix and let rise on counter until it has nearly tripled, and it is light and bubbly.

NOTE – You’ll always use 50% water and 50% flour when feeding your starter. If a recipe calls for 200g of starter then you will add 100g water and 100g flour to the jar.

Maintenance Feed – If the starter hasn’t been used for a recipe, you will want to feed your starter every couple weeks to maintain it. (As you become more familiar with the sourdough process, you may be able to leave it for longer between feedings.) You can either make a loaf and this would be considered a fresh feeding or do a maintence feed. Assuming you have a couple Tbs of starter in the jar (for the example we can say 30g) you will want want to feed it at least a 1:2:2 ratio (1 part being starter, and the others flour and water.) This would mean you would add 60g flour and 60g water to ensure the existing starter has enough food for a healthy feeding. Let rest on the counter for 8-12 hours, then return to the fridge.

It is essential you do not just keep adding flour and water to the jar continually with out removing the appropriate amount. You will likely not be adding enough fresh flour for the existing amount and slowly starve it. It is also more likely mold will grow.

Always try to make sure the existing starter is less than a couple Tbs or under 30g for a maintence feed. This helps avoid wasting flour and accidentally underfeeding. It may be helpful to weigh your empty starter jar and write the weight (in grams) on the bottom so you can easily do the math for how much starter is in the jar at any time. Discard anything over the few TBS or 20-30g starter.

If you plan on being out of town for a while or unavailable to feed your starter (longer than 2-4 weeks) I would suggest doing a fresh feeding in a clean jar with very little starter (less than 20g) and feed at a 1:3:3 ratio. ie: 10g in the jar – add 30g water and 30g flour. Let rise on the counter for about 8 hours and then cover airtight and refrigerate. This can help prevent any potential mold growth and really helps ensure your starter has enough flour before being left a long time.

how often do you need to feed your starter if it lives in the fridge?

To err on the side of caution, while you are getting comfortable caring for your starter, try to do a maintenance feed at least once a month or even better, every two weeks. Many blog posts I’ve read about caring for your starter list a lot of rules… I don’t really follow any of them except for using unbleached, organic flour and correct feeding ratios which are listed above. Don’t stress about your starter! Just get going and keep trying. In the end, as long as your bread tastes good to you, that is all that matters!

does it matter how long the starter rises before you bake?

YES. I know planning ahead isn’t for everyone, but this is a really important part to ensure your loaf will rise and taste sour. Try to plan the day you want to bake your bread then work backward to give your starter 8-14 hours of rising time before adding to your dough. I let my starter rise on the counter overnight. If I’m pressed for time, I will let it rise in a warm area such as my oven or by a window early in the morning before adding to the dough. I have recently purchased this BREVILLE TOASTER OVEN which also has a proof setting. It has been so helpful!

Example Schedule: you want to have loaves baked for Sunday lunch. They will ideally sit in the fridge the night before so you’ll make your dough on Saturday. Your starter needs enough time to rise before adding to the dough on Saturday, so feed it Friday night. Hopefully this makes sense!

recipe recommendations

Watching YouTube videos has been the most helpful for me while learning how to make sourdough! Just remember, as long as you like the taste of your loaves, that is all that matters! Farmhouse on Boone and Joshua Weissman are great videos to follow while you’re learning!

If you would like to attend an in person class which includes a full recipe and instructional packet – all details are listed on my Facebook Page Bread By Hope.

Here is a blog post with a link all the tools I like to use when making sourdough bread.

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have!