Managing Your Sourdough Starter
Before you watch this video on sourdough starter maintenance, please know that it really isn’t a big deal to keep your sourdough culture alive and healthy. A good starter is naturally very hearty and robust. If I were as strong as my starter is, I’d be competing in Iron Man competitions. At a minimum, all you have to do is throw some flour and water in once in a while to keep it alive during periods when you’re baking infrequently. To keep it near optimum health, feed it once a week or so and keep it refrigerated.
If you’re baking regularly, say weekly or bi-weekly, it’s easy enough just to feed it after using the amount called for in your recipe before returning it to your refrigerator. If you really want to be sure your starter is in optimum shape, feed it once or twice the day before baking or the two days prior to baking day. In addition, here are a few points that are worth noting…
- When you feed your starter, feed it with approximately equal weights of flour and water. That equates to about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of water for every cup of flour.
- As a general rule of thumb, the amount you feed your sourdough starter depends on how much of it you have to start with. When practical, you want to approximately double the amount of starter you have each time you feed it. However, if you already have a couple cups of starter on hand and typically only use a cup of starter in your recipe, it doesn’t make sense to have to double the existing two cups of starter. In this case just dispose of a cup or more of the starter and then double what remains.
- If it’s been a long time since you’ve fed your starter and you don’t plan on baking for a while, don’t feel like you have to go through a big rigamarole to keep it happy, just stir in a 1/2 cup of flour and about the same amount of water and forget about it. That will at least buy you a few more weeks before you have to worry about it again.
- If you really don’t think you’re going to use your starter at all for a very long time, (some people don’t bake during the summer months, for example), you could dry some starter and freeze it. It will store this way indefinitely. Then revive it in the fall. See the videos on drying starter and reviving dried starter.
- If you need a whole wheat or rye starter, it’s easy to convert your white flour starter by just a few successive feedings with the flour you want. You may have to adjust the water as some flours are thirstier than others.
- Be sure to store your starter in a container that’s not air tight. This comment from Madelyn dramatically (and humorously) illustrates why.
I’m really belaboring this subject. Once you’ve played around with sourdough starters for a while and baked some with it, you’ll know all you need to know and develop a sense for what works best. If your bread is not rising as much as you think it should (you’re not getting the desired oven spring) then try what I said about feeding your starter a couple of times in the 12-24 hours before starting your recipe.
As with anything on this web site, if you have any questions or comments about anything please ask in the space below.
Jan 13, 2011 Update: In this video I mention a favorite recipe of mine that calls for 2 cups of sourdough starter. It’s been so long since I shot the video (and many favorite recipes ago), that I’ve forgotten exactly which recipe I was referring to. I do know it was in Ed Wood’s book, Classic Sourdoughs. He has many recipes in there that call for 2 cups of starter.
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Quick question, what make the bread particularly sour. Just made a loaf of Whole Wheat bread, with wheat berrys, and it was really sour. The issue was the bread didn’t rise correctly, slow and spread out rather than up, but it was sour, on the positive side dogs though it was great.
So anyway, is the starter gone bad or was it not done correctly.
Appreciate any feed back.
I bake a lot and I feed my starter daily. I also travel frequently and have had good luck storing starter in the fridge for a few days here and there w/out feeding it. My question – in a couple of days, we’re off to Australia for two weeks. Looks like you’re saying I can throw my starter into the fridge and it’ll be fine unfed for that amount of time (really like 16 days). Is that the case? And when we get back, how long will it take for the starter to be vigorous enough to bake with? Thanks.
Hi Kim,
Yes. Of course feed it super well and put it straight away into the fridge just before you leave. You shouldn’t have any problem restoring it to optimum health with a couple feedings when you return. There are scads of people who’ve gone much longer without their starter dying but if you want to be crazy safe, dehydrate a bit of starter by smearing some on parchment paper and let dry at room temperature (or your oven with just the light on). Store the dry stuff in a plastic bag and give me a call in the morning if you ever need to.
Thanks so much! I’ll do both, just to see how it all works.
And I can’t resist posting a pic of my latest loaf, since you offer the chance. This one came out of the oven last night.
Fantastic crust.
Cheers. I’m really happy with it.
I don’t make sourdough bread that often, so I am thinking of freezing some of my starter. My question is, does the starter need to be fed first? Thanks for this site, it is very imformative, and I really enjoy the recipes and videos.
I made a white flour starter. I usually bake with whole wheat or some other flour but when I decided to try this all I had on hand was icky old white flour.
I made two batches. One for me and one for my brother. Interestingly enough, one batch is slower than the other. They were made exactly the same and placed in the same spot in the kitchen. But, happily both are working and viable. Now, I’m anxious to make a loaf of bread.
I am wondering if other flours can be added to this white flour starter. It seems like it shouldn’t make a difference. I guess I’ll find out the first time I try it.
Also, I am interested in knowing how whole grains, seeds and nuts will affect the outcome of my bread? I always add lots of those to my breads.
I’ll experiment but it would be helpful if anybody has comments.
Christine
Hi Christine,
My starter is also a white flour starter but every time I use some of it to make bread I usually use about 1/3 spelt or whole wheat flour in the recipe. It also helps the bread to rise better if the remaining 2/3 is white bread flour , but regular, all- purpose flour works OK too. I also have made Eric’s rye bread recipe and a squaw bread, and they were both great. As for adding seeds and nuts, I just made a sesame bread by adding 1/2 cup toasted seeds; it did require a little more water in the recipe- I probably should have just reduced the flour by 1/2 cup. Next up are sunflower seed, cracked wheat, cherry walnut and corn rye loaves. Experimenting can be fun – I’m sure your varieties will turn out fine.
I have never made homemade bread until this year. I found a recipe for a beer starter and it has turned out great! feed it and bake from it weekly and now the neighbors and friends are asking for my bread! Thanks for all your great tips!!
My sourdough starter was successful for two weeks, but then turned moldy.
I used your pineapple juice recipe to make the sourdough starter. The starter was vigorous and smelled good. The starter took about 7 days to get going. I made two excellent loaves of sourdough using your clay Romertopf Baker and your oval proofing basket during the next week. They looked just like your pictures and tasted great.
Yesterday, at the start of the third week, I opened my jar of starter and was surprised to see gray fuzzy mold growing above the starter in the top of the jar. The starter smelled bad and had a gray semi-solid layer on top. I threw the moldy starter away.
I did not refrigerate the starter. Is this why it turned moldy? Is there something else I should have done?
Yes. It needs to be refrigerated between use and fed about once a week.
Ok, I will remake the starter and then keep it in the frig. I am curious though. In the “old days” before easy refrigeration, how were the starters kept from going bad?
By the way, I am so happy with the clay baker and the rising basket that I ordered them for my son also.
If the starter is fed frequently enough, like daily, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated. Or maybe a lot of moldy starter was used
.
My starter is bubbling but is not rising very much. Any suggestions. I am feeding it twice a day now for the past week.
Hi Michael,
When starter is bubbly but not rising, it’s usually because it’s too liquidy. The bubbles from fermentation are just rising to the top. Stiffen the starter quite a bit with more flour and less water and the dough will trap the bubbles and rise. That’s the idea anyway.
Thanks, I will do so. Also, on the stollen recipe, should the marzipan melt into the bread or remain round and firm after baking. I know this is the wrong page and not on topic but any answer is appreciated.
It should pretty much retain its original shape and consistency.
Eric, thank you so much for this wee video; it has made the job of revitalising a starter that was given to me a week ago that much more manageable (O: Great site, and great energy.
Moran Taing (Many thanks),
Tiga
Mark thanks for that info. I was wondering if anyone would know approximately what the proof of the alcohal was in the hooch?
Mark in the past I to have made hard apple cider it never gave me a head ache but then again I never drank it in large amounts had a neighbor that I use to make it for he loved it.
Happy New Year to all my Breadtopia buddies.
Gary,
I think the proof is greatly influenced by many different factors like the amount of time of brewing, temp. of room, amount of sugar feedings, etc. I was making lots of this stuff, so I had batches a couple of months old that got pretty strong, but I never did any testing on it.
Maybe it wasn’t even stronger, but I sure remember a difference.
Mark
I make bread for the homeless and have 4 five gallon buckets going constantly of wheat and another 2 five gallon buckets of white in refrigeration that I haven’t touched in about 4-5 months that is constantly producing hooch so I know it can be reactivated with some feedings. My wheat produces about 1 cup per bucket ever other day.
There are many applications for alcohol besides consumption, I am wondering if with time it can be used as some sort of fuel so we may use it on our mobile locations.
Hi.
I’d also point out (as per Stu’s response below) that the alcohol level is probably low-ish. Different strains of yeast have different characteristics. Reflecting their occupation’s different concerns, Baker’s yeast produces more carbon dioxide while Brewer’s yeast produces more alcohol, while some yeasts can digest some slightly different kinds of sugars that other yeasts can’t. In fact, there are bunches of different brewer’s yeasts from different companies for different styles of beer that make use of these subtle differences.
Sourdough uses wild yeast. I can’t claim to know how much CO2 it creates compared to how much alcohol, but since it works well as a leavener and since (for the most part) brewers aren’t interested in wild strains, I suspect this hooch is on the lower alcohol side of things.
-hoobie
In the video, you spoke of feeding your starter several times before baking. Did you mean daily?
Also what makes a strong sour taste to the bread? The bread I used to make never tasted sour even though the starter smelled healthy and sour and was vigorous.
Hi Miriam,
You really only need to feed your starter before baking if you’re not already feeding it regularly. Roughly speaking starter should be fed about once a week to keep it healthy. Then if you want to feed it again within a day of baking, that is probably ideal. I’ve baked bread plenty of times with starter that hasn’t been fed in a week or so with fine results. If you want more sour in your bread, you’re more likely to get it with old starter. Fresh, well fed starter is more likely to produce bread with little or no sour taste.
I just received a present from my mom, Sheila, for Christmas. She ordered all sorts of awesome things from you (she noticed me watching your videos and looking longingly at your store). We are so excited to get our starter ready to use! We have been feeding it with distilled water. Is that ok? The starter seems healthy and vibrant, but we are wondering if there is a better option. Thank you so much for making my Christmas awesome!
Distilled water is ok. I’ve heard that the better option is just purified water instead of distilled. Purified water would simply be tap water run through a charcoal filter. Or spring water if you’re buying it.
I have been working with a starter since Dec.2010. I know, that is really young, but it is coming along well! I keep in a glass canning jar in the fridge with plastic/rubber band over the top. If I haven’t used it, I pull it out every two weeks and feed it. I started using bottled water but then got lazy and switched to tap water and it has been fine. With that said, we live in the Seattle area and have good water, not full of minerals, ect. so that may make a difference. I just got thinking that the pioneers that made bread didn’t have purified or bottled water and probably used well water? Just thought I would add that!
Okay this is my 2nd attempt on a proven family sourdough starter recipe. When I tok the starter out of the fridge it was not activting in the amount of time it should be per the recipe, so I fed it 3 times 8 to 12 our apart per a previous recommendation. It wa clearly active as it was bubbling away. So I made the dough. It asked to let it raise overnight. Well it barely did. I’m used to dough at leas doubling. Said to punch it down and alow to raise in pans bfore baking. Again barely rose and this was several hours. Well I’m baking them now hoping they will rise some more. I feel like I’m baking flat bricks. Are my pans to big? Wy aren’t they raising?
what does it mean when your starter smells like finger nail polish remover!!?? This doesn’t seem quite right. I put it in the fridge at about 14 days of age after baking two nice loaves of bread a couple days apart. Pulled out a day or so ago to make more bread and started to feed it first and it’s not growing double AND smelling like the above mentioned item. ANy idea what’s going on?
I found your video on maintaining your starter very helpful. Recently I tried to revive my starter that was neglected for about four months. I poured off the houch and kept a quarter cup. After feeding for three days, it still had an alcohol smell. Would this starter still be good for baking? It does look active.
You can often get old neglected starter back to its former healthy self with a series of feedings as you’re doing. If you can get it to look and smell like you remember it, then it’s good.
The hooch is an alcohol which was consumed in “the old west”. It’s not any more alcoholic than beer or wine and probably less.
Does anyone know if the houch can be consumed as an alcohol?
I’ve drank it, but not in large quantities. I remember making up real apple cider, big head ache time. Probably the same result. The flavor is nothing to savored, but it’s really not that bad.
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