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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Hi, I have a 4 week old starter. About a week ago it started smelling quite strong. Not the pleasant sour smell prior to this. Also it developed a layer on the top, sort of a bloom but not mould if that makes sense. I scooped the top off and continued to feed. It still smells very fruity/vinegary/nail polish removery. I baked a loaf of bread -your whole grain sourdough recipie and it was a total success in everything but the taste. VERY fermented tasting. Really really sour. Is there any way I can remedy this starter? Thanks so much for your advice.
Instead of building up a starter over a couple of days for a 2 cup amount in a recipe. I just feed it large equal weights of water and flour. I have started with as little as a tablespoon of starter and added as much as 200 grams each of water and flour. Let sit for 12 hours it will more than double over 12 hours. Do you think there would be anything wrong in doing it this way? So far it seems to be working great.
Question regarding the management of my starter….do I really have to throw out some or could I take the proposed discarded amount to start another kind of starter?
I’m an avid bread maker along with other culinary delights but have never made my own sourdough starter.
I’m on day 3 of my starter using rye flour(day 1)(day 2 was unbleached AP flour) and pineapple juice. It’s very thick, not liquidly like in the pic’s and videos???? Has been since the 1st day. Is this normal or should I add a little water?
Thanks
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
Sure, you can use it to make another starter or any baked goods.
There aren’t a lot of “normals” in getting a starter going. There are countless ways to go about it. A thicker starter might even be better as thicker doughs rise better than liquidy ones, so it might be easier to tell when it’s doing well.
My starter was growing and bubbling beautifully until I fed it for the first time and now it is flat and not doing anything, what did I do wrong?
There is nothing you could have done wrong if you just added flour and spring water without chemicals. Did temperature change to kill the yeast with heat? Did it cool to retard the yeasts action? If it did live and bubble and create alcohol it could have put itself to sleep with too much alcohol. Pour off the hooch and add more flour and spring water.
It is possible that you added too much water in proportion to the flour when you fed it. it should not be a soupy consistency, but more like a thick batter. I feed with the same volume amount of water that I have of starter- for example, 1 cup for 1 cup. Then I add slightly less than double the volume amount of flour – in this case would be 1-3/4 to 1/7/8 cups. If you can weigh the amounts in ounces or grams, that would be the most accurate. Each ingredient should weigh exactly the same amount- starter= flour= water.
Thanks, Ill have another go
Fair warning: all these timetables are accelerated in warm weather. (Source: I live in LA and my starter gets a little crazy if I leave it out for too long)
My question is when feeding my starter why does everybody say to dump out half of the starter then and equal amounts flour and water. To me that seems a bit wasteful. I have a cup of starter and I want to feed it and at the same time build it up to about to 3 ½ cups because the recipe I’m wanting to try calls for 2 ½ cups of starter how do I achieve this.
Hi James,
If I’m not going to use any of my starter I’ll pour out half of it and feed the rest. Otherwise, I just feed and use what I need. I even keep a jar of “pour out” starter in the fridge for pancakes, pizza crust, cakes, etc. These typically don’t need the “rise” from freshly fed starter.
Tom
Hi Tom
Thanks for the reply on what to do with the pour off but what I really need to know is what do I do to build up my 1 cup of active starter to about 3 ½ cup so I have the 2 ½ cups needed for the recipe I want to make and still have a cup left of active starter
I don’t think you have to pour off, just double (or even triple) your starter at each feeding until you have the amount you want. You only pour off if you don’t want you starter to get bigger and bigger. I never pour off, I just bake the morning after each feeding. Every few weeks I grow the starter until I have ten+ cups of starter and then use 9 cups to make a HUGE batch of pizza crusts to freeze.
James,
We pour off our starter when feeding it so that we don’t end up with a huge amount and then have to feed it even more to keep it alive (waste of flour in the feeding). When I put my starter away in the refrigerator I typically pour off everything that will come put of the jar and then just mix in 2 ozs water and 2 ozs flour back into the jar. There is always a tablespoon or more that clings to the sides of the jar and doesn’t get poured out so that is enough to keep my starter going. It is also healthier for the starter if you only keep small amounts. When I want to bake, I’ll pour as much from my jar as will flow out into a bowl and add water and flour to that bowl as well as feeding my jar. I usually feed that bowl twice before using it for baking, once in the evening and then again in the morning. This way I can build up to 3 or 4 cups of starter to bake with. I only bake on the weekends when I get home so this works for me. If I were home during the week I would keep a starter feed on the counter that I could just use from as well as my back-up in the fridge.
Howdy Mark,
I love you’re site, the videos are Brilliant! I’ve been trying to make decent sourdough all summer with little success until I found breadtopia.
My question is about when to use my starter after feeding it. My starter seems to be at its peaks around 6 or 7 hours after feeding, then it falls. Should I be adding it to my recipes around the time it peaks, before or after?
Sorry if the answere to my question is outlined on the site somewhere. I couldn’t find it.
Around the peak is best but it should still perform well long after the peak. You can feed your starter and refrigerate after it’s risen a good bit. Then draw what you need from the fridge within a few days of feeding. Even up to about a week before it needs feeding again. These are rough guidelines, but should help give you an idea of what you can expect. After a while you’ll get so you just know from experience and what your starter looks like, how to manage it.
much better results today! Thanks for the speedy reply.
Hi, Thanks for all the wonderful info. Since you have so much great information I’m wondering if you have a recipe for Sourdough Rye that has no wheat. For whatever reason I can’t eat wheat but Rye and most other grains are just fine.
Thanks!
Hi Alyssa,
Not exactly, but you could just experiment with following this sourdough rye recipe and substitute the white flour with something you can eat. It will likely be a lot denser is all.
http://www.breadtopia.com/sourdough-rye-bread/
Alyssa, you also might like to check out the rye recipes in the book that’s recommended here on Breadtopia– How to Make Bread. I am thinking of at least 1 (and I think maybe there are more?) 100% rye recipes. They turn out quite dense. They are baked in a loaf pan, and so it is a totally different type of loaf than the Breadtopia rye recipe. There are great instructions & ideas in this book.
Also, I haven’t tried this yet but I want to try subbing Einkorn flour for the white flour in the Breadtopia rye recipe – the Jovial brand product is sifted, and I would think it would not make the loaf as dense as other whole grain flours. It might be worth a shot if that grain works for you.
when you feed your starter do you add any more sugar or yeast and how do you know when you can use it to make your sour dough bread
Years ago I made sour dough bread. Decided to try it again and ordered starter. Looked at my bag of starter today. It has a spot which has changed color to a sort of tan surrounded by starter and empty in the center. So what do I do? I could open bag and rescue the rest of the starter or I could mix strange area with rest of starter in bag and proceed w/feeding.
Hi, I’m new to working with sourdough starter. I recently tried to revive some dried sourdough starter that had been stored at room temperature for over a year. I started out adding 1 Tbsp lukewarm water and the same amt flour 2x a day for 3 days and then started adding about a 1/4 c. of water and a bit more than a 1/4 c. of flour 2x a day for the past 4 days. During this time the starter has been stored at room temp, (approx 68 to 70 degrees). Throughout this whole time there have been small bubbles forming in the starter but it just does not look as vigorous as I think it should. It also does not seem to be doubling in volume – the growth is only about a quarter of what would be double if it is even that much. It is getting hooch liquid on top between feedings and smells somewhat sour. I am just not sure what to do at this point. I hate to give up on it but I’m not sure what to do to increase its activity. If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful. Thanks
Sounds like it is too liquidy and soupy. It should be a thick batter consistency. I feed my starter with almost twice the volume of flour (lightly spooned into cup) as water. If you have a kitchen scale, then weigh equal amounts of flour and water. If you already see some bubbling, this should work.
Thank you for the information in your video. Does it matter if the starter is in an airtight stoneware crock? I recently acquired some starter from my father that he has had for close to 28 years. It has been poorly maintained to say the least. I am trying to reactivate the portion I received. I just fed it and am leaving it on the counter to see if it comes back to life? I have to admit that I didn’t find your video until I had already stirred the hooch back into the original starter. Does that matter a whole lot? If it does not reactivate do you have any suggestions that might save this starter. It still has that sourdough smell and that is giving me hope. Thank you for your time and help.
I’m confused… When do I feed it, for baking? Also if I take out what I need for baking to I feed it again?
I started my sourdough starter about 2 weeks ago. it seems to have taken. but lately, when i remove/add from the starter, the replaced starter will double in volume, but later, like the next morning, it seems to have collapsed. when i remove the existing cup and add the new flour and water, it again will double, then collapse several hours later. Is this starter viable? What is happening? Am i doing something wrong?
Hi Mark,
That’s all good and totally normal. As the yeast exhausts much of the available nutrients from the flour, it will collapse. If you want to slow down the whole process (like if you’re not going to need your starter for a while) just stick it straight away into the fridge.
Hi Mark,
That’s all good and totally normal. As the yeast exhausts much of the available nutrients from the flour, it will collapse. If you want to slow down the whole process (like if you’re not going to need your starter for a while) just stick it straight away into the fridge after feeding.
Getting my starter going – new at this. But the recipes here (for all white flour) call for some yeast. What recipe should I use for no yeast – just the starter – for rising. And I don’t mind kneading.
This is fun!
Use the Sourdough No Knead Method found on this website. Use all unbleached white flour. I use 15.2 oz. weighed. Then use all the other ingredients (1 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 1/2 cups purified water 1/4 cup starter). My white loaves come out great!
Hi
I have a sourdough starter that was started from rye. Even with a gradual increase in relative proportions of white to rye, as soon as I get past about 1:1 ration, the starter becomes much less active. At a 4:1 ratio of white:rye, with a 1:2:2 feeding by weight of the mother, it will only rise about 1.5 times its volume. Still can’t get to that elusive doubling.
Using 00 white flour.
Can anyone provide any tips? Would be greatly appreciated.
I decided to experiment and change the hydration on my starter. I weigh my ingredients, so I mixed 8 oz. of starter with 4 oz. of KA unbleached bread flour and 3 oz. of well water. When I prepared dough the next day, the dough was dry, doubled easily overnight and was much easier to handle. The crumb is good, although I miss the larger holes. I bake my bread in a cast iron dutch oven, and lower it into the pot on a piece of parchment. However, my bread is still really flat on the bottom, and the bread is very dense. Tasty as heck, but “heavy.” My starter is a year and a half old. Suggestions?
Are you pre-heating the dutch oven? I does make a difference.
Yes, I preheat at 450 for 1/2 hour. I then bake, covered, at 450 for 40 minutes, then remove the lid and brown. I’ve tested internal temp and it’s at least 180. I think it’s just dense bread. We tend to favor it toasted, which really brings out the flavor too.
I don’t heat mine up that much. I just make sure it’s warm so my dough doesnt’ get the big surprise yours is getting. Try just warming the dutch oven up a little so before putting the dough in…say five minutes or so in your hot oven.
thank you, I’ll give it a shot!
Kathy, In my experience more white flour and higher hydration gives you bigger and better holes. Personally I would rather have a healthier denser loaf. Also when proving, my dough seems to be lighter with more holes, although small ones, when I prove in a warm place. Microwave Combi oven with the light on constantly and heated for 1 minute then turned off while I stretch and fold.
My starter is almost 4 weeks old. I have been feeding it and baking regularly. My last no knead bread had some of the sour tanginess. I am hoping this will continue to develop over time. The dough is incredibly active and rises over twice its size. I think I am going to try some baguettes and batards. For the batard, I will try the loaf shaped clay baker. For the baguettes, I will try to simulate the steam injection ovens by putting water in hot cast iron and spritzing the oven walls with water. I become increasingly fascinated with all of this.
I feel as though I am reading your personal journal. Very fun! I started by using the baking stone I bought here at Breadtopia. It’s a quality stone and does allow one to try a variety of shapes. For example, I enjoy making two small round loaves instead of one large one. One small loaf is perfect for dinner. And long loaves yield consistent sized slices. It’s also fun to roll things into the loaves. My favorite is grated cheddar with diced jalapenos. Or tons of cinnamon sugar with raisins. You end up with a swirl. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the support and suggestions. I will try the two variations you suggest. They sound really good!
Wish I could help you with your starter. I am still a novice at this. I try to make sure my starter is not too thick, thin enough to stir with a spoon but somewhat thick nonetheless. I add water to thin it if necessary. I feed it with 1/4 cup of unbleached white flour and then fill the 1/4 cup measuring scoop about 3/4 of the way with filtered water. (Maybe try filtering your water?) This results in incredibly active starter that doubles in size and raises bread beautifully. Perhaps I got lucky in that my local wild yeast is robust.
Hi mark! Great video
. I recently acquired a rather old starter that apparently came from Andrew whitely 
it is a rye starter. I got a decent amount so I was planning on keeping half in the fridge and half on the counter:) I would realistically bake 1-2 times a week, and I live on Vancouver island. So when I feed my refrigerated starter should I take out a cup before I feed?… Can I use this cold cup to bake?… When I feed this one should I let it warm before placing back in the fridge, or can I just stir, put the lid on and place right back in the fridge?… Also with my counter jar… Should I keep this jar sealed or leave it open to the air?…. And when feeding that one what is the minimum I can et away with feeding it while its on te counter?… And when I do go to feed do I still take some out first then do my feeding? An can I use that ‘discarded’ amount for baking?… Sorry for all te questions!!! I just really don’t want to kill this amazing opportunity 
any advise you could give me would be greatly appreciated!
I accidentally mixed in the “hooch” liquid with my neglected starter prior to watching this video. Can I still feed it and use it in a few days?
Sure. Some people mix it in as a matter of course.
and the crumb!
Here is the loaf. It is all KA unbleached white bread flour. The starter is maturing and there is more depth of taste and a much better texture.
Looks amazing, Mark, but do you need to feed your starter twice a day? I keep my starter in the fridge and feed it once a week whether I bake or not. And when I feed it, I bake the next day. So far, so good, although I got more oven spring when we lived in California than I do now in New Hampshire. Oh, and there is a really good English muffin recipe on http://www.thefreshloaf.com. Hav fun and good job!
btw I am “Mark H.” AND “Mark” on this site. Don’t know why I have the dual identity.
I fed my starter twice a day for the first 4 days after it reached maturity. Now I have it in the fridge. For this last loaf, I scooped out a heaping tablespoon of the refrigerated starter and fed it with 1/4 cup flour and an equal weight of filtered water. I stirred it and came back a few hours later and stirred it again. After about 5 hours, it had more than doubled in size and was bubbly and active. I used that starter in my recipe.
I am now feeding my refrigerated starter once a week.
My new starter reached maturity 3 days ago and I have baked 2 loaves that rose beautifully and tasted amazing. I have been feeding the starter twice a day since then and even poured some out to make room. Last night I put the starter in the fridge and it calmed down a bit. This morning I scooped out a heaping tablespoon of starter and fed it with 1/4 cup of flour and an equal weight of water. I stirred it twice and now it has doubled in size and is really active. I will prepare my dough today and bake tomorrow. I believe I can feed the cold starter in the fridge and it will grow only more slowly.
The wheat bread I baked yesterday was fantastic!
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