How to Feed a Sourdough Starter

The foundation of any good sourdough is a healthy and happy starter. How you feed your starter is ultimately your choice, as you adapt it to suit your baking needs; frequency, type of flour, kitchen temperatures, etc. Feeding my sourdough was one of the most daunting tasks when I started baking, so hopefully I can help to clear things up for you!

The most important part of maintaining a sourdough starter is: don’t overthink it! Keep in mind that there is evidence that sourdough has been around since 3000 BC. If the settlers can maintain a starter in the back of their chuckwagon while travelling across the prairies, you can do it in your controlled, clean kitchen! Sourdough starter is remarkably hard to kill, and very easy to restart if that should happen.

I bake bread about once a week since it’s the only type of bread that I feed my family now. So, I usually feed my starter just as often as I bake bread, storing it in the fridge in between so that it doesn’t over-ferment. The frequency you want to bake bread will depend on how often you feed your starter, so play around with it a little to see what gets you the best proof for your environment.

To really dumb it down so you understand what is happening inside your starter, essentially there is natural wild yeast that lives on flour naturally. When mixed with water, the yeast will ‘activate’ and begin to ferment the natural sugars (carbohydrates) in flour. To have continuous, healthy fermentation, you must continually feed that yeast.

RATIOS

I usually feed my starter by using weight measurements rather than volume, simply because weight is more accurate. But if you don’t have a kitchen scale you can always play around with volumes to see what ratios work best. When using weight, I feed my starter in a 1:1 ratio of flour and water. If you choose to use volumes, you won’t be able to use that ratio since 1 cup of water doesn’t weigh the same as 1 cup of flour, it’s actually a little heavier.

What works best for me, baking 1 loaf of sourdough a week, is using 20 g starter, 100 g each of water and flour (1:5:5 ratio). This gives me a really thick and active starter in the perfect quantity to have enough for 1 loaf, feed for more active starter, and to have discard to use in other recipes.

The ingredient amounts in grams I use to make my sourdough starter.

I normally use all-purpose flour because that’s what I most often have on hand, but using bread flour, rye, or a mixture will all work so long as the flour you use has a higher starch content to feed the natural yeast. I would recommend mixing your flours to create some kind of all-purpose blend since it has a higher starch content (for example, 70% all-purpose and 30% rye).

SCHEDULE

As I mentioned, I only feed my starter once a week, usually about 9 - 12 hours before I plan on beginning the sourdough bread process. So, if I plan on making my dough first thing in the morning, I will feed my starter around supper time the night before. Once your sourdough has proofed completely, it’s time to bake! Keep in mind, that the warmer your kitchen, the faster fermentation will take place. Check out my sourdough starter maintenance guide for more info!