The best way to maintain sourdough starter is to be routine. This means you must feed your starter on a regular basis. However, do not get nervous about it, even if you miss a week or even a month (or three) your starter will come back! A sourdough starter is an amazing living organism but thankfully, it can survive some neglect. The trick is to bring it back to full strength before baking again. I will discuss how to be routine and how to bring it back to life after some neglect. So, read on sourdough baker!
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How to Maintain Sourdough Starter
Has your starter been alive for at least three weeks and you baked at least one successful sourdough bread? I am not talking perfection, here, as let’s be honest that takes a lot of time and practice. You made a recipe, the dough rose enough to bake, and the final baked bread was edible. Maybe it is not perfect but not a brick either. Or maybe it was a brick, either way, it’s time to care and feed your starter on a routine basis. Hint: In that case, feed your starter according to the below instructions and try again.
How to Store Your Sourdough Starter?
Glass or Plastic Storage Container?
Sourdough starters can be stored in glass or plastic jars. My only preference, is to store it in a glass jar when left for extended periods. Otherwise, a plastic jar will do just fine. The plastic does have more flexibility and will prevent a starter from rupturing a glass jar (which it can do)! To prevent that, keep the lid slightly ajar after you feed the starter. I like mason jars with a lid – just leave the lid ajar when after a feeding.
Counter or Refrigerator?
If you use sourdough starter on a regular basis (daily) you can store it on the counter. There’s an exception to that rule. If the temperature is 95F (35C) degrees or higher, feed your starter, let it double, then place in the refrigerator. Otherwise, you risk killing your starter – heat increases activity, therefore, yeast spores die once all the food is gone. If you use your starter weekly, then feed, double and store in the refrigerator. See below for feeding instructions.
How Much Sourdough Starter Should You Maintain?
In my kitchen, I maintain 150g of Sourdough Starter so I can use 100g every time I bake one loaf. If you are using a different recipe, then half the amount of required sourdough starter and multiply by 3. Here is an example of the formula if you use 100g of starter:
(100g / 2) * 3 = 150g of STARTER
How Do You Feed to Maintain Sourdough Starter and Bake Weekly?
In the following instructions, I give you a weekly schedule based on baking a loaf of bread Saturday morning. Adjust the below timeline according to the day of the week you want to bake your bread.
STEP 1: Before you begin, weigh your empty sourdough starter container and write the weight on the bottom. This allows you to weigh a container full of starter and subtract the container weight. (For the follow-on example, an empty container weighs 100g).
Feed Your Starter Before Baking
STEP 2: On Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. (or 48 hours before you bake your bread), remove starter from the refrigerator. Place it on the scale to determine the container + starter weight. Here is an example of the formula if your container weighs 100g:
250g (container & starter weight) – 100g (container weight) = 150g STARTER in the jar
STEP 3: Discard a portion of the spent starter according to the below formula. Discard is a portion of spent starter you remove from the jar before feeding. Do not throw discard away. Place discard in a clean jar and store in the refrigerator. Bake a discard recipe, like PIZZA, FOCACCIA, PANCAKES. Here’s the formula:
150g STARTER in the jar – 100g Discard = 50g left in the starter jar
STEP 4: Always use a metric scale to maintain a sourdough starter. Feed starter using the 1:1:1 formula (one portion starter + one portion water + one portion flour). In this example, I need 100g of starter to bake, so I mix up 150g of starter. Add 50g water to 50g starter; mixing first to break up the starter and distribute evenly in the water. Then, mix in 50g flour with a spoon. Here’s the formula:
(50g starter + 50g tap water + 50g of flour) = 150g freshly fed starter
STEP 5: Loosely cover freshly mixed starter and let stand at room temperature until doubled in size. If you fed your starter at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, it should double by 3:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. The rule of thumb is that freshly fed, healthy starter doubles within 6-8 hours of feeding.
How Often Should I Bake with my Sourdough Starter?
Professional bakers are using their starters every day. It is just not practical for an in-home baker, unless you have many mouths to feed! So, we’ll continue to discuss a more practical bake-once-weekly on Saturday morning routine below that continues from steps 1-5 above.
STEP 6: Use freshly fed starter after it has doubled in 6-8 hours but within 24 hours of feeding. For instance, if you fed at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, start mixing your dough after 8 hours(3:00 p.m. on Thursday). And up to 24 hours after feeding (7:00 a.m. on Friday). If you are unable to bake bread, place your starter back in the refrigerator. When you are ready to use it, pull it out and feed it again before baking bread.
STEP 7: Remove the portion of required starter and mix up your bread recipe. In our example, you might mix the bread at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday evening (12 hours after feeding). Then proof overnight, shape Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. Place shaped bread into a banneton. Put the banneton/bread into the refrigerator for 24 hours, bake at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Or, follow the simple sourdough recipe here.
ALWAYS USE A SCALE TO MIX STARTER
STEP 8: After removing 100g of the starter to mix bread, feed your starter again according to the formula above. Copied here for ease.
(50g starter + 50g tap water + 50g of flour) = 150g freshly fed starter
STEP 9: Keep the starter at room temperature until it doubles again. Reminder, it should double within 6-8 hours. After the starter has doubled, place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to remove it, feed it, and bake again (go back to Step 2).
How Often Should You Feed a Starter?
I often get asked this question. Sourdough starters do best if they are fed once weekly, regardless if you are making bread or not. So, even if you are going to take a week off from bread making, pull your starter out of the refrigerator and feed it according to the steps above. This way, your starter is always happy and healthy – ready to bake when you are ready!
What to Do with Starter when You Go on Vacation?
Starter can be left for extended periods of time without feeding. I have successfully left a starter for up to 3 months in the refrigerator and brought it back to life in a few feedings. If you are concerned about leaving your starter, read this post to find out how to dehydrate it. Otherwise, below are my recommendations for long-term storage:
STEP 1: Before going on an extended vacation, feed your starter. If you are going for over 3 weeks, I recommend you feed the starter with rye flour. Rye flour has more food than white bread flour, which will better feed the yeast for an extended period of time.
STEP 2: Feed the starter according to the instructions I already described above. After feeding, allow it to double before placing it into the refrigerator the day before you leave for vacation.
STEP 3: Upon returning from vacation, remove your starter, drain any liquid and scrape off any grey residue on top of the starter.
How to Bring a Starter Back to Life After Neglect
STEP 4: Remove 25 grams of unaffected starter after scraping off any grey residue. Place it into a clean container.
STEP 5: Feed it according to the following formula:
(25g starter + 25g tap water + 25g of flour) = 75g freshly fed starter
STEP 6: After 24 hours, remove 25g discard and feed it again according to the below formula:
(75g starter – 25g discard)+ 50g water + 50g of flour = 150g freshly fed starter
STEP 7: Starter should double within 6-8 hours of feeding. At that point, it is ready to mix up a fresh batch of bread! If it does not double within 6-8 hours of feeding, remove 100g discard, and feed it again according to the instructions above.
Want more advanced sourdough recipes to try?
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