
How often should you feed a sourdough starter?
Sourdough Starter Feeding Instructions
- Measure starter kept at room or remove ¼ cup starter from a refrigerator.
- Add flour to the starter with water every 8-12 hours employing one of the following methods: If the scale is your preferred instrument when measuring ingredients, blend equal amounts by ...
- Close it up and keep it in a warm area, 70°-85°F, for 8-12 hours. ...
How to make and feed a sourdough starter?
- To make a sourdough loaf, you need to begin with sourdough "starter" that contains wild yeast.
- It takes about seven days to get sourdough starter to the point where you can use it to make bread.
- If your starter looks dried out or otherwise unusual, you can perk it up with a quick feeding.
Should I Feed my sourdough starter before baking?
Schedule for feeding your sourdough starter:
- Your starter needs to be fed about 1x per week if refrigerated, and every day if left at room temperature.
- Generally, about 5-6 hours after feeding my starter is ready. ...
- I take my starter out of the refrigerator once a week for feeding, even if I’m not baking. ...
- Did you know you can dry your sourdough starter? ...
How to feed, maintain and backup sourdough starter?
- Take out ¼ cup sourdough starter from the refrigerator or measure the amount of starter you have.
- Feed the starter by adding water and floor: If using a scale to measure ingredients, combine equal volumes by weight of starter, water, and flour. ...
- Stir with vigor.

Does sourdough starter need to be fed daily?
A starter stored in the fridge will only require feeding once a week to maintain it. If you use your sourdough starter every day, keep it at room temperature. Follow the feeding instructions above and then leave it at room temperature. You will need to 'feed' it every day (at the same time, if possible).
What ratio should I feed my sourdough starter?
Think of it as one part starter, one part water, plus one part flour (or 1:1:1). Just remember to keep all parts equal by weight. This is the ratio that I recommend for starting and feeding your starter until it is well established (after the 10-14 day initial time frame).
What flour should I feed my sourdough starter?
Compared to whole wheat flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient- and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means it produces slack, sticky, and dense doughs.
How often should I feed a sourdough starter?
How often should I feed my sourdough starter? A. Refrigerated sourdough starter requires weekly feedings. When maintained at room temperature, the sourdough starter should be fed every 12 to 24 hours, depending on the specific starter and culturing conditions.
Can I feed my starter without discarding?
Instead you feed the starter every day with equal amounts flour and water without discarding any while you are getting it established, then once it is established (after a week or two) you only need to feed it the day before you want to make bread.
Can you overfeed a sourdough starter?
Yes, you can overfeed your sourdough starter. Audrey explains: “Every time you add more flour and water, you are depleting the existing population of natural bacteria and yeast.” If you keep adding more and more, eventually you'll dilute the starter so much that you'll just have flour and water.
Can I switch flours in my sourdough starter?
Yes, you can feed your sourdough starter different flours. The sourdough starter's organisms are looking for a food source, and that is starch. Starch is in all the grains, so any will do.
How do I strengthen my starter?
The most effective ways of strengthening a weak sourdough starter is by using whole rye flour, ensuring regular feedings immediately after the sourdough starter reaches peak rise, allowing the sourdough starter to ferment at 25 Celcius, and using unchlorinated water to feed the sourdough starter.
Should I feed My sourdough starter once or twice a day?
As a general rule: Once your starter is healthy and active, bubbling, rising vigorously, and smelling sour, you have two options:If you store the starter at room temperature, you need to feed it twice a day. ... If you store the starter in the fridge, you can go up to a week between feedings.
What happens if you dont feed sourdough starter?
If you don't feed it often enough, the sourdough starter starts to smell like alcohol. You may also find that the starter loses its vibrancy and doesn't get too bubbly and active after a feeding.
Do you Stir sourdough starter before using?
It really doesn't matter whether you stir your sourdough starter before you use it. Because ingredients are measured in grams, your sourdough starter will weigh the same whether it's been stirred or not.
Why do you discard sourdough starter?
As part of the feeding process, most bakers discard some of their sourdough starter before adding fresh flour and water to the jar. This is done to refresh the acidity levels (think sweet vs. sour smell) and to manage its overall growth in size. This technique is crucial for successful sourdough bread.
What is the best ratio of sourdough starter to flour?
1:1 ratioA "100% hydration sourdough starter" means it's 1 part water and 1 part flour. In other words, for every gram of flour there's a corresponding gram of water, hence 100% of the flour is hydrated. This is the easiest starter to maintain since most recipes are written with a 1:1 ratio in mind.
How much should a 200g starter feed?
Admittedly, it is the most precise and consistent way to feed a sourdough starter, since various flours have different weights and volumes. To feed a sourdough starter using weight, simply combine equal parts starter, flour, and water. For example, 100 grams of each. Or for a larger starter, 200 grams of each.
Should you feed sourdough starter every 12 or 24 hours?
Continue feeding your starter every 12–24 hours until it doubles in volume every 8–12 hours, has a pleasant, yeasty smell, and passes the float test (see note). Once it passes the float test, your starter is ready to be baked with! The whole process of getting your starter established can take anywhere from 5–10 days.
How much does 50g of sourdough starter feed?
½ cupThe portion of sourdough starter added to the dough is often referred to as active starter or levain. Simply feed the starter using the amounts called for in the recipe you are using. Example: Our beginners sourdough bread recipe calls for ½ cup (50 g) of active starter.
First, create a sourdough starter
If you don't already have a sourdough starter, head to my easy sourdough starter creation guide to learn to make your own sourdough starter in around seven days. It's an easy process of mixing flour and water, discarding, and letting the mixture rest until stable and predictable fermentation happens each day.
What is feeding sourdough starter?
A sourdough starter needs a regular feeding of fresh flour and water to provide it with “food” for its metabolic activities.
How do I feed my sourdough starter?
I use baker's percentages to communicate how I feed my starter in the same way I use them to convey bread formulas. All components of my sourdough starter are relative to the flour weight, which is always at 100%.
Sourdough starter feeding schedule
Now that you have an idea of what I feed my sourdough starter each day, let's look at its schedule.
What's next?
How do I feed my sourdough starter? Well, that's it! I'll keep this post updated with any changes to my feeding regiment, but if you're interested in reading more about starters, have a look at my sourdough starter collection, where I have a collection of maintenance routines, discard recipes, guides, and more.
Sourdough starter frequently asked questions
I have an in-depth sourdough starter FAQ with many questions and answers, but below are a few related to the question how do I feed my sourdough starter?.
What is Sourdough Starter?
A sourdough starter is a live fermented culture of flour and water. Once it’s “fed” with additional flour and water, it becomes bubbly and active. A small portion is used to make bread dough rise- instant yeast is not required.
Why Feeding Matters
The thing is though, you can’t grab a starter, leave it on the counter and expect it to work on a moment’s notice. Bakers feed starters to activate (prior to making bread dough) and to maintain strength when not in use.
Feeding Sourdough Starter (In-Depth)
While feeding sourdough (at a glance) is pretty straight forward, this section breaks down each of the 3 steps for a better understanding.
How to Store & Maintain Sourdough Starter
Once you have a starter, you’ll need to maintain it with regular feedings when not in use- otherwise your bread won’t rise. Your feeding routine is directly related to where it’s stored and how often you plan to bake.
Artisan Sourdough Made Simple
A beginner’s guide to delicious hand-crafted bread with minimal kneading.
Tips for using and maintaining your sourdough starter
Since I don’t bake every day, I keep my starters (yes, I have 3) in the refrigerator.
Notes
Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard if you don't want to throw it away.
Recommended Products
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How To Feed The Sourdough Starter
The process of feeding a sourdough starter entails a combination of starter, flour, and water in a specific ratio to be sure the starter has the “food” it requires if it must stay healthy and alive.
Feed Room Temperature Sourdough Starter Every Day
If you are a regular baker, always keep your starter at room temperature and feed 2-3 times per day, as described above. The majority of starters conventionally demands to feed every 8-12 hours, based on the temperature around the culturing area.
Feed Refrigerated Sourdough Starter Every Week
If you bake once in a blue moon, probably weekly or monthly, it is advised to keep your sourdough starter in the refrigerator, enclosed in a container well-sealed and feed it once every week.
FEEDING A SOURDOUGH STARTER: BACKGROUND
Within your sourdough starter culture are living colonies of yeast and lactic acid bacteria. As those beneficial microbes consume their “food” (in this case, carbohydrates in the flour), they ferment and convert those starches into CO2.
FEEDING A SOURDOUGH STARTER: INSTRUCTIONS
Warm up: If you choose to keep your sourdough starter in the refrigerator, allow it to wake up and warm to room temperature before feeding. We generally take ours out of the fridge the night before we start a day of feeding and baking, or in the morning and begin feeding later that day.
How to Feed a Sourdough Starter Using Weight
Some bakers prefer to feed the starter by weight. Some even swear it is the only way to go! Admittedly, it is the most precise and consistent way to feed a sourdough starter, since various flours have different weights and volumes. To feed a sourdough starter using weight, simply combine equal parts starter, flour, and water.
How to Feed a Sourdough Starter Using Volume Measurements
To feed a sourdough starter using conventional volume measurements, simply combine 1 part leftover sourdough starter, 1 part part water, and just under 2 parts flour. For example, 1 cup starter, 1 cup water, and nearly 2 cups of flour.
What Type of Flour & Water to Feed Sourdough Starter
When feeding a sourdough starter, it is ideal to use room temperature to slightly warm water. This is particularly true if your household is on the cool side, and you’re trying to ready the starter for baking soon. If cold water is added to the mixture, it will slow down the activity of the microbes and take longer to get active.
Getting Your Starter Ready for Baking
Most sourdough recipes call for sourdough starter to be “active” or added at “peak activity”. So what does that mean exactly? A sourdough starter is considered at peak activity when it is super expanded and bubbly. It has at least doubled in size or more, is no longer growing, but has not yet started to fall back down or deflate.
How to Feed Sourdough Starter
Learn how to feed your sourdough starter to keep it healthy and happy! Here are instructions on how to feed starter by weight, or by volume measurements. Included are tips on how often to feed it, flour options, and also the importance of temperature.
