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 much should I feed my sourdough starter?
Feed the starter 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) water and a scant 1 cup (4 ounces, 113g) all-purpose flour twice a day, discarding all but 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) of the starter before each feeding. It should soon become healthy, bubbly, and active.
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).
How often should I feed my sourdough starter at the beginning?
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.
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.
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.
Can you stir sourdough starter with a metal spoon?
METAL: Stirring your starter with a metal spoon or placing it in a metal bowl won't kill your starter. While we don't recommend making or keeping your starter in contact with reactive metals like copper or aluminum, stainless steel is harmless.
Why do you discard half the 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.
Should I stir my sourdough starter after feeding?
stir your starter in between feedings - try stirring it twice in between feedings and really give it a chance to get oxygen into the mix. This will help to activate your starter without too much effort.
How do you feed sourdough starter before baking?
To Activate Your Sourdough Starter:Place starter in a vessel. ... Add 45 g each of all-purpose flour and room-temperature water. ... Wait. ... When the starter has roughly doubled in volume, it's likely ready to go. ... If it doesn't float after 24 hours, add more flour and water (equal parts), stir again, and wait.More items...•
How can I make my sourdough starter more active?
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.
Can I use bread flour to feed my sourdough starter?
Technically, any grain-based flour works for making a sourdough starter. Flours made from rice, rye, spelt, einkorn and wheat all work. However, bread flour works the best and yields the most reliable 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?.
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.
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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Tip 1: Start With A Good Starter
There are many ways to start your sourdough journey. You can purchase dehydrated or dry sourdough starter online via Amazon, or King Arthur Flour.
Tip 2: Feeding Sourdough Starter
Learning how to feed sourdough starter is one of the most fundamental parts of baking with sourdough. While this is not difficult, it can take a bit to get the hang of.
Tip 3: Determine Your Baking Schedule
While the most important part of feeding and maintaining a sourdough starter is the actual feeding, a big part of the learning curve is learning how much you'll actually be baking with your sourdough starter and discard. This will affect where you store it and how often you feed it.
Tip 4: Good Food
As with any recipe, a lot of the end result relies on the quality of the ingredients put in. The same goes with your sourdough starter. If you feed it with the best ingredients, your bread will also be of a higher quality.
Tip 5: Regular Feedings
Care for your sourdough starter by feeding it when it is hungry. Feeding your room temperature sourdough every day, or refrigerated sourdough weekly will help keep the culture healthy and strong.
Tip 7: Don't Forget To Discard
Now that we know the sourdough starter must be fed equal parts starter, water, and flour, I'm sure you can see how the batch of starter would grow to an unsustainable size in a quick hurry!
Tip 8: Keep It Warm
Sourdough starter is happiest at a temperature between 70 and 85F. Cooler temperatures can cause your starter to be sluggish while higher temperatures can see your starter being overactive and going through feedings too quickly.
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.