Keep your starter thriving with this simple, straightforward approach to maintaining, feeding, and storing a sourdough starter.
To get started with a sourdough starter, you can find my simple step-by-step process here:
How to Make a Sourdough Starter- Easy Guide
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What to do next after making your sourdough starter:
Congratulations! You have successfully created an active, usable sourdough starter! (or received one from a generous friend) Now you are off on an adventure to create delicious sourdough goodies. But how do we keep this thing alive? I’ve attempted to answer all of your most pressing concerns below.
For further questions, please leave a comment below or leave your own sourdough wisdom so we can all learn from each other!
Storing & Keeping a Sourdough Starter
First order of business is knowing where to store your sourdough starter and what to keep it in.
How often are you going to be baking sourdough goods? This is going to be the key factor to knowing where to store your starter- on the counter or in the refrigerator. I recommend storing your sourdough starter somewhere visible in the refrigerator that it’s not going to easily get shoved to the back to be forgotten. The fridge door shelf is my favorite visible spot to store my starter jar.
If you plan to bake fresh sourdough goods daily, I recommend storing your sourdough starter in a glass bowl or jar on the counter. If you plan to bake once a week or every couple of weeks, I recommend storing your starter in a clean glass jar in the refrigerator.
Storage Containers
Storing a sourdough starter in glass or ceramic is important for a couple of reasons. The active properties in sourdough produce wild yeast and ferment the flour when fed milled grains. This process results in a reaction that breaks down the grains.
If the sourdough starter is stored in plastic, the plastic container can start to break down over time and be found in your starter.
Storing a sourdough starter in a reactive metal container, such as copper, cast iron, or aluminum, can result in reactions between the starter and the metals, resulting in unwanted flavors and metals in the starter. Using a non-reactive metal like stainless steel is fine, though I prefer see-through glass for visibility and versatility.
Size of Container
The size of the container will depend on how much starter you need for the baked goods you are making.
For a daily batch of fresh bread that calls for 100g-250g (1/2 cup- 1 cup) of starter or less in the recipe, I recommend using a quart-sized glass mason jar on the counter. This size jar is big enough to allow the starter to rise without spilling over the top.
If you have a large family, as I do, and are looking to bake multiple loaves of bread, batch cook, and make sourdough discard waffles for breakfast every day, a bigger glass or ceramic bowl is more ideal. Make sure you have a tea towel, bowl cover, or other lid big enough for whichever container you use.
I’ve curated a full list of my favorite sourdough kitchen essentials you can check out here. (coming soon!)
How to maintain & feed your starter
The ideal maintenance schedule for your starter is going to depend on how often you bake.
Daily Maintenance
For countertop starters that you use every single day, you will want to feed this sourdough starter daily. Daily feedings are best done immediately after using your sourdough starter. After you have mixed up your recipe, feed your sourdough starter so it can be ready to go (reach peak activity) the next day or that evening to start a loaf of bread.
If your kitchen is really warm, you may want to store the starter in the fridge after re-feeding and pull it out of the fridge the next day. The fermentation will be slower in the refrigerator to avoid too fast of a ferment.
About every week or so, I make sure to move my starter to a clean jar.
Example Daily Feeding Schedule
7 am: Feed sourdough starter a 1:1 ratio of flour (50g:50g) to filtered water.
Throughout the day, the starter will feed and rise to a peak activie state. Keeping your starter in a warm spot will help this process go faster.
6 pm: Use an active starter to start a loaf of bread. Place the covered dough in a warm spot to rise overnight.
Feed the remaining starter a 1:1 ratio of flour to water.
Finally, cover the jar with a jar cover or lid and leave it on the counter to repeat the process tomorrow.
Weekly Maintenance
If you only want to use your starter occasionally, then weekly maintenance is sufficient.
Simply remove your starter from the fridge the next time you want to bake, or on a day you remember to feed it, even if you are not planning to bake.
Then, pour off any watery layer of hooch that may have formed.
Next, feed your starter a 1:1 ratio of flour and filtered water. (or g flour: g water; ie: 50g flour to 50g water)
Stir until the starter is a thick batter consistency.
Finally, put a lid or jar cover on the jar and 1) wait for peak activity for baking or 2) place back in the refrigerator.
Regular feedings, at least weekly, help to ensure a healthy starter.
Peak Activity
Peak activity of a sourdough starter is ideal for baked goods that need to rise, such as bread or sourdough cinnamon rolls. A starter has reached peak activity once it has reached a really bubbly state and doubled or sometimes tripled in amount from feeding. Placing a rubber band around your container of starter to mark the top of the starter after feeding is a good way to determine when a starter has doubled in size.
For recipes such as quick breads, muffins, or sourdough discard recipes, you can use a peak active sourdough starter or a deflated “discard” starter.
Make sure that at least 2 tablespoons- 1/4 cup of starter is left over in the jar to be able to re-feed and maintain. If there is less starter than this to replenish after using in a recipe, the starter will still be alive; it just may take 2 feedings to regain optimal strength.
What flour to use for my sourdough starter?
Any wheat flour will work for your sourdough starter. I have used conventional milled all-purpose flour, einkorn flour, whole wheat flour, and King Arthur bread flour. I recently began using whole-grain milled flour with my stone grinding Mockmill. Any of these options has been sufficient.
To fully convert a sourdough starter from conventional wheat flour to einkorn, spelt, or any other whole grain wheat berries that you prefer, consistently feed your starter with the same flour each time.
Note: If you are using whole-grain flour for your starter, you may find that a higher ratio of grams of water to grams of flour is needed to achieve an ideal consistency when feeding (think pancake or muffin batter).
Preserving a sourdough starter
Sometimes life’s demands require taking a break from caring for a sourdough starter. Here are a few tried and true methods for preserving your sourdough starter to revive later on.
If all else fails, you can easily start a new sourdough starter with my simple recipe here: How to Make a Sourdough Starter from Scratch- Easy Guide.
Freezing a Sourdough Starter
Freezing a sourdough starter is super simple. I just saved a 1/4 cup of my starter in a small mason jar or freezer-friendly Ziploc to lie flat and stick it in the freezer. When ready to revive again, I thaw the starter and feed it like normal.
Maintaining a Sourdough Starter FAQs
Commercial Yeast vs. Wild Yeast
Commercial yeast is a single strain of yeast that is selected and isolated to be used by bakers. The yeast is typically dormant when purchased in the grocery store. Yeasts are sugar-eating and become active when mixed with sugar and warm water or milk.
Wild yeast is made up of many strands of bacteria and living microorganisms that also create a rise in breads. The beneficial strands of bacteria are good for gut health, and long fermentation of sourdough goods helps break down phytic acid in wheat.
Is sourdough gluten-free?
Sourdough is technically not gluten-free since gluten is the protein in all wheat used to feed the sourdough starter. Some bakers have found a way to make a gluten-free sourdough starter using grains that do not contain gluten.
Sourdough is not celiac-friendly and should not be consumed by individuals with severe gluten intolerance or sensitivity. However, many individuals find that long-fermented sourdough goods, fresh-milled sourdough products, or ancient grain flours such as einkorn or spelt are easier to digest than other gluten-containing baked goods.
To get started with gluten-free sourdough, check out this gluten-free sourdough starter kit from Azure Standard. To use my share code, you can visit: https://www.azurestandard.com/start and put in the code AmandaBrecto1.
What is long fermentation?
Long fermentation refers to the extended fermentation time of sourdough goods. To long-ferment a recipe, I put my dough or batter in the refrigerator for 12-72 hours and pull it out to bake when I am ready. The longer a dough ferments, the more sour the flavor will be.
What is the best flour to use for making sourdough bread?
My favorite flour to use for making sourdough bread is fresh milled einkorn flour for the fiber and benefits of fresh milled flour. Hard wheat is also ideal for breads and doughs that need a nice rise for best results.
If you do not own a mill, my favorite flour for baking delicious bread is King Arthur flour.
The best type of flour to look for is a high-protein (10+%) flour when baking bread. Most commercial flours will have this printed on the bag somewhere.
When is my starter ready to use for bread?
Your sourdough starter is ready to use for bread when the volume has doubled or tripled in size after feeding. A good way to gauge the volume is to put a rubber band around the jar at the level of the sourdough starter immediately after feeding. The volume will rise and become very bubbly.
Float Test
Another way to see if your sourdough starter is ready to use for bread is the float test. Take a spoonful or more of your bubbly sourdough starter and place it in a bowl of water. If the starter floats to the top, it is ready to use for bread.
How do I know if my starter has gone bad?
Your sourdough starter has gone bad if it has grown mold in the jar or fruit flies have somehow gotten in and created a mess. When in doubt, throw it out, I would say. I have had the same sourdough starter for seven years, and the worst I’ve seen is having a thick layer of grayish “hooch” on the top, which is harmless. I have found that following the tips in this guide simplifies the work of maintaining a sourdough starter for long-term success.
What is the watery stuff on top?
The watery substance on the top of an unfed sourdough starter is called hooch. Hooch is a byproduct of the fermentation process and a sign that your starter needs to be fed.
I pour off the hooch into the garbage or down the drain (making sure not to pour the starter down the drain and cause plumbing issues), and feed as normal.
What to do if I am not able to maintain the starter or go on vacation?
In seasons of moving, morning sickness, or postpartum, when I have not been able to feed my starter regularly, I freeze it. This has worked great over the last seven years and is a nice way to press pause without having to start from scratch.
How do I revive my sourdough starter?
To revive a sourdough starter, I will thaw it from the freezer or pull it out from the back of the fridge and feed a 1:1 ratio like usual. Sometimes this takes 2-3 feedings before the starter looks lively enough to make a nice loaf of bread.
What to do with sourdough discard?
You’re in luck! I have lots of great sourdough recipes to use up leftover sourdough discard. Some of my favorites are these sourdough discard maple scones, sourdough blueberry scones, and double chocolate sourdough muffins.
I would love to hear how long you have been baking with sourdough and your best tips for maintaining a sourdough starter in the comments below!
