Caring for your sourdough starter

How to feed the starter -

Mix 2–3 tbsp starter + 50g water + 50g white bread flour

I keep my starter in a glass jar with a lid in the fridge as I tend to bake bread once a week. If I baked daily, I would keep it on the kitchen side.

To feed the starter (aka make it active enough for baking), take 2-3 tbsp from the jar and mix with 50g water + 50g white bread flour. The rest of the “old” starter in the jar is called a discard (it doesn’t mean you have to through it away, you can use it for other bakes, like crackers, etc., share with someone, or make more starter). You can just put the discard in another jar and keep it in the fridge until you decide what to do with it. It accumulates fast if you bake daily.

If kept at room temperature (kitchen) - feed the starter once a day (choose morning or evening).

If kept in the fridge - refresh once a week by feeding it twice in a row (I sometimes only feed it once if it looks bubbly enough).

Example (if making a loaf on a Saturday):

• Take the starter out of the fridge on Thursday morning and feed it.

• Cover and leave for about 10 hours.

• Feed again in the evening.

• By the following morning (Friday), the starter will be active and ready for using.

• If you follow my recipe for the white sourdough loaf, you would mix the dough on Friday, follow all the steps and after resting the raw loaf in the fridge overnight, it will be ready to bake on Saturday morning.

Tips

• If you keep your sourdough starter in the fridge and don’t bake weekly, I recommend feeding it once a week to keep it fresh and then putting it back in the fridge.

• If you forgot about your sourdough starter for weeks, don’t throw it away! You can still make it alive, by feeding it for 2-3 days in a row. After sitting in the fridge for a while, dark liquid will be sitting on top, just drain it and feed the starter as per instructions above.

• Label the jar when you place it in the fridge. On many occasions, people don’t remember what it is and throw away (especially other family members, don’t ask how I know this).

STARTER (bullet points)

Feed:
2–3 tbsp starter | 50 g water | 50 g white bread or rye flour

• Keep in glass jar with lid
• Use 2–3 tbsp to feed; remainder is discard
• Discard can be refrigerated and used for other bakes

Feeding:
• Room temp: feed once daily
• Fridge: refresh weekly (1–2 feeds)

Weekly bake example:
Morning: feed → rest ~10 hrs
Evening: feed again
Next morning: ready to use