Maintaining a sourdough starter is so much easier than you may be thinking. In this post, we will go through the options for how to maintain a sourdough starter and also identify the easiest way to do it. I personally use the easiest method of maintenance as I am a busy mom. Whether you are a busy mom, a busy professional, or you have a decent amount of time on your hands, there is a sourdough method for you here.
Benefits of Sourdough
Before we get into maintenance, let’s quickly touch on the benefits of sourdough. It’s important to have a motivation for pursuing something like sourdough baking. While it’s not difficult, it is something that will take some time out of your usual schedule. The way sourdough works, is it pulls wild yeasts and bacteria from its environment. So, whatever yeasts and bacteria you have in your home environment will be in your sourdough starter. These yeasts and bacteria are friends to your gut. They will increase the good bacteria population in your gut, supporting overall gut health. Gut health is important for so many different reasons, but we won’t get into that in this particular post. Just know that sourdough essentially builds and supports good gut health. Most importantly, making your own sourdough breads means you are controlling what ingredients go in. This helps you avoid harmful preservatives and other additives and fillers typically found in store-bought bread.
Sourdough Terminology
Another important thing to touch on are the terms and definitions of sourdough. You’ll hear things like “active starter” and “feed your starter”, but not necessarily know what it all means. So, let’s list out terms and definitions below so that it’s easier to understand sourdough terms.
Feeding starter – When you “feed” your sourdough starter, it means you are adding fresh flour and water to the starter to allow the wild yeasts and bacteria to grow. Sourdough starter is made of flour and water and requires additional flour and water to keep it healthy.
Active starter – An active starter is a starter that has been fed in the past 12 hours or so. Also, an active starter is what would be used in many sourdough recipes as the leavening agent (the ingredient that makes the sourdough rise).
Discard – Sourdough discard is the sourdough starter that can be removed during the feeding process. It’s called discard because some will throw it in the garbage, but it can certainly be used in sourdough discard recipes.
How to Maintain Sourdough Starter - The Harder Way
While this method is called “the harder way”, please don’t be under the impression that this method is actually hard. This method would be used if you choose to store your sourdough starter outside the fridge at room temperature. Also, this method is appropriate if you find you would like to bake sourdough every day. The following are the steps for feeding a sourdough starter at room temperature:
- Weigh your sourdough starter and record the weight in grams.
- To feed your sourdough starter, you will add the same amount of flour and water in grams to your starter. For example, let’s say your starter weighs 200 grams. You would add 200 grams of fresh flour and 200 grams of water to your starter.
- The flour and water should be well-mixed with the starter. You don’t want to see any pockets of dry flour or have dry flour left on the sides of the bowl.
Note: If the container you are using to feed your starter is too small to handle the full feed, you would set some of this starter to the side (this is sourdough discard) and use it for another recipe or dispose of it. Always start at the first step after discarding. For example, remove the amount of starter necessary and then weigh the starter that is left. This is the weight you will use in step one. In addition, always keep at least 2 tablespoons of starter after using your starter for a recipe so that you always have some starter left to do a feeding with.
You would repeat this process of feeding your starter twice a day (preferably every 12 hours). You can also measure the sourdough starter with a measuring cup in the first step listed above. For example, if you have 1 cup of starter, you will feed it with two cups of flour and one cup of water. With the way the weights work out, you’ll always be using about twice the amount of flour as water to feed your starter. Also, you want to make sure the amount of water you’re using to feed your starter is equal to the amount of starter in weight or cup measurements. This will ensure the starter gets a proper feed and is able to become active. I find the scale method to be easier personally because it doesn’t dirty measuring cups and you don’t have to carefully measure with the measuring cups.
How to Maintain Sourdough Starter - The Easier Way
This method is considered to be easier than maintaining a starter at room temperature. Also, this method is more hands-off. This method would be used if you choose to store your sourdough starter in the fridge while not in use. This method is great for those who only bake once or a few times a week rather than every day. The following are the steps for feeding a sourdough starter from the refrigerator:
- Weigh your sourdough starter and record the weight in grams.
- To feed your sourdough starter, you will add the same amount of flour and water in grams to your starter. For example, let’s say your starter weighs 200 grams. You would add 200 grams of fresh flour and 200 grams of water to your starter.
- The flour and water should be well-mixed with the starter. You don’t want to see any pockets of dry flour or have dry flour left on the sides of the bowl.
Note: If the container you are using to feed your starter is too small to handle the full feed, you would set some of this starter to the side (this is sourdough discard) and use it for another recipe or dispose of it. Always start at the first step after discarding. For example, remove the amount of starter necessary and then weigh the starter that is left. This is the weight you will use in step one. In addition, always keep at least 2 tablespoons of starter after using your starter for a recipe so that you always have some starter left to do a feeding with.
As you can probably tell, the feeding process is exactly the same. The only difference with storing your starter in the fridge is that you may have to go through two feedings to get your starter to the active state. This is especially true if you store your starter in the fridge for a solid week at a time. I personally live in a hot climate, and I find I only have to feed my starter once from the fridge to get it to an active state and get the rise I want in my sourdough. In colder climates, feeding twice may be necessary.
When storing in the fridge, you only need to feed your starter a minimum of once per week. I’ve personally gone two weeks and didn’t have any issues, but this is not typically recommended.
These are the two main options to maintain sourdough starter easily. There is also the option to freeze some starter and defrost it when you need it. Once it’s defrosted, you would just follow the normal feeding process to get it back to an active state. It may take a few feeds to get your starter active again. My sourdough French bread recipe is a great beginner-friendly recipe to start with once you are ready to start baking. Please comment below what your favorite way of maintaining your sourdough starter is. Also, feel free to share any tips you may have with other readers.
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