How to Feed, Maintain & Store Sourdough Starter

Once you have a strong and bubbly sourdough starter, you’ll want to keep it that way by feeding and storing it in a way that works for your life and baking schedule. Read on to learn all my tips for keeping your starter at its best!

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Why do you need to feed sourdough starter?

A sourdough starter is a living culture of wild yeasts and beneficial bacteria that needs food and water to live. The organisms in sourdough starter metabolize the starches found in all kinds of flour, and produce enzymes necessary for fermentation. While it’s difficult to kill an established starter, if you don’t feed your starter for a while it will go dormant and weaken to the point where it won’t be able to leaven bread. If that happens, a feeding or two should bring it back to full strength.

Left unfed for long enough, a sourdough starter could weaken to the point where mold or harmful bacteria could take hold and the starter would have to be thrown away. It’s pretty rare for this to happen, but if neglected for long enough it’s possible.

How do you feed a sourdough starter?

First, make sure your starter is either at peak (at its highest point of rise), or it has already fallen. It’s OK if you don’t know for sure whether the starter is definitely at its highest point of rise, but it should at least be doubled. Once you’ve taken care of your starter for a while you’ll get to know how high you can expect it to rise, but don’t sweat this too much in the beginning. The thing to keep in mind is to not feed it too long before its peak. Don’t discard and feed before it has at least doubled, or you risk weakening the culture by diluting the population of wild yeasts and bacteria.

If your starter is ready to be fed, remove some from the jar. Then add equal amounts by weight of flour and water, stir to combine, and loosely screw on the jar lid.

Why do you need to discard?

While it may seem wasteful to regularly remove starter, it would actually cost far more to maintain your starter if you didn’t. You need to feed at least as much by weight of flour and water as the starter you’re feeding, so if you never discarded the amount of starter would quickly grow to the point where it would need several kilograms of flour at each feeding!

And after your starter is established, there’s no need to throw out the discard. If your starter was at its peak or shortly after, you can use it right away to bake some delicious sourdough bread. Or if the starter has fallen and is far past its peak, you can use it to make a yummy sourdough discard recipe (or save it in a container in the fridge to use in a discard recipe later).

How much flour and water do you need to feed a sourdough starter?

You have to feed at least the same weight in flour and water as the weight of the starter. If you have 50 grams of starter, you need to feed it at least 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water. This is a feeding ratio of 1:1:1. That means 1 part starter to 1 part flour to 1 part water, by weight.

A 1:1:1 feeding ratio is the minimum feeding ratio, so that your starter doesn’t quickly starve. As long as you feed at least the minimum, it’s up to you how much you feed. You can use this to adjust your baking and feeding schedule:

How to adjust feedings so your starter works for your schedule

To make your starter to be ready for baking sooner, feed it less flour and water. In other words, feed it at a lower ratio like 1:1:1 or 1:2:2. At a lower feeding ratio, your starter will double sooner. A lower feeding ratio also means you’ll need to feed your starter more often.

To have a longer time between feedings feed it at a higher ratio. Even a ratio as high as 1:50:50 would work. It is surprising just how little starter you need to leave in the jar to keep it going! A high ratio is also a great way to rebalance the sourness and acidity for a starter that has been neglected.

What kind of flour should I use to feed my starter?

You can use just about any flour you’d use to bake bread, to feed your sourdough. I almost always use all-purpose flour because it’s easy to get and relatively inexpensive. Bread flour, rye, spelt, and whole wheat are all great to use as well. Rye and whole wheat flour contain extra nutrients and minerals that starter goes wild for. They’re a great choice to give your starter a boost whenever it’s sluggish!

The only flour you should really avoid is self-rising because it contains ingredients such as baking powder and sometimes salt. Both of those can inhibit the natural yeasts and bacteria in your starter. Finally, there’s no need to splash out for fancy organic flour unless that is important to you. I almost always use a cheap generic store brand unbleached all-purpose flour to feed my starter with great success.

What kind of container should I use?

Any food-safe container will work. To have the easiest time managing your starter, keep these things in mind:

• Find a container that has a wide opening and little to no “shoulder”. That makes it easy to add flour and water to the jar and stir it. A wide mouth mason jar or Weck tulip jar are perfect.
• The size should be at least 3 times the size of your starter after feeding. You need to have enough room for the sourdough starter to expand without spilling over.
• A transparent container makes it easy to see if your starter has risen, is at its peak, or has fallen.
• Either food-safe plastic or glass are fine. If you want to use glass, make sure you keep a backup of your starter in case your jar breaks. That way you can get another starter going quickly and easily.

Whatever kind of jar or container you use, make sure to use the lid that came with it, but loosely. If your jar lid came with a rubber gasket, remove it. The idea is to keep out fruit flies and prevent the starter from drying out, while letting gases escape. Some sourdough bakers like to cover their jars with a paper towel or cloth secured by a rubber band. Unfortunately this doesn’t always do a good job of keeping the starter from drying out. It’s best to simply use the lid the jar came with.

How often do I need to change or clean the jar?

You don’t need to change to clean jar at every feeding. Trust your instinct—if the jar is getting gross and crusty, go ahead and switch to a clean jar. That said, your starter should be perfectly happy staying in its jar for a while! I’ve gone several weeks at a time between switching jars without a problem.

Where should you store your starter?

Decide where to store your starter based on how often you plan to bake with it:

• If you bake with your starter 2-3 times per week, store it on your counter at room temperature. That keeps it nice and active and ready to bake when you are. You’ll need to feed it once or twice a day.
• If you use your starter once a week, store it in the fridge. After baking, feed it to replace what you used.
• If you’re going to bake sourdough less than once a week, you should store your starter in the fridge. Remember to discard and feed at least every two weeks whether you’re baking or not. That’s the best way to keep your starter strong and healthy and prevent spoilage. Take your starter out 2-3 days before you bake and feed at least twice so it’s nice and active again.

Can I put my starter straight in the fridge after feeding?

Yes, but it’s better to give it a few hours at room temperature first. This is especially true if your starter has just come out of the fridge to be fed. Warmer temperatures favour yeast production, so doing this gives the wild yeasts a chance to flourish before going back in the fridge. That said, it’s unlikely to do your starter any harm by putting it right back in the fridge after feeding it. But regularly giving your starter some time at room temperature is a good way to keep it strong.