The Care and Keeping of Your Sourdough Starter

Congratulations, you’re the proud (and perhaps a little confused) parent of a sourdough starter! Whether you grew your own from scratch, bought it online, or inherited/were gifted it, I wanted to tell you exactly how to care for your starter and what to do if you run into the common pitfalls that I often see or even run into myself in my own kitchen.

I tried to cover everything I could think of, so let’s get started.

Let’s start with the basics:

How to Take Care of an Established Sourdough Starter

This guide is specifically for caring for an established sourdough starter. By “established” I mean you’re not in the process of growing it. You’ve either gone through all the steps in my how to make a sourdough starter post (see that post if you are BRAND new to sourdough) or received a starter that is ready to use and are in maintenance mode.

Fortunately, caring for a sourdough starter is pretty simple. I recommend daily or weekly maintenance, depending on how often you want to use yours (and you can switch this up).

How, when, and how much do I feed my starter?

Whether you’re feeding daily, weekly, or something else, I recommend a 1:1:1 ratio. This means however much starter you keep, you add an equal amount in weight of warm water and flour. Using a kitchen scale (this is the one I use, affiliate) will make this as easy as possible, as your ratios will not be right if you are using cups (1 cup of water weighs more than 1 cup of flour, so you wouldn’t want to measure using measuring cups!).

If you only have measuring cups, I’d recommend feeding a scant ½ cup of sourdough discard, ⅔ cup flour and ⅓ cup water, this will get you close to a 1:1:1 ratio.

Feed your starter after it has risen and fallen back to its starting point (use a mark from a dry erase marker or a rubber band to mark its starting point so you know where it is in the growth cycle).

You can either keep your starter at room temperature and feed it daily (ideally around the same time every day) or keep it in the fridge and feed it weekly.

When can I use it if I’m feeding daily?

For recipes that call for active starter, use your starter when it is at its peak, meaning it has doubled in size since you fed it and is bubbly. How long this takes is going to depend. On warm days, my healthy, well-fed starter will double in under 5 hours. During the winter when my kitchen is cooler it may take 12 hours to double. The longer you feed and maintain your starter the better you’ll understand its needs and behavior.

When can I use it if I’m feeding weekly (or less often)?

Just like starter kept at room temperature, you’ll want to use it once its doubled in size and bubbly. Note that if you’re only feeding your starter once a week (or less) and it’s deflated completely, I recommend feeding it a time or two (and allowing it to rise and fall/discard several times) before using the active starter to bake with. This will help strengthen it and give you better results.

What kind of flour should I feed my starter (and can I change it up)?

I generally recommend feeding your flour the type of flour that you intend to bake with most. So for me, I generally use organic bread flour to make my loaves of sourdough bread, so I feed my starter organic bread flour. This doesn’t mean you can’t ever use it for anything else, or that you can’t change it up, this is just a guideline! I would say so long as you use bread flour or all-purpose flour, you can really use it in any recipe.

I wouldn’t recommend using whole wheat flour for beginner bakers as many recipes don’t use whole wheat flour, but once you are comfortable you can begin experimenting with different types of flour (such as Rye, which has a slightly different flavor, Einkorn, or ancient grains)

Why isn’t my starter growing (even after I fed it)

These are the most common reasons your starter may not be growing:

• Is it too cold? Sourdough starters thrive in warmer environments. If your kitchen is cold and/or drafty (or even if it’s just wintertime) it could be growing very slowly. Keep it in a warm place (I keep mine over the oven or refrigerator).
• Are you feeding it properly? A 1:1:1 ratio is ideal, as discussed above. If you’re not discarding enough of your starter or feeding it enough, it could be slow to grow.
• Could it be your water? Heavily chlorinated water could kill your starter, or at the very least inhibit the growth. Opt for filtered water, and make sure it’s warm (but not hot!).
• Did you neglect it? If you missed a few feedings, it may take a while for your starter to rebound. See below for more tips on what to do if this happened.

How do I know when my starter’s gone bad?

It’s not easy to kill a sourdough starter, but it can happen. Look for signs of mold , which typically appears as patches or streaks of black, green, pink, or orange (usually on the very surface). While sourdough discard can smell pretty tangy, it shouldn’t smell rotten or foul. If you’ve tried feeding it regularly, twice a day, for several days and nothing is changing, it may be beyond saving.

Help! I missed a feeding (or two… or more…) and now it’s not growing

Deep breath! Check your starter for mold. If there are no signs of mold (note that a layer of liquid is NOT an indicator your starter is bad, see below for more on that) there’s a good chance you can revive it.

If there is a layer of liquid on top, simply pour this off. Transfer your starter to a clean jar or container, feed it a 1:1:1 ratio, and store in a warm place (on top of your refrigerator is usually a good spot). I would recommend doing this every 12 hours until it’s growing regularly again, it could take a few days!

Why is there a watery layer on my starter? Is it bad?

Most likely it is not bad. This watery layer on top is an alcohol and a sign of fermentation that is commonly referred to as “hooch”. It’s usually quite fragrant — and not in a good way (think pungent like vinegar or smelly socks).

This is a sign that the yeast and bacteria in your starter is hungry. You can pour it off or you can stir it back into your starter (this will give your starter, and, in turn, your sourdough bread a stronger, tangier flavor, if that’s what you’re looking for). To prevent this, feed your starter more often.

What if I need to store my starter for a long time (more than a week)

Your starter should be fine for a week or two covered in the refrigerator. It will keep longer if you feed it just an hour or two before putting it in the refrigerator.

If you need to keep your sourdough alive for an extended period of time (think longer than a month), I would recommend drying it and storing it that way. I’ve never personally needed to dry my starter, but here is a guide that I found on how to dry your starter that should be helpful!

Do I need to keep my container covered?

Yes. Covering the starter will help keep it from drying out and keep dust and bugs out. I tragically lost my very first starter (Scotty Sr.) to a fly dive-bombing it (and I even had it covered, he got through a space where the plastic had slightly lifted). Annoyingly, flies and gnats are very drawn to sourdough so keep yours covered with plastic wrap so protect it.

You do not want to use something that would make your container airtight (so don’t use a screw on lid). I personally use plastic wrap, but a piece of fabric held on with a rubber band or even with the screw on lid (the fabric will let the starter breathe whereas a totally metal lid wouldn’t) would work well.

How often should I change the jar?

If you’re keeping it at room temperature, I recommend changing out for a new jar at least once a week. If yours is refrigerated, you can go much longer, but I still would probably change mine at least once a month.

Do I really need to name my starter?

Naming your starter is a tradition and in my opinion an important step in responsible sourdough starter ownership. Sourdough starters are a lot like pets, you have to feed them regularly and give them a little attention to keep them happy and alive. Naming your starter helps tack on a sense of responsibility (and guilt, if you neglect it) that makes it more likely to survive. My starter is named Scotty.

It also makes for great conversations starters (not to mention the odd glare in public) when you exclaim “my goodness! I forgot I stuck Emilia in the fridge! I haven’t fed her in 3 weeks, I hope she’s still alive!” or “when we go on our cruise we’ll just put Oliver in the fridge until we get back”.

What can I do with my discard?

Many people don’t want to throw out half of their discard every day because it seems wasteful. It is, sure, but it would be more wasteful to keep buckets of active sourdough that you need to keep feeding every day, so discarding is a necessary step. You can give it as a gift (how-to below) but eventually you’ll likely run out of friends and neighbors.

Here is where discard recipes come into play! Use your starter or discard in one of my sourdough recipes, my favorites for using discard include my sourdough chocolate chip cookies, sourdough pancakes, sourdough muffins, sourdough brownies, and sourdough biscuits!

When and how can I give someone else some of my starter?

So long as your starter is established, you can give someone the gift of sourdough starter at any time. Simply pour off your discard into a new jar and feed it (that would be the generous thing to do, anyway) and hand it off with simple instructions on how to care for it. Easy peasy!

Help! I have another question you didn’t cover here!

I did my best to answer the most common questions, but if there’s something I didn’t cover, leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to address it (I try to answer all comments within 24 hours but sometimes it takes a bit longer on the weekends or holidays).