What is the sourdough starter, and how to maintain it?

What is the Sourdough Starter?

A sourdough starter is a culture of yeasts and bacteria. It is created when a mixture of flour and water slowly starts to ferment naturally, thanks to the wild yeast that is everywhere around us (in the air, on our skin, etc). As a result, we get a pungent, gloppy brew that will act as a natural substitution for the store-bought baker’s yeast in our pizza or bread dough. It is also referred to as “mother yeast”.

Very active sourdough starter at its prime form, ready to use in the dough.

In order to keep the bacteria culture alive in the sourdough starter, it needs to be fed regularly by adding fresh flour and water to it. The starter has a cyclical life. When it gets fed with flour and water, it expands in the jar (doubles or even triples its mass). That is when the culture is the strongest, so it’s time to use it in our dough. Then the starter collapses as it gets “hungry”, losing its power as the rising agent. The cycle starts again by feeding it with flour and water. The surplus starter can be either discarded or used to make delicious pancakes, waffles or other breakfast items (ONLY if your starter is at least a few months old, healthy and very active. DO NOT use excess starter if it is a young starter made from scratch! If you bought your active starter in a dehydrated form, then the excess can be used after the reactivation phase).

It is beneficial to beginner sourdough bakers to start their journey with a very active starter culture. Since the whole process might seem a little bit complicated, it definitely makes it easier if the starter does not have to be made from scratch. You can order our very active sourdough starter from our Etsy store: A's Sourdough Etsy Store

How to keep our sourdough starter healthy?

Let's keep everything simple. Healthy sourdough starter means that it gets regular feedings without going too long being "hungry". It ensures that the bacteria culture stays strong and very active.

The temperature around our starter is mainly responsible for how long it takes to reach its prime after each feeding (doubles or more in size), then collapses. The higher the temperature, the faster the bacteria eats through the fresh flour. That is the reason why a starter kept at room temperature needs to be fed at least once a day in order to keep it healthy. A starter kept in the fridge can be fed once a week, as the culture is slowed down by the cold temperature, so it takes longer to get hungry again.

If you plan to bake sourdough every day, then it is better to keep the starter at room temperature and feed it daily (around 8 hours prior dough making, so the starter will be at its prime, expanded in size).

If you are an occasional baker, then it is better to keep the sourdough starter in the fridge. Just take it out from the fridge the night before, feed it, and it will be at its prime by the time you start making the dough. After dough making, you feed the leftover starter with fresh flour and water, and as soon as it starts to expand, it can go back into the fridge until the next baking. It will slowly eat up its "food" without 

Even if you don't bake with your starter, it is recommended to take it out from the fridge once a week and feed it, in order to keep it healthy. You can discard the excess starter if it becomes too much, or you can use it for waffles, pancakes or other breakfast items, substituting some part of the flour in the recipe.

How to feed my sourdough starter?

The easiest way to maintain your starter is to feed it with the 1:1:1 ratio method:

Whatever amount of starter you keep, you just add the same amount of flour and the same amount of water MEASURED BY WEIGHT. Always use scale and measure the starter, the flour and the water by grams and NOT BY VOLUME.

For example: if I keep 100g of unfed starter, I feed it with 100g of flour and 100g of water to it. So we end up with 300g of fed starter. Each sourdough recipe calls for a certain amount of starter in grams. Plan ahead how much starter you will need for the next bake, and do the feedings accordingly. If you plan to bake more loaves, then keep more starter, so you end up with larger amount after the feeding. But always use the 1:1:1 ratio for feeding it. Same amount of starter, flour and water at feeding, measured by weight.

And make sure you never use up all your starter for the dough. Even a small scrapings of starter left in the bottom of the jar is enough to keep, since you can multiply its size easily throughout a few feedings if you don't discard anything. That's the magic of it.

Happy Baking!