How To Feed And Maintain A Sourdough Starter
Learn how to feed and maintain a sourdough starter to keep it healthy and active. Great sourdough bread and other sourdough recipes start with a healthy sourdough starter. I get questions everyday about how to properly care for a sourdough starter, so I’m gathering them all here, and hoping this will be a helpful resource for you.
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons sourdough starter can be from your discard jar in the refrigerator
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ⅓ cups warm water
Instructions
- Add starter, flour and water in a wide mouth quart mason jar.
- Stir well to combine
- Allow to sit out in a warm place until the starter has doubled and is bubbly and happy.
- When the starter is at it's peak rise, mix up bread or other recipe calling for active sourdough starter.
- Any leftover starter can be added to your discard/starter jar in the refrigerator.
- For sourdough discard recipes, just use sourdough discard directly out of the sourdough jar in the refrigerator.
- If your discard jar in the refrigerator starts to get low, fill it half full with flour and enough warm water to make it a thick pancake batter consistency.
- Allow it to sit out in a warm place to rise, and once it falls back down, put it back in the refrigerator.
Notes
Top Three Tips For Successfully Feeding And Maintaining A Sourdough Starter.
- Use warm water when feeding
- Leave it out on your counter in a warm place when you want it to rise (if your house is really cold in the winter time, you can set your starter on a heat mat, get a bread proofing box, or even set it next to a warm crockpot or coffee pot. The top of your refrigerator will be a warm place as well.
- Make sure it’s the consistency of a thick pancake batter when you feed it
