Caring for your Sourdough Starter

Activating your Sourdough Starter

These are more detailed direction than the ones that are sent with every packet of sourdough starter. Print this off if you have lost the directions that were sent to you.

Dry Sourdough Starter Activation Directions:(Fresh Dough directions below).

There are two different common ways of feeding a sourdough starter - volume measurments or weighed ingredients.
For volume measurements you use a 1:1 ratio of flour to water for feeding. This can be one cup of flour to one cup of water or 1/2 cup of flour to 1/2 cup water etc. This will produce a hydration level of approximately 166%.

For weighed ingredients a 1:1 ratio of weighed ingredients is used, like 6 oz of flour to 6 oz of water or 3 oz of flour to 3 oz of water. This will produce a hydration of 100% and is usually used for whole grain starters.

Of course there is also the "winging it" syle of sourdough starter feeding. That is where you just add some flour and water and mix and you don't know the hydration. This is fine unless you are trying to follow a recipe with a known hydration needed.

You can choose whatever hydration level you prefer, however, you need to adjust the amounts when following a recipe which uses a standard measurement like 166% or 100% hydration.

You should always use good (possibly filtered) water, if possible, because chlorine and other chemicals can kill the yeast. If you know the water in your area isn't too good, you can boil water, cool it, and keep it lightly covered,( so it can outgas) in a large clean bucket(once it outgasses within 48 hours, you can cover the bucket more tightly). If your water isn't good for a starter, it also isn't good for the dough.

Day 1 Using a plastic or glass or stainless container: Add dried sourdough starter to one cup of lukewarm water stir to help it dissolve (it won't dissolve completely until later). Next add 1 cup of regular or bread flour and stir until smooth. Let sourdough starter set, lightly covered, overnight.

Day 2
The starter may have a thin layer of clear liquid on top, this is fine. In the morning pour out half of the starter and add 1/2 cup of lukewarm water and 1/2 cup of regular all purpose flour or bread flour and stir. By the end of the day the starter might already be bubbly and foamy. However, it may take a day or so more if it is cool where you are keeping your starter. However, if you keep it too warm, like over 80 degrees, during the activation period,it could attract a bad bacteria or yeast(so not too warm).

Day 3 and 4
Each day add another 1/2 cup of warm water and flour, stir. The starter should be bubbly and ready for some types of baking by now.If you need to use some starter for pancakes or waffles, add more flour and water the day before baking, like once cup of flour and one cup of water or even two of each if you need lots of starter for a large batch of pancakes.

Day 5
Go ahead and try out the waffle recipe this morning or a pancake or biscuit recipe, if you have one(There are two nice biscuit recipes on the Recipe Page. After using the starter, don't forget to feed it.

After day 5, continue to pour out at least half of your starter and then feed it at least once a day. You can feed it small amounts when you are not going to be baking, and then feed it larger amounts when you will be using it the next day. Make sure you have enough for your recipe and some left over so you can keep it going.

Your reactivated starter will take up to ten days to come to full potential as the bacteria build up. The yeasts bounce back much faster and that is why you can use it by around day four for pancakes etc. For bread you may want to wait until it has had a chance to fully recover its flavor and strength.

Fresh Dough Sourdough Starter Directions:
Combine 1 cup of filtered tepid water with fresh dough ball in a non reactive metal container and stir well(get your clean hands in there and break up the dough a bit).
Next add flour. Either add 1 cup of flour or 1& 2/3 cup bread flour depending on the hydration you want.
Hydration means how thick or thin the batter (starter) is. Some recipes call for 166% hydration,others for 100% hydration.Choose either the 166% (thin) or the 100% (thick) below:
For 166 % hydration add: 1 cup (5 oz) flour (166% = 8 oz water / 5 oz flour)
For 100 % hydration add: 1 & 2/3 cup (8 oz)flour(100% = 8 oz water / 8 oz flour)
The starter may need a day or two to bounce back. Leave it out at room temp and use it to mix dough when ready(some bubbles, smells yeasty and sour). You may need to double(or more) the amounts of water/flour if you need more starter for your recipe, if the one cup of water and one cup of flour aren't enough for a recipe and some left over to keep it going. Make sure there is enough starter left over to feed with the same amounts (hydration) of water/flour used above, to keep the starter going. If not baking often, refrigerate (if refrigerated,take out of refrigeration and feed once a week).Refrigeration is not the best way to keep a starter unless you have a dedicated refrigerator which will keep the temperature above 42F degrees. Always take out your starter, leave at room temp, and feed the day before using so it is vigorous and ready to go as it gets sluggish at cooler temperatures.

When you want to try out baking some bread: Feed your starter the night before you want to mix up a batch of bread and make sure you have enough starter for your recipe and enough left over to keep your starter going.
By 1:00 - 2:00p.m. in the afternoon you should be able to mix up dough for your first loaves of bread following the recipe and techniques at:
Recipes
The full potential of the starter keeps getting better during the first 7 - 10 days for the dry reactivated starters and about 2 - 3 days for the fresh dough (smell it every day and you will see). It is best to keep it at room temperature until when you smell it, it is sour smelling(can get pretty potent).After that, which will be about a week or so, you can keep it in the refrigerator if you don't bake often.
These starter directions will keep your starter at 166% hydration which is the same volume of water to flour (1 cup of water to 1 cup of flour or 1/2 cup of flour to 1/2 cup water) this is a medium thin batter which won't overflow the container because the gas bubbles can escape.
If you wish to test how quickly the starter will raise, you will need to have it at 100% hydration which is the same weight of flour to water (like 8 ounces of water to 8 ounces of flour or 250g of flour to 250 g of water). This would be a thick enough batter to hold in the gas bubbles and allow the starter to rise. Many recipes use starters at 100% hydration. Most of my recipes on this website use the 166% hydration.

166% hydration is 8 oz of water and 5 oz of flour which is approximately 1 cup of water and one cup of flour.
100% hydration is 8 oz of water to 8 oz of flour which is approximately 1 cup of water and 1 2/3 cups of flour.
At 166% hydration the starter will not show many bubbles, but the power is there! You can refresh your starter if it is showing signs of not wanting to be bubbly and active enough or if it has been neglected,by pouring out and discarding all but 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the starter and feeding it fresh water and flour again, in whatever amounts you need or following the above directions again. Make sure you have at least 1/2 to 1 cup of starter left over to keep your starter going when mixing up a batch of bread.
Keep in mind that this sourdough starter is never extremely bubbly but just bubbly with foam on top,(if the starter is thick, it will more than double in the jar in six hours and have a lot more bubbles). Most of the starters maximizes with a 6 hour proof , the Alaskan starter maximizes with a 3.5 hour proof.San Francisco Starter takes around 10 - 11 hours to proof and Austrian starter takes about 8 hours.

After using your sourdough starter don't forget to feed it right away and then each day to build up the starter again. If you are going to be doing a lot of baking, feed the starter more often or with more flour and water.
Feed your starter at least once everyday if it is not being kept in the refrigerator. If you want a more sour bread wait longer after feeding to mix up your dough(12 -18 hours) If you get too much sourdough starter (and you will!) just pour some out and discard just before feeding. You can also keep the starter in the refrigerator if you know you won't be baking for a while.Just warm the refrigerated starter back up and start feeding it again until it gets good and bubbly before baking with it. If you are keeping it in the refrigerator and not baking with it, take it out once a week, feed it and put it back in the refrigerator.Also consider freezing a cup of your sourdough when it is bubbling really good right after feeding it. That way you can have a spare if your sourdough starter on your counter goes bad. By going bad, I mean if your sourdough starter turns pink/brownish or has a foul odor instead of a clean yeasty odor, it has gone bad. starters can go bad if they "catch" another unwanted yeast or mold. Keep your sourdough container clean by pouring out all of your starter into another bowl and cleaning it thoroughly when there is too much buildup on the sides of the container. The buildup on the sides can encourage molds to grow and you don't want that.
I just want to add here that I bake for a large amount of people and you certainly can feed your sourdough starter less and have smaller amounts of starter and batch sizes of bread to work with.