Troubleshooting & Maintaining Your Sourdough Starter
Establishing a sourdough starter can be a true test of patience! If after day 5 your starter isn’t quite ready, don’t worry. If you see bubbles, keep proceeding with the directions below. Establishing a starter can take up to 14 days (temperate of its environment has A LOT to do with how quickly it is ready).
Troubleshooting Starter after day 5
If you’re starter is not yet ready by Day 5 here is what I want you to do.
Discard 1/2 of the starter. Whisk in 1/2 cup (60 grams) of flour and 1/4 cup (60 grams of water) unless the starter seems runny then reduce to 40 grams of water.
Place in a warm spot and check back each hour for 1-4 hours. You may see growth, if the growth has begun you are good to use the starter! If not, don’t sweat it, just start doing the above every 12 hours or so and within a day or two you should be ready to bake!
FEEDING SOURDOUGH STARTER BY VOLUME:
Feeding a sourdough starter involves combining starter, flour, and water in a particular ratio to ensure the starter has the "food" it needs to stay healthy and active.
Sourdough starter can be fed either by weight or volume measurements. Feeding by weight is considered more accurate, but feeding by volume is usually more convenient, as most people have measuring cups in the kitchen.
ROOM TEMPERATURE SOURDOUGH STARTER:
Feed room temperature sourdough starter daily.
1 - Discard about half of the starter. Add 60 grams of flour (1/2 cup) + 60 grams of warm water (1/4 cup) to the remaining starter. Mix well, cover, and let it rise at room temperature until bubbly and double in size.
Use the starter to prepare bread dough within 2-4 hours of being fed, to ensure the starter is at its peak of activity.
Note: If you miss a day or two, that’s okay, just try to remember daily to maintain the strength of your starter. When the starter “falls” the bubbles will become frothy and eventually disappear. This is an indicator your starter needs to be fed.
Note: A brown liquid layer on top of your starter, called hooch, indicates that the starter is hungry. If hooch forms, pour it off and feed the starter as soon as possible, then feed more frequently going forward.
REFRIGERATED SOURDOUGH STARTER:
Feed refrigerated sourdough starter weekly.
If you do not bake often, maybe only weekly or monthly, it may be more practical to keep your sourdough starter in the refrigerator, in a tightly-closed container, and feed it once per week.
1 - Remove at least 60 grams of starter from the refrigerator. Discard the remaining starter. Feed starter with 60 grams of flour and 60 grams of water. Cover; let the starter sit for 1-2 hours at room temperature until light and bubbly.
2 - Put a tight lid on the jar and return to the refrigerator.
Repeat weekly even when not baking with your sourdough culture.
Preparing Refrigerated Sourdough Starter for Baking
Refrigerated sourdough starter is in a state of hibernation. Before using it for baking, follow these instructions for making fresh sourdough starter to ensure your sourdough starter is fully awakened and active enough to leaven bread.
1 - Take the starter out of the fridge, discard all but 60 grams and feed it as usual. Let it rest at room temperature for about 12 hours, until bubbly. Repeat as necessary, every 12 hours, until you notice the starter doubling or tripling in volume in 6 to 8 hours. That means it's strong enough to leaven bread.
2 - Once the starter is bubbling and vigorous, remove what you need for the recipe and set it aside. Feed the remaining starter as usual. Mix until smooth, and allow the starter to work for about 2 hours at room temperature before putting it back in the refrigerator.
