I’m here to answer all the miscellaneous questions regarding sourdough starters and baking with sourdough! I’ve gained my knowledge through reading tips and recipes from experts, and using those to practice baking with my own bubbly starter. If you haven’t yet made your own starter, here’s how!
Exactly how much do I need to feed it everyday?
There is no magic amount of flour and water with which you can feed your starter to make it active and bubbly. As long as you feed it equal parts flour and water, the exact amount doesn’t matter. Typically, I feed mine anywhere between 50-75 grams of each. A scale is helpful here because the amounts need to be in grams, weight, not cups or tablespoons. A starter fed equal parts flour and water is also known as a 100% hydration starter, which is the most common in many sourdough recipes and usually the most successful for beginner-level sourdough bakers.
After I feed it, when can I use it?
I wait 2-3 hours after feeding my starter everyday before I use it to bake to allow the starter to activate further and ensure that it is at its peak activity level when I’m ready to use it.
When should I refrigerate my starter? How often do I need to feed it once it’s in the fridge?
So, your starter is active and bubbly, and you’re feeding it daily at around the same time. You can leave it out in a warm environment and continue feeding it everyday, separating half into another container. Or, you can stick it in the fridge and feed it just a couple times a week. This is my move when I don’t plan on using my starter for a while and don’t want to think about feeding it everyday. If you’re running low on flour and can’t get your hands on some more for a couple days, place your starter in the fridge and take it out when you have more flour.
Another option is, when you feed and separate your starter, place one container in the fridge and leave the other out on the counter. This gives you the freedom to use starter as you please, while saving some for future use. Currently, I have one jar out on my kitchen counter that I am using to test new bread recipes, and I have two - yes, two - jars in my fridge that I am feeding 1-2x/week (because I have that much starter).
When you’re ready to use your refrigerated starter, take it out of the fridge 2-3 days before you plan to use it, place in it a warm environment (70-75 degrees F) and begin stirring and feeding it regularly again to ensure it’s active and bubbly. When you first take it out and stir it, it’ll be thicker than you may expect. This is normal - it’ll lighten up and thin out when you resume regular feedings at room temperature.
How strict is the feeding schedule? What if I feed it an hour or two early or late one day?
To remind yourself of the feeding schedule, keep a tab with the time you started feeding it on the container and/or set an alarm or reminder on your phone each day. Work around your schedule - if you go into work at 8 AM and come home at 6 PM each day, don’t start feeding your starter in that window of time because you’ll need to maintain that. Instead, feed it at 7 AM or 7 PM to better fit your schedule and ensure that you’ll be able to feed it on time each day. That being said, I have missed my feeding time once or twice by an hour or two and haven’t encountered any problems. I wouldn’t recommend missing your feeding time by more than two hours, though!
I’m still a little confused about “discard”. What is that? Do I absolutely need to throw half of it away everyday?
“Discard” is the process of removing some or half of your starter before feeding it each day. Most people resort to throwing this away and only feeding the other part of starter remaining, but I find this awfully wasteful. Instead, separate your starter into two containers. Now, you have options:
Feed both containers and store one in the fridge for future use, and leave the other at room temperature for more immediate use. Use some of it to bake a loaf of bread, and use some to bake brown butter cinnamon rolls, fluffy English muffins, the best homemade pretzels, and a quick, crispy cast-iron skillet pizza crust.
Feed only one and use the other to bake cookies, brownies, biscuits, or banana bread. This portion of starter is much less active as the other fed portion, so I wouldn’t recommend using this to bake something like bread or cinnamon rolls that should be risen and fluffy with noticeable sourdough flavor. Need more ideas?
Feed both containers, keep one for yourself and give the other to a friend who has been wanting to experiment with sourdough!
Can I buy sourdough starter?
You can! Some local bakeries will sell small amounts of theirs, and these starters have most likely been in their families for decades. If you like their bread, it’s safe to say you’ll enjoy using their starter to make your own bread. Just give your favorite bread bakery a call and ask them if they’d be willing to share a little bit of their starter with you. Otherwise, King Arthur Flour sells theirs online and will ship it directly to you!
Is sourdough healthier than yeasted bread?
It depends on your definition of “healthier”, as well as the types of flour you use in the bread. There isn’t anything “unhealthy” about yeasted bread - it contains the same ingredients as sourdough bread. The only main difference between the two breads is the source of the yeast. In yeasted bread, the yeast is commercially produced and dried, to be re-activated within a couple hours when mixed with warm liquid and a touch of sugar. In sourdough bread, the yeast is naturally present in the flour and in the air around us, and this yeast and the enzymes in the flour partially digest some of the starches and proteins, producing carbon dioxide in the form of bubbles. This process is called fermentation and produces a type of lactic acid bacteria that has proven beneficial for the human gut - Lactobacilli. Read this post for more information on the benefits of bacteria produced from this fermentation.
What’s the flotation test for? What if my starter doesn't float when I’m ready to bake with it?
The flotation test is typically performed before using an active starter to ensure that it is optimally active for baking. Though I have never tried this, I have read about it and know how it's supposed to be done - take a small amount - about a pinch - of starter and place it into a bowl of water. If it floats to the top, it’s ready. If it sinks, it’s not quite ready yet. Like I said, I’ve never tested my starter this way. Given the amount of bubbles I see in my starter everyday, I trust that it’s active and ready for use. If you see the same signs in yours, I’d say you could trust that yours is ready, too, without performing the float test.
Can I make sourdough bread with all whole-wheat flour?
Sure! Keep in mind that, because of the density of whole-wheat, the bread will also be dense. When I bake bread, I use a combination of whole-wheat flour and all-purpose flour or bread flour to make sure the loaf is light, airy, and hearty. I’ve baked loaves with 100% all-purpose flour and found that there was very little flavor and the texture was too light and airy. Adding a portion - usually about 30-50% - of whole-wheat flour added just enough density and nuttiness to improve the texture and flavor.
How can I convert a yeasted recipe to sourdough?
Well, you’ve got to be willing to do some math. Remember, everything is done in weight in grams, so you’ll need to do some conversions if the recipe you are hoping to use isn’t providing the conversion for you. It’s simple, though, assuming your starter is 100% hydration, meaning you’ve fed it equal parts flour and water. Now, look at how much yeast the recipe calls for. One packet of yeast is about 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast, which is about 5-7 grams. Thankfully, the blogger behind True Sourdough has already figured out that 5-7 grams of instant yeast is equivalent to 100 grams of 100% hydration sourdough starter. And since you’ve fed this starter equal parts flour and water, in this 100 gram portion, you have 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water that you’ll use in place of the instant yeast. Convert the rest of the ingredients in the recipe to grams (weigh it out yourself for better accuracy, or Google it) and then subtract 50 grams from the flour and 50 grams from the water or other liquid (i.e. milk, buttermilk, beer, etc) to account for the 100 grams of starter you’ll be using.
The other important thing to keep in mind is that sourdough starter performs the same intended purpose as instant yeast, but it requires longer proofing times in order to do so. With instant yeast, the first rise is usually two hours and the second is usually one, both at room temperature or a little warmer. With starter, increase the first rise to four hours at room temperature and the second to two. For the second rise, you can refrigerate overnight or for 12-36 hours (for most recipes, but not all) to prolong the rise for the sake of time and stronger sourdough flavor.
Just because a recipe uses sourdough starter in place of the instant yeast doesn’t necessarily mean the finished product will boast the same fermentation benefits as a loaf of sourdough bread. In order for the starter do its job, it needs proper rising times (stated above) and optimal living conditions - not too warm or cold, and not too sweet. According to True Sourdough, a sugar content higher than 10% will inhibit the fermentation process, thus leaving your product void of the fermentation benefits. That isn’t a bad thing and doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bake banana bread and cookies with your leftover starter! It just means it won’t taste like sourdough bread and contain the beneficial probiotics. Those are more abundantly found in soft, fluffy sourdough English muffins and a good crusty loaf of sourdough bread.
