The EASIEST Way to Feed Your Sourdough Starter
Feeding your sourdough starter doesn’t have to be complicated! In this post I will show you the easiest way to feed your sourdough starter, no scale required!
How to feed sourdough starter
When you first start making sourdough bread, feeding your sourdough starter can feel a little overwhelming . Most recipes instruct that you need to weigh how much water and flour go into your starter. However I have been using this very simple approach to feeding my starter for weeks and have had perfect starter for all my sourdough baking.
First remove excess starter
Start by removing your excess starter. I remove as much starter as necessary until I have approximately 1/2 cup left in my bowl but here is the thing. You actually just need 1-2 tbs of starter left in your bowl to activate the new flour and water you will be adding. So don’t stress about the amount.
Add in flour
I like to add in about 1 cup of flour (or bread flour). This amount leaves me with lots of starter to use for baking bread, making sourdough pizza crusts, sourdough bagels, you name it. But if you find you need less, just add a little less flour next time. Or if you need more starter , add a little more flour.
Adding in water
Now it’s time to add in your water. As a general rule I add in less water than flour, because I like the consistency of starter this gives me. If I add in 1 cup of flour, I will add in app. 3/4 cup of water.
Finally…
And lastly make sure you give it a good stir to combine the flour and water together. But don’t worry about getting our all the little lumps and making sure its perfectly smooth. It will smooth out as the active yeast starts working away on the flour and water you just added in.
The last thing I want to mention is how I go about storing my starter. Although I will put my starter in the fridge if I am going away for a while, I typically like to leave mine on my counter. In order to keep my starter active I feed it as mentioned above every 2 days.
If you are finding you aren’t using your starter you can definitely store it in the fridge after you have fed it. When you want to use it again, I like to remove it from the fridge, and start the feeding process again. I then let it sit for 4-6 hours until its good and bubbly, letting me know its happy and active before I bake with it.
Check out our blog post for our favourite sourdough bread recipe and video tutorial for beginner sourdough bakers!
Check out our sourdough recipes
How to Make Sourdough Starter?
I haven’t made my starter from scratch but here is a great video tutorial my girls and I watched the other day when they were wondering how to make sourdough starter and what it actually is!
They were amazed that sourdough starter is just made with water, flour and the bacteria in the air! They also were really impressed to hear that many families have kept their sourdough starter alive and well for YEARS!
Sourdough starter actually is really fascinating and a great project to make as a family and then use for your own yummy baking!
