How to Feed Sourdough Starter

Wondering how to feed sourdough starter? Here’s everything you need to know about feeding and caring for sourdough starter, including how to tell if your sourdough starter is bad.

Do you have a sourdough starter? When you’re baking sourdough bread at home and suddenly you’re a mom or dad with a sourdough appetizer, the new responsibility can seem overwhelming! Luckily, feeding and caring for sourdough starters is pretty easy. As part of our How to Make Sourdough Bread: The Simplified Guide series, we show you how to feed sourdough starter. A sourdough starter is essential for making sourdough bread. And to eat bread regularly, you need to learn how to feed the sourdough starter to keep it happy and healthy. Read on to learn how to feed sourdough starter, store and care for sourdough starter, and how to tell if sourdough starter is bad.

Watch the video to learn how to feed sourdough starter

But first, here’s our video of the process: Watch Alex show you how to feed the sourdough starter!

Find a sourdough starter

A sourdough starter, also called Sourdough, is a fermented dough filled with natural yeast. The starter is used to leaven sourdough bread and give it its characteristic tart flavor. If you found your way here, we’ll assume you already have a sourdough starter handy.

But if you don’t have a sourdough starter, did you know you can make some at home? Here’s our guide on how to do it how to make a sourdough, complete with all our tips. You can also get a sourdough starter from a friend or buy it online…but what’s the fun in that? Making a sourdough starter takes very little time. It takes 5 days for the launcher to be active and operational.

Storage of sourdough sourdough

To store your starter, you will need a sourdough starter container. Any covered jar will work, but here’s our sourdough starter container. Just place the starter straight into the container that is now its home. (Note: over time the starter house can become sticky: every week or two, remove the starter from the container and wash the container, then replace the starter and follow the normal feeding instructions below.)

You should keep your main course in the fridge until you are ready to bake bread. If you’re baking bread, feed the sourdough starter the night before (see recipe below) and then put the sourdough starter back in the fridge until you’re ready to bake again.

Feed sourdough starter

So you have a sourdough starter and it lives in its container in the fridge. What is the feeding frequency of the sourdough starter?

• You can leave the starter in the fridge for 3-4 days between feedings. We recommend Feed the sourdough starter at least twice a week for the best results.
• Remember that if you want to bake bread on a specific day, you have to do it Feed sourdough starter the day before baking. So depending on how often you plan to bake bread, you might feed your appetizer more often.
• We bake a loaf of sourdough bread about 4 times a week, so we feed it 4 times a week (every night before the bread is baked). If we have a week where we plan to bake less bread, we always turn on the starter 2 times a week, whether we bake bread or not.
• What Are the Actual Stages of Sourdough Starter Feeding? Access the recipe below.

If you’re actively using your sourdough to make our sourdough bread recipe, the following recipe instructions will ensure you have just enough sourdough leftover to have enough sourdough for the next day’s bread. Unless you’re making bread every few days, you’ll need to discard the excess starter as part of the feeding process to keep him healthy and happy.

What does a healthy sourdough appetizer look like? A healthy appetizer smells funky and fruity in a good way. It is a slightly bubbly floury paste. If things start to take a turn, see the Troubleshooting section below.

Troubleshooting your sourdough starter

Every once in a while something can go wrong with your starter. If you don’t feed it often enough, the sourdough will start smelling of alcohol. You may also find that the starter loses its buoyancy and does not become too bubbly and active after a feeding. Don’t worry, you can still restore the launcher. Discard all but a teaspoon of the starter and feed according to directions for make a sourdough appetizer. It should take 5 days or less to get well again.

What if I go on vacation?

And if you wanted to go on vacation: where to put your sourdough starter? In our experience, if you’re going to be away for longer than a week, the best thing to do is throw away your sourdough starter and start making a sourdough starter again. Of course, if you have a friend or family member to guard your sourdough starter, even better! In Sweden you can even hire a babysitter for your sourdough starter. So maybe it’s not that far!

Okay, if you’ve made it this far, you’re ready to learn how to feed sourdough starter. See the recipe below!

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This article is one of three in our series on how to make sourdough bread: