Sourdough Starter Notes

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Notes on how I maintain my sourdough starter.

Ratio

By weight: 1 part starter, 4 parts water, 1 part whole wheat flour, 4 parts all-purpose flour.

For maintenance, I use 10g starter (40g water, 10g whole wheat, 40g AP). When I'm baking, I bump it up to 25g starter (100g water, 25g whole wheat, 100g AP). That's usually enough for a couple loaves, and whatever's left over can be used to keep the starter going. How much you use depends on how much you're baking.

Feeding

  1. Keep some starter from the last batch. Discard the rest or do whatever you want with it.
  2. Add water and mix to dissolve the starter.
  3. Add whole wheat flour and mix.
  4. Add all-purpose flour and mix.

After feeding

If you're going to bake with it, leave it out at room temperature. Otherwise, throw it in the fridge. It can sit there for several weeks without feeding.

Waking it up

If the starter has been in the fridge for a while, I recommend feeding it and letting it sit out for 24 hours, then feeding it again before your bake. That second feed wakes it up nicely.