Sourdough starter is a living entity, so it needs to be fed and maintained just a bit to keep it alive. There’s tons of dos and don’ts on the internet, but here’s my routine:

Temperature

You only need to feed your starter once every two weeks or so if you keep it inside your fridge.

The downside to cold starter is that it will rise much much more slowly in your dough – and that means waiting longer for bread.

I keep it chilled until the morning when I plan on using it — then I let it come to room temperature on the counter.

Starter kept on the counter needs to be fed daily or every other day.

Feeding

1. Throw away or give away about half of the starter.
   
   You can also use it for recipes that use “discard”. I like this cracker recipe from King Arthur Flour – you can scale the recipe to the weight of the starter that you are discarding.
   
2. Add about 70g of water. Mix the starter and water until well combined.
   
3. Add about 70g of the flour of your choice. If you are using a whole grain flour, you won’t need as much.
   
4. After mixing, the starter should have a consistency like a thick milkshake. It shouldn’t be watery, and it shouldn’t be like a ball of dough.

Monitoring

Happy sourdough starter has a bread-like smell in the container. There shouldn’t be any red or pink color in the starter.

After feeding, the starter should grow and almost double in size after a few hours. Starter at its peak has lots of internal bubbles and a webby texture.

Remember to wash the sourdough container every once and a while!

Conclusion

It doesn’t have to be much more complicated than this. You can adjust the amount of water and flour depending on how much starter you need in the future — just keep it 1:1.

Experimenting with different feeding schedules and flours can create different results. Have fun 🍞!