Feeding Your Sourdough Starter – Simple Tips for Success
Caring for a sourdough starter is a little like tending a small, bubbly garden — you feed it, watch it grow, and it rewards you with the most incredible flavor for your breads and bakes. It might feel a bit intimidating at first, but once you understand the rhythm, it becomes second nature.
The photos below will walk you through each stage of feeding your starter so you can see exactly what to do, from checking if it’s ready to covering it up for its next rise. Here in the blog, we’ll focus on the why behind each step, along with tips to help you feel confident as you care for your starter.
Why Feeding Matters
Your sourdough starter is made up of wild yeast and good bacteria. When you feed it fresh flour and water, you’re giving it the “food” it needs to grow and produce the bubbles that make your bread rise. Over time, the starter will rise to its peak and then fall again once it’s eaten through most of that food — and that’s your signal that it’s ready for another feeding. If you don’t yet have a sourdough starter or need to start fresh, you can get my dehydrated sourdough starter here. It’s a simple way to begin your sourdough journey with a strong, healthy culture.
Knowing When It’s Ready
Your starter will give you visual cues when it’s time for its next meal. After a feeding, it will rise as it eats through the flour, then eventually fall back down. That “rise and fall” cycle is your signal — when it’s fallen, it’s ready to feed again.
Why We Feed It This Way
Feeding is all about balance. Fresh flour and water give your starter the nutrients it needs to grow healthy and active. Using pre-measured, equal parts of starter, flour, and water (a 1:1:1 ratio) is the simplest method for beginners. It keeps the process predictable and helps you learn your starter’s timing.
Playing with Ratios
Once you’re comfortable maintaining a consistent feeding routine, you can adjust the ratio to match your schedule:
1:2:2 – More food for your starter, which means it will take longer to rise.
1:5:5 – A much larger feed, perfect if you want to slow things down even more.
These adjustments don’t change the end result — just how quickly or slowly your starter peaks.
Understanding “Discard”
Before each feeding, you’ll remove some of your starter. This isn’t wasteful — it keeps the starter a manageable size so you don’t have to use huge amounts of flour to feed it. The portion you remove is called discard, and it’s still full of flavor. You can use it in pancakes, crackers, waffles, muffins, and more for a subtle sourdough tang.
Keeping a Healthy Starter
Consistency is key. If you bake often, you can keep your starter at room temperature and feed it daily. If you bake less often, store it in the fridge and feed it about once a week. Always pay attention to how it rises and falls — that’s your best guide for when it’s hungry.
Why These Terms Matter
If you’re new to sourdough, it can sometimes feel like everyone is speaking a different language — words like “levain,” “peak,” and “hooch” get thrown around, and it’s not always clear what they mean. Learning these common terms will help you understand recipes, follow tutorials with confidence, and troubleshoot if something doesn’t go as planned. Think of this as your mini sourdough dictionary, here to make the process slightly simpler and less intimidating.
Common Sourdough Starter Terms
Active Starter – A starter that has recently been fed and is bubbly, airy, and at or near its peak rise.
Levain – A portion of starter mixed with fresh flour and water, built specifically for a bake, often with a timing and ratio to match the recipe.
Float Test – A quick way to check if your starter is ready to bake with: drop a small spoonful in water. If it floats, it’s airy and active.
Hooch – A thin layer of liquid that can form on top of a hungry starter. It’s harmless and can be stirred back in or poured off before feeding.
Peak – The highest point your starter reaches after a feeding before it starts to fall. This is when it’s most active for baking.
Feeding your sourdough starter isn’t just a step in baking — it’s a small, rewarding ritual that connects you to the process and the history of bread making. Every starter is unique, and each one “communicates” in its own way. As you care for yours, you’ll discover its habits, quirks, and rhythms, and you’ll start to notice the little signs that tell you what it needs. Have fun with it, be patient, and don’t take the process too rigidly - there’s no single “perfect” way to do it. The more you understand and enjoy the process, the more confident and flexible you’ll become. With this guide, the step-by-step photos, and a few key terms under your belt, you’ll be ready to keep your starter healthy, happy, and ready for your next bake.
Happy baking!