Every couple weeks or so, we send out a little roundup of new recipes, techniques, and tutorials that we’ve recently posted on the site. Occasionally we announce exclusive giveaways to newsletter subscribers as well. We won’t spam you with ads or share or sell your email address. Every email we send has a 1-click unsubscribe link if you decide it’s not for you.
How to feed starter
When working with a new starter or one that requires reviving, it’s best to use white flour (white bread flour or all purpose flour) to strengthen it and get it to a really healthy state. Once it’s robust, feel free to switch to using the flour of your choice (einkorn, rye, whole wheat, spelt, etc) to convert it, or continue to keep it a white flour starter. Use filtered or spring water to feed your starter, not chlorinated tap water and preferably not reverse osmosis water as the starter likes minerals in the water.
The consistency of your starter should be like a wet dough, or a sponge. It should be more like waffle batter and less like runny pancake batter. With starter that is too wet, the bubbles drift up through the starter rather than getting trapped and forcing a rise. An excellent benchmark of a healthy starter is one that rises well after you feed it. If your starter rises well after feeding, you can more reasonably expect your bread dough to also rise. If your starter is a wet one, feed it proportionately more flour and its consistency will thicken. If a recipe calls for a liquid starter you can always thin it out for that particular recipe.
When feeding your starter, think in terms of ratios and not in amounts. How much flour and water you feed it in proportion to how much starter you have is just as important as how often you feed it. While you don’t want to overwhelm your yeast, you also don’t want to underwhelm it. Think of it in terms of a person: a young child’s proportions are smaller than that of an adult, and therefore he/she requires a smaller portion of food. Too much food will overwhelm a child, and too little food will underwhelm an adult. Same idea.
Feed your starter equal WEIGHTS of flour and water. Water is heavier than flour, so this will produce a desirable thick, wet dough consistency.
Many people stick with 1:1:1 ratio feeds, meaning the same weight of existing starter to new flour to new water being added to the jar. Other people want a longer timeframe for their starter to mature, so they give the existing starter a higher ratio of food. For example, if you’re looking to have your starter be ripe (at peak, doubled or tripled even) when you wake up in the morning and your kitchen is warm, you might do a 1:2:2 or even 1:3:3 feed the night before.
See this FAQ if you’re struggling with your starter not bubbling or expanding after feeding.
How to feed starter