There’s no feeling of accomplishment like making your first sourdough starter. Those first seven days can be tough. Or, maybe you have a friend who slaved over making her own starter and she was kind enough to gift you some. Perhaps you don’t know what to do next. In order to maintain a usable sourdough culture, you’ll need to follow a sourdough feeding cycle routine. This is my method for keeping sourdough starter on hand without losing my mind feeding all of the time.

If You Don’t Have a Starter Yet…

Be sure to check out my complete tutorial on how to make a sourdough starter from scratch. You’ll want to follow that first and then use this routine as a reference for feeding it after day 7.

How Often Do You Bake Bread?

This is the first question you should ask yourself when starting this cycle. If you decide you’d like to bake every day, then you will need to omit the refrigerator portion of my routine. Since I choose to bake bread only about once or twice a week, I stick my starter in the fridge in between batches. If you’re feeling really confident, you can also get two loaves ready at the same time using my recipe here, and then bake them staggered. Since my recipe calls for a cold proof for up to 48 hours, you can time the loaves out from each other easily.

Sourdough Starter Feeding Routine

Homestead With Grace

This is my method for feeding a sourdough starter while having the freedom to bake bread when I want to.

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Equipment

1 Baking Scale
3 Mason Jars with Plastic Lids I use 32 oz wide mouth
1 Rubber spatula

Ingredients

1 bag All Purpose Flour King Arthur brand*
1 bag Whole Wheat Flour King Arthur brand

Instructions

(Only begin this cycle after day 7 of your new sourdough starter)
You start with peaked or non-peaked sourdough starter in a jar.

Has the Starter Peaked?

A sourdough starter is peaked when it has large bubbles throughout, has doubled in size, smells like bread (not foul) and passes the float test.

Feed

Move 30 grams of starter into a new, clean jar.
The remaining starter is now sourdough discard and can be kept separately in the fridge for discard recipes. (I add discard to the jar regularly and use it when it gets full)
Add 30 grams all purpose flour, 30 grams whole wheat flour and 60 grams of warm water.
Use a small spoon or spatula to mix well. It should have the consistency of pancake batter.
Screw a plastic lid on the jar, then unscrew one quarter turn so it is loose. Be sure to place a rubber band around the jar where the starter is now.

Rest

Let the starter rest for no more than 24 hours. I usually rest it for about 12-18 hours before feeding it again.
If you want to bake bread, you can start that process as soon as it peaks. You'll need to watch the starter carefully to make sure you don't miss the peak.
If you don't want to bake bread soon, you can store the jar in the fridge after it peaks. If you store the starter in the fridge, you can keep it there for up to a few months. Or you can keep it in the fridge for a few days until it's time to bake again.
Remove the starter from the fridge the morning before you want to bake bread. Then, feed it immediately. This will give the starter plenty of time to rise before you want to bake.
When you remove the starter after a long period of time, you may need to remove the liquid that forms on top. This is called hooch and isn't bad for you, but it will cause your starter to be extra sour. If you are fine with the sourness, you can mix the hooch in before you start the feeding cycle.

Repeat the Cycle

Repeat the feed and rest portions of the cycle indefinitely or pause the cycle in the fridge.

Notes

*I use the King Arthur brand and love it. I’ve tried to use bread flour in my sourdough, but I didn’t have good success with it. Once I switched to AP flour, I started getting amazing results.

Temperature:

In order to rise, your sourdough starter wants to be kept at a warm room temperature around 74 degrees F, or close to that. If it’s winter or you keep your house colder, you may need to take extra measures to keep your starter warm. By heating a bean or rice bag warmer in the microwave and then placing your starter jar in the microwave on top of that for the rest periods, you’ll speed up the peaking process.

Keyword beginner sourdough, sourdough

Sourdough Feeding Cycle Routine | How Do You Sourdough?