Sourdough Starter Maintenance

Congratulations on your new Sourdough Starter! If you purchased from Virginia Sourdough, you are coming home with approximately 100 grams of Jane Dough, a starter born in 2020. Starter is a living organism and must be fed once per day or placed in a cool environment to halt activity.

Within 12 hours after purchase/workshop:

  • Discard half of the starter (approximately 50 grams) and place in a freezer safe container. Label with the date and place in your freezer. This is your ‘backup’ starter! Should anything happen to your primary starter, you can revive this one.

  • With the remaining 50 grams, feed with an equal part of flour and water. ‘Feed’ is the term used to add more flour and water to your starter to feed the wild yeast. I suggest 50g filtered water and 50g flour (all-purpose, bread, spelt, rye, whole wheat will all work great).

  • Set on your counter to use for bread baking later; OR place in fridge for your starter to take a nap.

name inspiration |

name inspiration |

Flora

Doughboy

Voldoughmort

Frida Kahdough

Vincent Van Dough

Shenandougha

Weirdough

John Dough

Starterella

Bubbly

Carrie Breadshaw

Loafy

Doughlene

Yeast Mode

Crumbella

Flour Power

Doughina

Lulu Leaven

Muffin's Mom

Crispina

Bubbles

Doughlicious

Fermenta

Bread Pitt

Fluffernut

Feeding Ratios

Feeding ratios matter to keep your sourdough starter strong (and alive). It’s best to weigh your starter, flour, and water.

The first number is the amount of starter or discard you are feeding. The second number refers to the flour. The last number is the amount of water to add. In the winter, I like to add warm water. In the summer, room temperature.

The key is to mix these three ingredients well - so that there are no dry bits of flour. I love using my wooden spurtle tool for this.

Common ratios are listed below. You don’t need to keep a lot of starter on hand! That will only produce more discard.

1:1:1 Ratio *recommended for beginners
50g starter, 50g flour, 50g water
ready to use in ~5 hours

1:2:2 Ratio
30g starter, 60g flour, 60g water
ready to use in ~6 hours

1:3:3 Ratio
20g starter, 60g flour, 60g water
ready to use in ~7 hours

1:5:5 Ratio
10g starter, 50g flour, 50g water
ready to use in ~10+ hours