I posted about sourdough starter maintenance a few years ago, but wanted to write a new post that reflects what I do now. I have completely simplified, and don’t like to have discard. I always keep my starter in the fridge, in a 16 ounce, straight sided Ball or Kerr canning jar. I usually keep between 30 and 40 grams, which is a little less than a quarter cup.

30 grams is not a lot, but it’s enough to get you started, haha.

If I know I want to bake a loaf of bread, the night before, I pull my jar of starter out of the fridge just before bedtime. If my recipe calls for 80 grams of starter, for example, I will add to my jar: 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour. If you do the math, it looks like this: 30 grams starter from the fridge + 50 grams water + 50 grams flour. I like to make a bit more than I actually need to account for a small amount of evaporation that occurs.

Pour in 50 grams of water to jar containing about 30 grams of starter.

Zero out the scale and then add 50 grams of flour.

I stir well, using a narrow silicone spatula. I end up with a pasty mix.

The jar looks kind of messy.

So I scrape down the sides of the jar with the spatula so I can see what’s going on in there. I place a rubberband at the level of the starter so I can keep track of how much it grows. I put the lid on the jar just lightly so air can escape, and leave it on my kitchen counter overnight.

In the morning, I’ve got active, bubbly starter, ready for my recipe. My kitchen is not warm overnight… probably is about 66°F. This is not important, except to let you know that you don’t need a warm room to get your starter to rise.

Ready to go!

My starter usually triples in size in about 6 hours. Once it has reached its peak, it stays there for at least a couple of hours, which makes an overnight rise perfect for my schedule.

Once I use my active starter for my dough….

Making sourdough pizza dough

I will have somewhere between 30 and 40 grams leftover. I put the lid back on the jar and put the leftover starter in the fridge. It’s okay to put the lid on a little tighter, but I never screw it on all the way, just in case. My starter stays in the fridge until the next time I need it. Since I bake once or twice a week, my starter stays active and this routine works well for me.

Soft Sourdough Loaf

My recipes generally call for anywhere from 80 to 100 grams of starter, but I don’t worry too much about exactness of things. My mixes of starter might look like this:

30 grams starter + 45 grams water + 45 grams flour

40 grams starter + 50 grams water + 50 grams flour

Etc., etc.

Just notice the proportions. I used to feed my starter at a 1:1:1 ratio, which will have the starter growing pretty quickly, perhaps even too quickly for an overnight rise. So now I prefer to do a 3:4:4 ratio or 4:5:5 ratio, or even a 3:5:5 ratio, so the starter doesn’t rise too quickly.

Sourdough Fruit and Nut Loaf

When I do have a recipe that calls for a larger amount of starter, like my sourdough waffle recipe, for example, I will feed my starter in the morning of the day before, a 30:45:45: mix. Then in the evening before bedtime, I will take 80 grams of the active starter, and feed it 90 grams water and 90 grams flour in a larger jar. A much larger jar. I will put the leftover starter back in the fridge. The next morning I will have a large jar with 240 grams of active starter, and I will use all of it for the waffle recipe. I still have my trusty 30 or so grams of starter in the fridge, ready and waiting for the next time I need it.

Sourdough Waffles

I hope this isn’t too confusing. Just so you know, I’ve had the same starter since the beginning of the pandemic, and I haven’t screwed it up yet. They say it’s hard to kill a starter, and I believe that is true.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is ingredients. For feeding my starter, I use filtered water from a Britta water pitcher, but I’m thinking tap water might be fine as well. For flour, I use unbleached all-purpose flour, usually King Arthur brand. I also throw in a teaspoon of rye flour when feeding my starter to keep things jazzy. It’s not necessary, but it does help increase activity.

Finally, if you are not going to bake once a week or more, you can still keep your starter in your fridge, but you may have to feed it a couple of days in a row to bring it back up to speed when you finally do want to bake. Your starter will get sluggish in the fridge if you leave it in there without feeding it for more than a week. So in this case, a few days or so before you want to bake, you will feed it every 24 hours until it is nice and active again, and you will end up with discard (starter you don’t need) at those extra feedings. Save that discard and make some crackers!

Sourdough Crackers

I hope you find this helpful, and please let me know if you have any questions! There are many many ways to maintain a sourdough starter; this is just one of them, and it works for me.