A Smaller Sourdough Starter (2024)

FAQs

How small can your sourdough starter be? ›

I generally suggest using 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water to create a sourdough starter, however, this can be too much for some home bakers. Reducing the amounts of flour and water down to 20g each will give you a small sourdough starter that you can build on.

Tips from our Bakers

Feeding #1: 20g starter + 20g water + 20g flour. Feeding/build #2: Discard 30g starter (half by volume). Feed the remaining 30g starter with 30g (2 tablespoons) water and 30g (3 tablespoons) flour. Final feeding/build: No discard.

And in fact, you can change the amount of starter in a recipe to suit you and your specific needs. As a general rule, the less sourdough starter you use, the slower your dough will ferment - resulting in a more sour flavored loaf.

A good rule of thumb is to choose a jar that's at least twice the size of your starter's starting volume. Shape: Jars with straight sides are ideal for sourdough starters because they allow you to easily scrape down the sides of the jar during feedings.

Is a sourdough starter supposed to be liquidy (or runny)? It's not a problem if a starter has a loose and runny consistency, as this texture is a byproduct of a starter's hydration and the flour used for feedings.

If your sourdough starter won't rise anymore, reset it by putting 25 grams of starter in a jar and feed it 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water. With this ratio, your starter should double in size in about 12-24 hours. If your starter has never risen before, follow a proven guide to create an active starter.

I like to start by eyeballing approximately how much sourdough starter I already have and feeding it at least that much in equal parts of flour and water. For example, if you have about 1 cup of sourdough starter, you will want to feed it at least 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour.

With each sourdough starter feeding, you'll be discarding some to avoid it from becoming overly acidic. Most will compost or trash this discard, but you can save it and use it in other recipes!

Your starter might have gone too long between feedings and it needs to be revived more. Leave it for another 4-8 hours, discard all but 25g of starter and feed with 70g Warm Water and 100g flour, leave out overnight and in the morning, discard and feed again.

If your recipe calls for more than 227g (about 1 cup) of starter, feed it without discarding until you've reached the amount you need (plus 113g to keep and feed again).

Does less starter make sourdough more sour? ›

A larger amount of bacteria will develop resulting in more sour flavored bread. Smaller Amount of Levain: Use a smaller amount of levain or starter in your recipe. This will decrease the overall ph and give a more sour flavor to your bake.

While the age of your starter won't make your bread any better — turns out, only good sourdough practices can do that — it's a link in the long legacy of sourdough, one of the oldest forms of baking that exists. Whether your starter is a week or a decade old, you can become part of that lineage as well.

Ideally, your sourdough starter should be loosely covered with a lid or paper towel to keep out bugs (like fruit flies) and other debris. A loose lid will also stop it from drying out too much.

Should I keep my sourdough starter in an airtight container? Keep your starter in an airtight container when you are storing it in the fridge. If it is being kept at room temperature to be used, cover it with a towel or a coffee filter with a rubber band. This allows it to breathe and capture the wild yeast in the air.

Sourdough Starter Feeding Ratio 1:1:1

It is the most exact way of measuring. Most sourdough recipes are written in weight measurements because it's the most accurate. Using volume measurements (cups) isn't as precise. If you do use cups to measure, be sure to measure your flour correctly.

Your starter may have a little bit of a smell if it hasn't been fed in a while, and your cooking projects will taste a little more sour to reflect that. So if you want to avoid the super sour sourdough taste, you might just need to feed it more often and not let it sit out on the counter as long.

What if I do not have enough sourdough starter for my recipe? If you need more starter than you currently have, just keep building it up by not removing any starter prior to feeding and feed the starter an equal 1:1:1 ratio until you have the amount you need. It builds quite quickly.