First sourdough starter ever for me was begun in a 1 quart or 1 litre Ikea korken jar. This was following the guidelines for numerous sourdough starter tutorials. I ended up building up a lot of sourdough discard over time. Even eating a loaf of bread everyday, I was only using 1/2 a cup to a maximum of 1 cup of starter regularly. If my starter overflowed like the iconic pictures of active bubbly starter then there was definitely too much.
Having worked with this starter for a couple weeks now I have become more comfortable with it and even found changing the 1:1:1 ratio was really simple. I was using 100% whole wheat flour and either my dry cup measuring tools and liquid cup tools didn’t match, but I found that 1:1 flour and water was too much. I read that if anything it would be good to try. 2:1 flour to water ratio when feeding and maybe go as high as 1:3/4 ratio meaning 1 cup flour to 3/4 cup water. Start with half water and work up to 3/4 water if it’s still too dry.
With the large amount of starter I was working with before, I reduced it to about 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup starter. I fed it with 1/4 cup whole wheat flour and 2 tablespoons of water at around 8:00 AM this morning. Below is at around 13:00 PM
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 – 3 tablespoons water (filtered or bottled if tap water is chlorinated)
Mix the whole wheat flour and water in a jar. you can increase the water up to 4 tablespoons if the consistency is too dry. I found my starter was too runny so I cut back on the water when I learned over time. The consistency should be like thick pancake batter, a little wet and sticky.
One of the downsides of making sourdough bread is that the older stuff bought from the store tends to accumulate as they gobble up the fresh baked bread instead.
Day 1
- Mix flour and water together in a clean jar.
- Cover loosely (lid ajar or tea towel and rubber band to keep out debris)
Day 2
- Check for bubbles, if no bubbles wait another 24 hours.
- If bubbly, proceed to feeding it.
Day 3 to 7
- Pour out and discard half (1/4 cup) of the flour and water mixture, then repeat the steps of day one. 1/4 cup flour, 2 to 3 tablespoons water, stir thoroughly, cover, and set aside.
My starter tends to run on the more liquid side. If I follow the same ratio of flour and water, it gets too watery. Sometimes I may need 3 tablespoons of water and other times only 2 tablespoons.
The starter should double in size within 4 – 8 hours and smell a little fruity or tangy or yogurt. Mine doubled in 2-4 hours reaching just below the top of my jar. I am contemplating moving it to a bigger jar again.
