How to Maintain Your Sourdough Starter

Did you successfully make a sourdough starter? Congrats! Or maybe you picked some up- welcome to the sourdough sister and brotherhood, my friends.

Either way, what do you do now becomes the ultimate question. And I know how intimidating it can be, so here are my tried and true ways of keeping and maintaining a sourdough starter, from a seven-year sourdough veteran.

Affiliate Disclosure:
At Harvest Ranch, we believe in sharing the good stuff—whether it’s farm-fresh eggs, soul-warming recipes, or tools that make your kitchen (and life) run smoother. Some of the links in our posts are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you purchase at no extra cost to you.
We only recommend products we actually use and love, from brands we trust to align with our values of quality, sustainability, and stewardship. Every little bit helps us keep the chickens fed, the garden growing, and the sourdough starters happily bubbling. Thanks for supporting our small slice of heaven!

What is a sourdough starter?

A sourdough starter is a living, breathing culture made from just flour and water. When you mix the two and give them a few days, wild yeast and good bacteria from your environment move in and start working their magic. That bubbly mix becomes your natural leavening agent—it’s what makes sourdough bread rise without commercial yeast.

Honestly, it’s way less intimidating than it sounds. Once you get into a rhythm, feeding your starter will feel as simple as making your morning coffee. (And if you’re like me, sometimes it happens at the same time.)

If you haven’t made your own, be sure to check out our instructions.

How Long Can You Go Between Feedings

If you’re keeping your starter in the refrigerator, you can usually go about two weeks between feedings without any issues. That’s the beauty of sourdough—it can take a little nap while you go about your busy life.

Feeding it only takes about fifteen minutes, so it’s totally doable to keep it going in the long term, even if you’re not baking every week.

Storing Your Sourdough Starter

For the first eight years, I kept my sourdough starter in the fridge. It worked just fine—but the biggest risk? Having someone “helpfully” clean out the fridge and toss your jar of bubbly gold because they didn’t know what it was. (Yes, that happened. Yes, I’m still salty.)

These days, I bake more often, and during the colder months, I struggled to get a good rise and fall in my dough. So I invested in the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home—and I love it. It keeps my starter at a consistent, warm temperature, which means I can have a levain ready to go in about five hours. Total game-changer if you’re baking on a regular schedule.

A More In-depth Take on How to Feed Your Sourdough Starter

Feeding your sourdough starter is kind of like brewing a strong cup of coffee—you just need a couple of good ingredients, a little consistency, and a bit of patience. Here’s how I do it, step-by-step:

1. Gather your ingredients and tools

You’ll need:

• Your sourdough starter (even if it looks a little sleepy or has some hooch on top—more on that in a bit)
• 50 g. of flour (something unbleached—skip the cheap bleached all-purpose stuff)
• 50 g. of water (filtered is best, or let tap water sit out for a bit to remove chlorine)
• A clean jar (I like having two jars and alternating—it helps keep everything cleaner)
• A spoon or jar spatula for stirring
• A kitchen scale (yes, grams matter here!)

2. Scoop and measure

Place your jar on the scale, zero it out, and measure in 50 grams of your existing starter. (If you have a lot more than that, it’s okay to discard down to 50 g before feeding—don’t worry, it’s normal to toss some.)

3. Add the flour and water

Using a funnel makes this part way less messy! Add 50 g. of your chosen flour and then 50 g. of water. Zero out the scale between each addition if needed.

4. Stir until smooth

Stir until it’s well combined and smooth—you’re looking for a thick, pancake batter-like consistency. Make sure there are no dry pockets of flour hiding at the bottom.

5. Let it rest

• If you’re baking soon: pop it somewhere warm (like on top of your fridge or in a proofing box) to let it get active and bubbly. This can take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours depending on the temp.
• If you’re just keeping it alive: cap it loosely and store it in the fridge until the next feeding.

Pro tip: If you see a layer of liquid (called hooch) on top, that’s just your starter saying, “Feed me!” Pour it off or stir it in, then feed as usual. It’s not ruined—it just got a little hungry.

How to Use Sourdough Discard

Throwing it away seems wasteful, after all.

I have read that you can freeze it but have not had any luck with that. I want to try freeze drying it as well but that will come… with getting a freeze dryer. LOL.

I am planning to add some recipes here as well for you but for now, I have seen this as a popular one: Fried Sourdough Starer.

Refresh Before You Use Your Sourdough Starter (Levain)

You might see the word levain floating around in sourdough recipes and think, “Wait, is this something different from my starter?” The short answer is: kinda, but not really.

A levain is just a portion of your sourdough starter that’s been freshly fed and set aside specifically for your recipe. Think of it as your starter’s “best self”—bubbly and active. Most recipes call for a levain because it gives you more control. You’re working with something that’s predictable, fresh, and tailor-made for the job, rather than just scooping from the sleepy stuff in the fridge.

That’s why it’s important to refresh your starter before baking. When your starter has had a fresh meal (that 1:1:1 ratio of starter, flour, and water we talked about), it wakes up and becomes super active—exactly what you want when making bread that needs a good rise. If you try to bake with an unfed or sluggish starter, your dough might turn out dense or just… sad.

So the next time you’re prepping for a bake, plan ahead and feed your starter a few hours (or even the night) before.