Sourdough Starter Readiness
By: Patricia Davis
Tags: Food, Ninjawritersbyob, Sourdough, Cooking, Baking

FOOD

Sourdough Starter Readiness

Can I make bread yet?

My highly active sourdough start. Photo by author

During this pandemic, I couldn’t find bread on the shelves at my local store, and the baking aisle didn’t have any yeast. I remembered my grandmother telling me about using sourdough starter to leaven bread when she was a child, so I thought, What have I got to loose?

It has been 10 days since I started building up my wild yeast or sourdough starter, and the surface looks bubbly. I can smell a tangy beer-like smell. I really want to make bread, but if the starter isn’t ready, my bread won’t rise.

How can I tell if it is ready?

Sourdough starter takes between 7 and 14 days of feeding and nurturing before it is active enough to be able to support rising. If it is not ready, you will get a flat, very dense loaf of bread. It may even be more of a hockey puck and totally inedible.

There are two easy ways to tell if it is ready to bake bread.

It doubles in size after feedings.

Feed your starter. Take out 75 grams of your starter (about 1/3 cup) and place it in a jar. Add 75 grams of distilled water (about 1/3 cup) and stir until smooth. Then add 75 grams of unbleached all-purpose flour (about 1/2 cup). Stir until the mixture is smooth.

I like to mix it in a measuring cup and then transfer it back to a clean jar. This keeps the sides clean and the rise easier to judge.

If your starter is ready for baking bread, it will double in size (or rise up twice its height) within 8-12 hours, often sooner. I recommend marking the side of your jar with a rubber band or elastic hair tie so that you can easily see where the level started.

If it has doubled in size within 8–12 hours after feeding, you are ready to make bread. Be sure to start your recipe within one hour after the starter peaks.

My sourdough starter floating in water. Photo by author.

The mixture floats in water.

Another way to determine if it can be used to make bread is to gently scoop out about a teaspoon of the starter and put it into a cup of distilled water.

If it stays together and floats in a clump, it should be ready to make bread. Just be sure you have fed it within 8 hours prior to your test.

What if I’m not ready to bake bread yet?

Once the starter is strong enough, you can store it in your refrigerator or on your counter until you are ready to make something with it.

How do I store my starter?

Refrigerate it, if you only use it occasionally.

If you want to store your starter without using it, feed it like you did above. Let it sit on your counter for at least an hour or two after feeding before putting in the refrigerator.

Refrigeration slows down the fermentation process of the yeast. Because of the fermentation, it naturally preserves the mixture so it won’t mold or develop bacteria, which is true even if you leave it on your counter.

If you have fed your starter within the previous 8 hours and used part of it, you can just put the jar in your refrigerator until you are ready to use it again.

As long as you take it out of your refrigerator at least once a week and give it a good feeding, it should remain strong enough to make bread.

You should definitely put it in the refrigerator if you are going on vacation. I’ve even left it for three weeks without a problem. I just fed it double the normal amount before refrigerating it.

Keep it on your counter, if you use it often.

Sourdough can be kept on your counter, especially if you regularly make other things besides bread. I make crackers, pancakes, pizza crust, flat bread, tortillas, pie crust, dumplings, English muffins and all kinds of rolls.

Keeping it on your counter means that you won’t have to wait for the starter to warm up before you feed it or use it.

However, you will need to feed it daily, which means you will use a good amount of flour and have some discard everyday. It won’t go to waste, though, because you can either use it, share it, or compost it.

How do I know if it is still good?

Smell it. If it smells beer-ish, it is healthy and good to use. At first, the beer smell won’t be like ‘good’ beer. The longer you maintain your starter, the better the beer smell becomes.

It may get a clear liquid floating on top. That’s okay. It’s called hooch, a natural product of the fermentation process. Just stir it back in; don’t pour it off. That gives it great flavor.

The older your starter, the better it will smell. Believe me, if it has gone bad, you will know it immediately. It will smell like something died.

That happened to my family once when my mom was making sourdough starter. She fed it, and we went on vacation for two weeks. The only problem was — she didn’t refrigerate it. We came home to a something-died-a-long-time-ago, gag-if-you-breathe, open-all-the-windows-now smell.

I am ready to make bread. What now?

Great! Now, you’re ready to make bread. Take your starter out of your refrigerator and let it sit on your counter for at least an hour. It should be at room temperature before being fed. If you kept it on your counter, you can start with feeding it.

Feed your starter.

Remove 113 grams (1/2 cup) of starter and put it in a glass bowl. Discard the rest of the starter in your jar. (Use it, share it, compost it.)

Add.

To your 113 grams of starter, add 75 grams (1/3 cup) of distilled water and stir the mixture until smooth. Add 75 grams (1/2 cup) of all-purpose flour and stir together until well blended.

Wait for it to double.

Mark the level of the starter with a rubber band and let sit for 8–12 hours, or until doubled in size. Once it doubles, use it within an hour for best results. Just measure out the required amount for your recipe and make your bread or anything else you plan to bake.

Store the remaining starter as you normally would.

Yeah, but it takes so long!

I hear you. It does take a while, but it is worth it. The flavors produced by using sourdough starter in your cooking are wonderful. The bread you bake tastes better than store-bought breads. It is healthier and easier to digest because of the fermentation that happens. And, most important, you will feel great about feeding your family (and yourself) well.

It is easy, once you get the hang of it.

Since I have been using sourdough starter to cook, I have spent a little more time in my kitchen than I did before. I trade that off with less time at the grocery store shopping for those items that I now make.

Once you figure out a schedule that works best for you, the routine becomes easy to maintain.

Get inspired; try something new; eat healthy.

Bon appetit!