We eat a lot of bread in our house. With seven children and a busy farm to manage, I love the flexibility sourdough baking gives me. Sourdough isn’t a flavor- it’s a method, and one that allows me to avoid using commercial yeast in favor of harvesting the wild yeast in my home environment. So many accounts make sourdough seem inaccessible- but truthfully, our homes are already hosts to a wide variety of natural yeasts. They want to live. And with patience and proper feeding ratios, they will thrive with whatever conditions you ask them to.
I know. That seems crazy. I didn’t believe it myself when we moved to our high altitude desert climate. I was so sure my starter was doomed to be weak and sluggish, that it would need extra support like a heated mat to keep it alive and thriving in my 50*F kitchen…but I was wrong. It just took time and attention to adapt my starter to my routine and my environment. Now I have a happy and active starter and beautiful, well-risen loaves, with feeding only once every 2-3 days.
I keep a well-fed starter on my kitchen counter, and I bake every other day- feeding my starter only when I am preparing dough for the next day’s baking.
Here’s what that schedule looks like for me:
Monday night: feed starter, prepare 2-3 recipes of sourdough (usually 1-2 sandwich loaves and a batch of pizza dough)
Tuesday morning: shape, rise, and bake sandwich loaves, place pizza dough in ziplock bags for the lunches for the week
I find that I have the best success with a small amount of starter compared to a much higher amount of flour and water. To keep a solid amount of starter for frequent baking, I feed 70g of starter with 125g each of flour and water. However…if I notice my starter is sluggish or slack as opposed to happily rising with big, stretchy bubbles inside, I feed the tiniest bit of starter- like 5-10g- with 125-150g each of flour and water. (I use organic white wheat bread flour, but I’ve used organic unbleached all-purpose flour for years in the past with great results. Whatever flour you use- just watch how it reacts to your environment with feeding regularly and in good ratios, and you’ll find a good routine.)
The microbes in that little amount of starter receive a huge boost in a larger feeding, and the results show a much more robust and active starter.
The other factor benefiting healthy starter growth is time. I love when things come together quickly. Unfortunately, working with a starter is much like getting plants off to a good start. You need to be both consistent and patient. While many sourdough experts will share methods to make your own starter in 7 days, in reality, I’ve made my own starter from scratch more than a few times, and they become the healthiest versions of themselves between 14-20 days. And while you may be able to bake with the starter you get prior to that 2 week maturity point, it’s quite possible, even likely, that you’ll be frustrated with the quality of the loaves that come from those bakes.
And since it takes 3 weeks to form a habit, it’s pretty easy to see why someone who starts sourdough only to be discouraged by poor results in the early stages might want to quit- all before the beauty of the process takes hold.
So if you’re just getting a starter going and you haven’t found the results you’re looking for, don’t give up! With a good routine of feeding your starter and an understanding that it may be closer to three weeks before it’s really thriving an happy, you’ll be well on your way to baking beautiful happy loaves.
