How To Feed a Fresh Milled Sourdough Starter

Maintaining a sourdough starter is mostly an exercise in matching food supply to colony size. Feed too little and the yeast starves and goes dormant. Feed too much and the colony can't process the excess before it ferments out. Get the ratio right and your starter is a low-effort companion that can live in your kitchen for years.

What 'feeding' actually means

A 'feed' is the act of removing most of your starter and replacing what you took out with fresh flour and water. The discarded starter can be used in pancakes, crackers, or simply tossed. What stays in the jar (the 'kept' portion) is reseeded with food and begins fermenting again.

Feeding ratios are written as three numbers: kept starter : flour : water. A 1:1:1 feed means equal weights of each. A 1:5:5 feed means five times as much flour and water as kept starter — a much bigger feeding that will take longer to reach peak.

The default maintenance feed

For most fresh-milled sourdough starters, the default maintenance feed is:

• 20g kept starter
• 20g fresh-milled flour (whole wheat, blended wheat, or your preferred maintenance flour)
• 20g room-temperature filtered water

Total output: 60g of starter. That's enough to use 20g for a future feed, leave some buffer, and bake nothing today. Scale up when you need a baking-day starter — typically a 1:5:5 or 1:10:10 feed the night before bake day.

Feeding schedules

Counter-kept (active baker — 2+ bakes per week)

• Feed every 12 hours at 1:1:1 in a 70–78°F kitchen.
• Feed every 8–10 hours if your kitchen is above 80°F (or scale up the ratio to 1:5:5 so it lasts longer).
• Feed every 24 hours at 1:5:5 in a cooler 65–70°F kitchen.

Refrigerator-kept (weekly baker)

• Feed at 1:5:5, let it ferment 2–4 hours at room temperature, then refrigerate.
• Repeat once per week.
• Before baking: pull from fridge, discard most of it, feed at 1:5:5, wait until doubled (6–12 hours), then build your levain.

Long-term (months between bakes)

A well-established starter can survive months in the fridge with no feeds — a thick layer of grey 'hooch' will form on top, the texture will become liquidy, and the smell will be strongly acetic. To revive, pour off the hooch, give 3–4 consecutive 1:5:5 feeds at room temperature spaced 8–12 hours apart, and the starter will return to full strength.

Choosing your maintenance flour

Fresh-milled flour is more nutritious and microbially diverse, which gives faster, more aromatic starters. Many bakers feed mostly fresh-milled whole wheat with a periodic shot of rye for vigor:

• Mostly fresh-milled whole wheat: pleasant tang, predictable, the workhorse choice.
• 100% fresh-milled rye: extremely active, deeply sour, ideal for rye breads but very sticky.
• 50/50 whole wheat / bread flour: milder, easier to read for beginners, a touch slower.
• Sifted (high-extraction) whole wheat: a middle path — most of the bran retained, but easier to stir.

Pick one and stay consistent for at least a week. Switching daily prevents the colony from optimizing for its food source and slows activity.

Why hydration usually stays at 100%

A 100% hydration starter (equal flour and water by weight) is the standard most recipes assume. The math is easier, the starter ferments predictably, and gas trapping is reliable. Stiff starters (50–60% hydration) ferment more slowly, develop a sweeter, less acidic flavor profile, and shine in enriched doughs — they're worth experimenting with after the basics feel automatic.

Timing for bake day

Build a levain (offshoot of your maintained starter, sized for the recipe) the night before you mix dough:

1. 9–10 hours before dough mix: take 20g of starter and feed at 1:5:5 (or whatever your recipe calls for).
2. Let it ferment at room temperature until it has doubled and is showing a domed, bubbly surface.
3. Use it at peak — past peak it begins to deflate and loses leavening power.
4. A float test is a quick confirmation: a teaspoon dropped into water should float.

Signs of a healthy starter

• Predictable doubling in 4–6 hours after a 1:1:1 feed at 75°F.
• Domed top with abundant bubbles throughout, not just at the surface.
• Smell: yogurt, ripe apple, beer, gentle vinegar — pleasant.
• Texture: a soft, foamy peak that stretches into web-like strands.
• Falls back gently over the next several hours into a soup-like state — that's the 'discard' phase and tells you it's hungry again.

Signs your starter needs attention

• Sharp acetone/nail-polish smell: hungry. Feed more often or scale up the ratio.
• Hooch (grey or amber liquid) on top: also hungry. Stir it back in or pour it off and feed.
• No rise at all after 8 hours: cold, hungry, or both. Warm it up and feed at 1:1:1.
• Pink, orange, or fuzzy mold: contaminated. Discard the entire jar, sterilize, and start over. (Rare — sourdough's acidity protects it from most contamination.)
• Persistent flatness even after several feeds: water may be chlorinated, kitchen may be too cold, or the colony has dried out. Try filtered water and a warmer spot.

Discard, used well

Sourdough discard isn't waste — it's pre-fermented flour with a tangy, complex flavor. Common uses include pancakes, waffles, crackers, pizza dough, banana bread, biscuits, and quick muffins. Store accumulated discard in the fridge for up to a week and pull from the same jar.