Keeping an active starter healthy doesn't need to be complicated; feeding, temperature, flour, water, and storage determine its behavior.

Understanding Your Starter

An active starter is airy, light, and bubbly, and it has doubled or tripled in size after a recent feeding. The starter's consistency will depend on the feeding ratio.

Basic Feeding Ratio

The most common feeding ratio is 1:1:1. Equal weights of starter, flour, and water. Higher ratios such as 1:2:2 or 1:3:3, etc., will provide more food for the starter, resulting in a thicker consistency and generally extending the time before the starter peaks.

Routine Countertop Care

Retain a small amount of starter, feed it, let it ferment at room temperature, and repeat based on its activity rather than treating the clock as absolute.

The Rizzo Way: Keeping our starter on the counter at room temperature, on the counter, is our preferred method. Between bake sales, we keep 45 grams of starter at a 1:3:5 ratio: 5 grams of starter, 15 grams of water, and 25 grams of flour. Our starter takes approximately 12 hours to peak and remains with a lovely bread-like smell, and the thick consistency allows us extra time between feedings without letting the starter become acidic.

Refrigerator Care

Bakers who do not bake frequently or those who do not want to feed their starter daily place their starter in the refrigerator after a feeding. Ideally, the container where the starter will be placed in the refrigerator should be glass and have a tight lid to avoid the risk of drying while in cold temperatures. Those bakers who do not bake frequently should feed their starters at least once a week to avoid excessive acidity. Before feeding a starter that has been refrigerated, it must be brought to room temperature.

Waking Up a Refrigerated Starter

Allow the starter to warm somewhat, retain a small portion, feed, and repeat as necessary until it reliably rises after feeding. There may be a need to feed the starter one more time before baking with it.

The Rizzo Way: Whenever we have placed our starter in the refrigerator, we will feed it at least twice before baking with it.

Signs of a Healthy Starter

Predictable rise after feeding, bubbles throughout rather than only on top, pleasant fermented/yeasty aroma, and eventual rise followed by collapse as its food supply is depleted.

When Something Looks Wrong

A hungry starter will turn runny or soupy as its food supply, flour, has been consumed. A hungry starter will turn acidic, having a sharp vinegar/acetone/nail polish smell. An acidic starter will also become sluggish and will have little to no rise. An acidic starter will also show weird bubbles; they will be few and small, and they may become foamy or have no gas production at all.