How often do you feed sourdough starter?

How often should you feed your starter? How often do you feed your starter when it’s stored on the counter? About once a day to maintain a healthy starter that is not overly acidic, helps your bread rise well, and keeps bad microbes from surviving. Your starter will undergo a cycle in which it will rise and fall approximately every 24 hour period. When you first feed it, you won’t see any bubbles, it will just look like flour and water. As it ferments, it the bubbles will become larger, the volume will expand and it will have a sweet smell. Once it goes past its peak, the bubbles will be smaller and your starter will start to collapse and it will have a more sour or acidic aroma. Two factors will affect how quickly or slowly your starter peaks: temperature and feeding ratio. Warmer temperatures will causes your starter to ferment more quickly. The amount of flour and water relative to your starter will impact timing. If you have equal parts starter to water and flour (1:1:1), your starter will ferment faster than if you have more water and flour than you do starter (1:2:2, or 1:5:5 for example). In summer, I recommend feeding your starter with more water and flour than stater, a higher ratio, so it doesn’t peak as quickly and you avoid having to feed it more frequently. When you feed your starter, mix the starter and water and then add the flour. Make sure it’s all combined and you keep the sides of your jar clean. #sourdough #sourdoughbread #bread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #sourdoughstarter #breadbaking