How do I know if my sourdough starter is ready to use? When your starter is reliably rising to double or triple its size and falling in the jar anywhere between 4-8 hours after you feed it (dependent on your ambient conditions and the flour you feed with) it is ready to bake with.
Can I Use My Sourdough Starter Right After Feeding? It's not a good idea to use a sourdough starter right after feeding. Ideally you should wait at least 2-4 hours.
Once your starter is reliably doubling in size within 8 hours of being fed, it's ready to bake with — or store for future use. If you plan on refrigerating your fed starter, let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours after its feeding before stashing it in the fridge.
It is important to continue feeding the starter at room temperature until it is reliably bubbly a few hours after feeding, for 3 consecutive feedings. Getting to that point can take 3 to 7 days of feeding the starter every 12 to 24 hours (every 2 to 4 hours for our Gluten-free Sourdough Starter).
Storing your sourdough starter
If you aren't intending to use your sourdough starter every day, it is best kept in the fridge. To do this, feed it as instructed above, seal the jar and then stand at room temperature for 2-3 hours (to help reinvigorate the yeast) before placing in the fridge to store.
Sourdough starters do not in fact breathe and therefore do not need to have access to fresh air. However, the organisms in your sourdough starter do emit carbon dioxide, which is a gas that can build up inside the jar.
If your recipe calls for more than 227g (about 1 cup) of starter, feed it without discarding until you've reached the amount you need (plus 113g to keep and feed again).
Feed the starter every 12 hours until you see it double or triple in volume within 6 to 8 hours; this means it's ready to bake with.
What Happens when Sourdough Starter is Used Before it has Peaked. When sourdough starter is active but hasn't peaked yet, it is on its way to increasing its activity levels. Adding it your bread recipe at this stage will cause the dough to ferment quicker. This will result in a sweeter tasting bread.
Most commonly, the issue here has to do with temperature (which is very important). If your sourdough starter is kept at a low temp, even 70°F (21°C), it will slow fermentation activity and appear to be sluggish, taking longer to rise and progress through the typical signs of fermentation. The solution: keep it warm.
Float Test: You can perform a float test to check if your starter is ready. Take a small spoonful of the starter and drop it into a glass of water. If it floats, it indicates that the starter is sufficiently active and ready for use.
The discard is just the sourdough starter you're not currently feeding or baking with. It's called discard because it often gets "discarded" during feeding. If you don't "discard" some starter during feeding your starter will just grow and grow and grow until you're staring in a remake of The Blob.
Ideally, sourdough should be the consistency of warm peanut butter. When it's just been fed, it should be quite thick. It's actually ok if it seems a little dry. As the starter ferments, it will absorb the flour and thin out just a little.
Day 2- Feed your starter 40 grams of flour and 40 grams of water. Day 3: Pour 40g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 40 grams of flour and 40 grams of water. Day 4: Pour 40g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 40 grams of flour and 40 grams of water.
After kneading, shape your loaf, cover it, and let it proof for 4-24 hours, depending on your specific sourdough starter and ambient temperature. You can manipulate the sourness of the bread with a longer rise time. A 24-hour rise time will produce much more sour bread than a 4-hour rise time.
Be sure your starter has a chance to ripen (develop) fully before it receives another feeding; before you use it in a recipe, or before refrigerating it. An ideal feeding regimen for a starter kept at room temperature (in the low 70s) is two feedings a day at 12-hour intervals.
At room temperature (70 F), sourdough discard should last about 1-2 days. Beyond that, it won't go bad necessarily, it will just become more acidic as time goes on (especially in warm weather). Not ideal for sweet recipes. In the fridge, it will keep for about a week or so, and in the freezer it will last indefinitely.
Generally a starter can stay at room temperature without feeding for a maximum of 3 days. After that you will need to give the starter few feedings before you can use it again. This is because it will become less strong and it will need time and food to become strong again.
You'll want to cover your sourdough starter, but only to stop things from falling into it and to keep it from forming a skin on top and drying out. Otherwise, remember that your starter is alive and needs to breathe a little bit. A lid is fine, so long as it's not completely air-tight.
You could bake it in a loaf or cake tin to hold the shape. Place it in very gently, hopefully, it fits your baking method vessels! Don't slash it and bake it immediately. If the indent springs back gently but not completely, your sourdough bread is ready to bake!
Simply put: a sourdough starter is a live fermented culture of flour and water. Once it's fed with additional flour and water (and left in a warm spot to rise, ideally 75+ F), it becomes bubbly and active. A small portion of this active starter is used to make bread dough rise.
You can cover it loosely with a lid, plastic wrap, or even a small cloth. I go back and forth depending on my mood. Keep in mind, the jar might burst if the lid is on too tight which means you'll run the risk of getting glass shards in the mixture.
If your starter is barely bubbling or not bubbling at all 12-24 hours after the last feeding, simply stir it again and let the jar sit for a day or two. Then feed again and see if you get bubbles. If possible, find a spot in your house where the temps are over 70F but under 85F.
If at one point your starter was all bubbly and happy, and now it's not rising anymore, it's possible that it needs a few extra feedings to boost the yeast development. Assuming you understand how temperature and ingredients can effect the rise of your starter, try feeding it 2x per day and see what happens.
To revive your old sourdough starter (or make starter more active), try feeding it with half regular flour (bread flour or all-purpose) and half wheat or rye flour. Rye seems to make sourdough starter especially bubbly!