Artisan loaves, baked with pride in Columbus, OH
Sourdough Starter Care
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Welcome!
Welcome to your new starter! Until you’re ready to feed, keep it nice and cool in a refrigerated environment. Choose a starter vessel that is clear, clean, and straight-edged, so that later you can see the starter's growth from the side of the vessel. Finally, a kitchen scale and a instant thermometer would be two kitchen tools I'd recommend before beginning this journey!
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Feeding and Using
To feed, use a 1:4 ratio of one part starter, one part whole wheat, and four parts AP white flour and four parts water. So, discard starter until you have 10g of starter remaining, then add 10g of wheat flour, 40g AP white flour, and 40g luke warm water. If you’re able to temp your water, aim for 90 degrees. Feeding this way will yield 100g of starter, ready to use once the starter has doubled in size, usually within 6-8 hours. If you need more than 100g of starter for a recipe, simply increase your ingredient amounts while maintaining a 1:4 ratio- so perhaps 50g of starter, 50g of whole wheat flour, 200g AP white flour, and 200g luke warm water (or 90 degrees). This would yield 500g of starter total.
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Additional Notes
Note: all of these directions are in grams- if you do not have access to a kitchen scale, you could use cups instead, and achieve 1:4 ratio by using 1/4 cup and 1 cup. However, measuring flour like this is not recommended, as humidity, milling settings, and other variables will not create the same result each time. Additionally, measuring starter into a cup is a bit like trying to herd cats- difficult and not meant to be.