Have you wanted to start baking sourdough bread, but you don’t know where to start? The first step is learning to keep a sourdough starter. This post will talk about how to take care of a healthy sourdough starter with a regular rhythm that fits a busy and full life.
This is a place for practicing the work of home slowly, imperfectly, and with attention. Each post documents one practical skill I’m learning or refining, shared plainly so you can practice alongside if you’d like.
Why I’m (Re)Learning My Starter’s Rhythm
2025 was a heck of a year. Between a newborn baby, a new business, and loss in the family, I was barely keeping my head above water. And, it’s so easy for things to fall off the to-do list when we feel overwhelmed.
Nestled in the back of my fridge was my poor sourdough starter, neglected and starting to turn gray while I drove through the Chick-fil-A line after picking up some sandwich bread from the store.
At the turn of the year, I knew we needed to make a change. We needed to save money, eat healthier, and start establishing rhythms that would lead to a lifetime of good habits.
And, so, I pulled out my sad starter, my flour, and my scale and refreshed it.
And, in refreshing it, I started to refresh my soul as well.
You see – bread reminds me of a central truth about God. We have a relationship with God that requires our daily attention. We have to set up rhythms that cultivate that habit of daily attention. (There is a reason that Jesus says he is our daily bread – the bread of life.)
When I reach for my starter, I am reminded of my need for daily rhythms as well.
The Skill: Feeding and Observing Sourdough Starter Patterns
The skill of making a good quality loaf of sourdough bread is like none other. It is a staple of the kitchen and is sure to wow family and friends when hosting. It can be the perfect addition to any table and the perfect gift to someone who is in need.
And, truly, it is one of the simplest skills that you can start cultivating now.
The trick is to get in the rhythm of feeding your sourdough starter, and once you’ve established that rhythm, you have just arrived in the land of yummy sourdough bakes.
This post will walk you through how to get in the habit of feeding your Sourdough Starter.
Keeping a Healthy Sourdough Starter
I’ve been keeping a sourdough starter for years. My parents first started doing this when I was in college, and once I got married, I started to keep one as well.
My recommendation is to ask a friend or neighbor for some active Sourdough starter (alternatively, you can order yours online or start your own). Then, gather some of the following tools.
You’ll need:
- A Kitchen Scale (Here’s an affordable one that has worked well for us)
- A Container (I love this cute one found here)
- Flour (All Purpose or Bread Flour both work fine)
- And measuring cups
Then, you’ll need to establish your rhythm. I’ve varied how I’ve set up my schedule with my starter. When I was first married, I made a loaf every 3 days or so, which meant that I could leave my starter out on the counter to be refreshed regularly.
But in my busy life with kids, business, and homeschool, I can really only manage one ‘baking day’ a week. This means that I refresh my starter once a week and keep it in the fridge the rest of the time. Here’s what this looks like:
- Thursday morning: Pull out my starter from the fridge and set it on the counter before leaving for our morning bible study. (I don’t refresh my starter before using it.)
- Thursday afternoon: Mix up whatever I’m baking – which could include a sourdough loaf, a few baguettes, pizza dough, and maybe some cinnamon bread. Then, I refresh my starter and leave it on the counter.
- Thursday night: After the starter has doubled in size, I put it back in the fridge.
And, that’s it! An easy-peasy way to never have to pay for yeast again and have delicious, fresh bread each week.
To refresh your starter, all you have to do is pull out a scale and put equal parts warm water and flour in the existing starter. I normally like to wash the container in between bakes just to keep the jar fresh, so I pour whatever is left after baking in a new jar (these jars work great!).
You can keep in mind how much starter you need to make based on what you’ve used that day in your existing bakes. Normally, I add anywhere from 100g of water and flour to 300g of water and flour – just keep in mind that your starter will double in size. If you add too much, it may overflow!
If you aren’t baking anything but still need to refresh your starter, you can just toss the ‘discard.’ But, there are lots of great recipes that use discard to try.
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What Does a Healthy Starter Look Like
This series is part of our larger column, Practicing the Household Arts. Baking Sourdough is an art. And part of understanding an art is knowing the feel of the thing. An eye for what something should look, feel, and smell like. You have to practice the habit of attention, the habit of noticing. Only then will you grow in the skill of that thing.
To understand a healthy sourdough starter, you have to know three important characteristics: Smell, Rise Time, and Consistency.
Smell: A sourdough starter should smell yeasty, but not strong. An unhealthy sourdough starter often smells sour or musty – almost like feet.
Consistency: An active sourdough starter should be bubbly – with noticeable bubbles throughout. After it has been put in the fridge, it may become smoother in consistency. If you want to make sure your ratios are right when refreshing your starter. It should not be too thin or watery. And, it should not be too thick or floury.
Rise Time: Generally, a healthy starter will double in size in about four hours. It will ‘fall’ after that, or if put in a fridge. If it is not doubling, something is probably off.
Bringing a Dead Starter Back to Life
Sometimes it may seem a little daunting to have another thing to take care of in a world with kids, a husbands, pets, and maybe a garden. But, I love the tending of a starter – and they are much more hearty than you think.
Like I mentioned before, last year was a busy, difficult year – and at times, the last thing I wanted to do was bake a loaf of bread. Sometimes, I’d remember to refresh the starter. And sometimes I didn’t.
You’ll notice that a neglected sourdough starter starts to turn gray when it is left for too long. Even if that happens, it can still be brought to life! The longest I went without refreshing was probably about a month. Just toss the film off the top, put it in a new jar, and do your 1:1 refresh. (I would refresh it a few times to make sure it’s nice and bubbly before baking with it.)
One Small Step Towards Keeping a Sourdough Starter
If you’ve always wanted to bake but never knew how to get started, try this out today:
Ask a friend (or post in a local group) for some sourdough starter. You can see how easy it is to make, so don’t worry about being a bother.
Then, just refresh it one time.
Once you get in the habit of refreshing your starter, you are well on your way to becoming a master baker. This is the keystone habit that will pave the way for so much growth and yummy treats in the kitchen.
We’ll talk more about what to bake with your starter next time, but until then: Keep pursuing the household arts – and living a more beautiful life.
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