Feeding a Sourdough Starter

To keep your sourdough starter active and bubbly, you’ll need to feed it once a day.  You can do this in the morning or the evenings, whatever is easiest for you.  Once you get the hang of it, it automatically becomes part of your routine.  Once the starter is fed, it takes about 8 hours for the starter to activate.  Feeding your sourdough starter once a day, will keep it bubbly and alive, ready for you to use when needed!

Before you feed your starter, bear in  mind the following:

• Measure out 20gr  of your starter and discard the rest.  Do not throw away the discard, as there are many recipes that you can use discard for.
• Make sure you use organic flour, free from preservatives and bleaches.  In South Africa, Eureka Mill’s flour range is the best.
• Make sure you use distilled or filtered water.  We have a water jug that filters our water, so we would use that.
• If you experience very cold temperatures, we would advise to use luke warm water. We mainly use luke warm water as we find that  it makes the starter active and bubbly.
• Ensure that you use a clean mason jar and cover it with a napkin or cheese cloth.  Your starter needs air to breath.
• Place it a warm area – We keep ours next to the stove
• If you find that you don’t bake enough or you are not in a position to feed the starter every day (ie. you are going on holiday), simply place your starter in the fridge.  Once you are ready to bake again, remove the starter from the fridge 2 – 3 days before you want to use it. Discard and feed the starter every day.  Your starter should be ready to use again in 2 – 3 days.