Here's How to Know if You're Sourdough Starter Is Ready for Baking (2024)

FAQs

Here's How to Know if You're Sourdough Starter Is Ready for Baking? ›

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.

If you're starting a brand new starter from scratch, it will need 7 to 10 days before it's ready for bread baking. The first four to five days will be spent getting your starter active and bulking it up.

To proof them, let them sit, covered, at room temperature for up to 3–4 hours, or let them proof for a little while at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for 12–15 hours. Or you can speed the process by using a proof box, warm cooler, or slightly warm oven to speed things up.

Your sourdough should also feel light (because a lot of the moisture in the bread evaporated during the baking process). If your bread does not sound hollow and feels heavy, chances are it's not cooked through properly and you need to leave it in the oven for longer.

The outer crust of your sourdough bread should be crispy, crackly, and have a glossy, caramelized brown finish. The key to achieving a healthy crust is getting sufficient steam while baking, as it keeps the outer crust moist while the inside cooks.

It's okay if your starter doesn't have big bubbles. Large bubbles can be the result of the flour you're using and the hydration. What's more important overall, is to see strong signs of consistent fermentation: some bubbles, consistent rise each day, a sour aroma, a loosening in texture.

and is actually started to fall. You will know when your starters at its peak, when it is at least doubled in size, it starts to flatten on top. If it is still puffy and dome shaped, it's still rising.

Can you bake sourdough straight from the fridge? Yes! In fact it's best practice to take your dough from the fridge, score it and pop it straight into a hot Dutch Oven. The cold dough and hot Dutch Oven combination equals maximum oven spring.

Another option for adding extra moisture to the dough before baking is to liberally spray the dough with water before placing it inside the Dutch Oven. You can spray with an atomiser or even paint water on the dough with a pastry brush. This is a common method to increase the blisters that form on the sourdough crust.

Can you leave sourdough starter overnight? ›

If you bake couple of times a week or once a week, best to move the starter in the fridge. You would then remove it from the fridge for feeding ahead of preparing the dough. Can I leave my starter out overnight after feeding it? Yes, if you have just fed it.

However, if you can ensure this doesn't happen, keeping your sourdough starter in the oven with just the light on can create a warm, stable environment for your starter to thrive. This trick is perhaps better with older ovens that have a light bulb.

Keep feeding your starter, and you'll see normal activity (bubbles) return in a few days. If your starter has a bit of dark liquid on top, it's not dead! It simply means it's hungry and that it's time to feed it. Unless your starter has a pink or orange hue or is beginning to mold, you probably haven't killed it yet.

You can tell when your dough is ready when it's risen about 30% and you see little air bubbles throughout. Another test I do is to lift the container, tilt it to the side, and see if the dough releases easily from the sides of the container. If it does, then it indicates it's developed enough and is strong.