How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter (2024)

Learning how to increase your sourdough starter means you don't have to keep loads of sourdough starter on hand to bake sourdough.

You can keep a small sourdough starter (between 25-50g of starter) on hand and "build" or "scale" your starter when you want to use it.

This blog will help you to understand the following:

  • How to increase your sourdough starter from a smaller amount to a larger amount
  • Increasing the amount of sourdough starter you have on hand for a specific recipe
  • Using a bigger sourdough starter feeding ratio to increase the weight of sourdough starter
How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter (1)

Understanding Sourdough Starter Ratios to Increase Amount of Starter

In general, your sourdough starter is made from equal amounts of flour and water, or thereabouts. This is called 100% hydration because the amount of water is equal to the amount of flour.

You will see this referred to as 1:1:1 (starter:flour:water). It's always written in this order.

Most sourdough recipes will use a 100% hydration starter.

You may also come across stiffer starters like Pasta Madre which uses a 1:1:0.5 ratio or less.

How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter

In order to increase your sourdough starter, you need to work out exactly how much you want to end up with first. Let's use 200g for this example.

Now, divide this number by 2. This will give you the equal amounts of flour and water that you need to add to your sourdough starter to increase the amount you have.

Then you would add this amount to the smaller amount of starter you already have.

When you remove the 200g from the jar to do your baking, you'll be left with some residual starter. You can then feed this ready for your next bake.

Let's look at an example.

Example of How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter

If you have 50g of starter in your jar, but you would like to have 200g of starter because you want to bake a few different things then you would need to add 100g of each flour and water to that starter to make 200g (because 200g divided by 2 is 100g).

This will mean you will have 250g of starter in your jar when it peaks because you've added 100g of flour and 100g of water to 50g of starter.

When you've removed your 200g, you can just put the 50g remaining straight into the fridge, since you've already fed it.

If you were going to leave it on the counter, you could leave it to fall before you fed it again.

Make More Sourdough Starter Using 1:1:1 Ratio

You can use the 1:1:1 ratio in many situations when scaling your sourdough starter.

Even if you only had 10g of starter and you wanted 200g of starter, you'd just have to feed it at 1:10:10 which would mean adding 100g of flour and 100g of water to that 10g of sourdough starter.

This would mean that your starter would take quite a while to peak ready for baking as it has a lot of food to get through.

But at the end of fermentation - your starter would weigh 210g because 10g of starter plus 100g of flour and 100g of water.

You can build a much bigger starter from just a small amount very easily (as above) - time is the thing that will change.

For example - if you had 15g and you wanted 300g - then you would feed your 15g of starter 150g of water and 150g of flour - this way you'd have 300g of starter with a little left over for your next build/bake.

Feeding your starter this amount would be equivalent to 1:10:10. It would take quite a while to peak though, so this would be another one that you would need to do overnight.

All of these examples are 100% hydration because you are feeding your starter equal amounts of flour and water.

How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter (3)

Maturity of Your Starter When Increasing the Amount

If you are using a very small amount of starter to build a much larger one, it's better if your starter is quite mature.

When your starter is developing and still quite young, you need to be feeding and discarding regularly to keep building your colonies of yeast and bacteria.

Once your starter is mature and doubling very consistently, you will be able to keep much smaller amounts and then build as you need it, as explained above.

Feeding Your Sourdough Starter Different Ratios

You can feed your starter a different ratio if you want to. Feed your starter 1:2:1 which means you'd feed it twice as much flour as water.

This 1:2:1 ration can be handy if you are trying to strengthen your sourdough starter. It will decrease the hydration though, so it's often something you just do for a few days.

You could choose to go with 1:2:2 - this is a bigger feed so it would take longer for your starter to peak.

If you're doing a 1:2:2 or a 1:3:3 ratio, you could reduce your initial starter amount from 50g to 25g so you're not using as much flour - or if you need a lot of starter, leave it as 50g or increase to 100g. See the pattern?

Feeding your starter a different ratio can take a bit of experimentation and practice. Your starter might be at it's happiest at 100% hydration. It may like a little less hydration. Experiment and see what works for your starter.

Isn't it amazing that all of our sourdough starters are completely unique!

When increasing the size of your sourdough starter, make sure you are using a big enough jar.

Further Reading

If you're interested in reading more on this topic:

  • Differences between a Levain and a Sourdough Starter
  • If you are looking for ways to strengthen your sourdough starter, this information will be helpful.
  • Want to understand Baker's Math and Baker's Percentages? You'll find an explanation here.
  • Looking to understand why the amount of starter in a recipe matters? You'll find an explanation here.
How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter (2024)

FAQs

How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter? ›

Example of How To Increase Your Sourdough Starter

How do I increase the amount of sourdough starter I have? ›

If kept around 76°F (24°C), this sourdough starter should ripen about every 12 hours. To give it a feeding, I discard the ripe sourdough starter in the jar down to 20g, add 70g fresh all-purpose flour, 30g whole rye flour, and 100g water. Then, I give it a thorough mix until everything is homogenous.

How to build up enough sourdough starter? ›

There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.

How do I get my sourdough starter to rise quicker? ›

If you're looking for faster results when making your sourdough starter, there are a few things you can do. First, use warm water and increase the water-to-flour ratio slightly. This will help the yeast to activate quicker and aid in rising more quickly. A 1:2:2 ratio or higher, even 1:4:4 ratio helps.

What is the 1/2/2 ratio for sourdough starter? ›

A 1:2:2 feeding ratio would consist of one part existing starter, two parts flour and two parts water. For example, if you have 30g of existing starter, you would feed it 60g of flour and 60g of flour. The most common feeding ratios for daily maintenance are 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.

How to increase sourdough starter activity? ›

The following will help increase fermentation activity in your starter:
  1. Keep your starter warm, 74-76°F (23-24°C) or warmer.
  2. Use more whole grains in each feeding.
  3. Feed your starter when it's ripe (not too early, and not too late)
  4. Don't place it into the refrigerator.
Jun 6, 2022

Can I add more starter to my sourdough? ›

Generally, a smaller amount of sourdough starter is all you need. But there are some instances where you might want to increase the amount of starter you use. Some instances could be: If it's particularly cold, you could increase your sourdough starter to make your bread ferment more quickly.

Why is my starter bubbling but not rising? ›

If your starter gets completely covered on top with bubbles but does not rise, it is healthy but may just be a wet mix. Try reducing the water in your next feeding and see if you have different results. Also, the type of flour you are using can impede the rise of your starter.

Do you have to discard sourdough starter every time you feed it? ›

Experts recommend feeding a starter twice daily. And at each feeding, you hold onto 1/2 cup of your original starter, discard the rest, and then add its same weight in water and flour. With this schedule, you'd discard almost a cup of sourdough starter every day.

How do you revive a sluggish sourdough starter? ›

A sourdough starter kept in the refrigerator is revived by feeding. If the starter has been in the fridge for a week or less, I'll take about 60 grams of it (equal parts by weight of water and flour) and add 60 grams of 100F water and 60 grams of plain flour. The new fed starter is about room temperature after mixing.

Can I use my starter if it doesn't float? ›

Can I use a deflated starter if I missed its peak? You can, and I often have. However, if you have the time to wait, you can also feed it again and let the starter rise once more. This would help to achieve more consistent results.

Why is my sourdough starter so slow to rise? ›

Reasons your Sourdough Starter Might be Sluggish

Feeding schedule: A sourdough starter needs to be fed regularly to maintain its activity. If it is not fed often enough, the yeast and bacteria will become weak and the starter will become sluggish. I recommend you feed once every 24 - 30 hours, every 24 hours is better.

How often should I clean my sourdough starter jar? ›

Have you ever wondered whether you have to clean your sourdough starter jar? The simple answer is you don't need to clean your sourdough jar. It's just not necessary to clean your jar all that regularly, unless it's super crusty or you can't get your starter out or fresh flour and water in.

What is the best ratio of sourdough starter to flour? ›

Typical feeding ratios are 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 (old sourdough: fresh flour: water). However, even extreme ratios like 1:50:50 would still work. In that case, the freshly fed sourdough would just require more or much more time to grow and reach its peak, as judged by the maximum volume increase in the jar (at least doubled).

Can you overfeed sourdough starter? ›

Yes, you can overfeed your sourdough starter. Audrey explains: “Every time you add more flour and water, you are depleting the existing population of natural bacteria and yeast.” If you keep adding more and more, eventually you'll dilute the starter so much that you'll just have flour and water.

How do you feed a large amount of sourdough starter? ›

Common feeding ratios for sourdough starters include: 1:1:1 Ratio: This ratio means using equal parts of flour, water, and starter by weight. For example, if you have 100 grams of a starter, you would feed it with 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water.

What is a good amount of sourdough starter to keep? ›

Over the years, I've found keeping around 200g of starter ready to go at any time ideal for the amount of baking I do here at home.

Why is my sourdough starter not increasing in size? ›

Try reducing the water in your next feeding and see if you have different results. Also, the type of flour you are using can impede the rise of your starter. All-Purpose flour, for example, will not rise as robustly as a blend of bread flour and whole wheat flour.

Do I have to discard starter before feeding? ›

Experts recommend feeding a starter twice daily. And at each feeding, you hold onto 1/2 cup of your original starter, discard the rest, and then add its same weight in water and flour.

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