How to Maintain an Established Sourdough Starter

Reliable, Low-Maintenance Sourdough Starter Care—On Your Schedule

Your Sourdough Home helps you maintain a healthy, active starter—no daily feedings, no guesswork. Whether you bake weekly or every day, choose a feeding schedule that fits your lifestyle and ensures your starter is always ready when you need it.

The Sourdough Home provides the ability to speed up or slow down fermentation through temperature adjustments. Below you will find different feeding schedules to choose from depending on how often you want to feed your starter or bake.

A jar of sourdough starter displayed alongside the Sourdough Home and loaves of sourdough bread.

How To Maintain An Established Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Starter Speed Ratio: Two Sourdough Homes side by side, each with a jar of starter, illustrating different fermentation speeds.

Reliable, Low-Maintenance Sourdough Starter Care—On Your Schedule

Your Sourdough Home helps you maintain a healthy, active starter—no daily feedings, no guesswork. Whether you bake weekly or every day, choose a feeding schedule that fits your lifestyle and ensures your starter is always ready when you need it.

The Sourdough Home provides the ability to speed up or slow down fermentation through temperature adjustments. Below you will find different feeding schedules to choose from depending on how often you want to feed your starter or bake.

Sourdough Home Icon

Important Notes Before You Begin

You can return your starter to the Sourdough Home immediately after feeding:
There’s no need to let your starter sit out at room temperature. Once you’ve fed it and given it a good stir, place it directly back into the Sourdough Home. It will continue fermenting right away at the set temperature.

Use water that matches your Sourdough Home’s temperature setting:
Using water that’s significantly warmer than your set temperature can accelerate fermentation and cause your starter to ripen too quickly. For consistent results, use water that’s close to the Sourdough Home’s current setting.

Every starter behaves a little differently:
These guidelines are based on our experience with the Sourdough Home, but your results may vary depending on flour types, feeding ratios, and your specific starter. We encourage you to experiment and find the routine that works best for you and your starter.

This guide was designed for established starters. If you are looking to create a new starter from scratch, please visit our guide here

Choose Your Ideal Sourdough Starter Routine:

Daily Feeding Schedule - Best for Frequent Bakers

Temperature: Set the Sourdough Home to 68°F (20°C)
Feeding Ratio: 1:4:4 (e.g., 10g starter, 40g flour, 40g water)
Routine: Feed once every 24 hours.

-Day 1Day 2
ActionFeed starter 1:4:4 ratioFeed again or use starter to bake
2-Day Schedule - Skip The Daily Feeding

Temperature: Set the Sourdough Home to 54°F (12°C)
Feeding Ratio: 1:4:4 (e.g., 10g starter, 40g flour, 40g water)
Routine: Feed every other day.

-Day 1Day 2Day 3
ActionFeed starter 1:4:4 ratioNo feeding (leave in Sourdough Home) Feed again with 1:4:4 ratio or use starter to bake
3-Day Feeding Schedule - Lower Maintenance

Temperature: Set the Sourdough Home to 50°F (10°C)
Feeding Ratio: 1:4:4 (e.g., 10g starter, 40g flour, 40g water)
Routine: Feed every  three days.

-Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4
ActionFeed starter 1:4:4 ratioNo feeding (leave in Sourdough Home) No feeding (leave in Sourdough Home) Feed again with 1:4:4 ratio or use starter to bake
5-Day Feeding Schedule - Set It and Forget It  (Perfect for infrequent bakers or when you need a break from your starter care)

Temperature: Set the Sourdough Home to 45°F (7°C)
Feeding Ratio: 1:4:4
Routine: Feed every 5 days.

-Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5
ActionFeed starter 1:4:4 ratioNo feeding (leave in Sourdough Home) No feeding (leave in Sourdough Home) No feeding (leave in Sourdough Home) Feed again with 1:4:4 ratio or use to bake

What Should I Do When It’s Time to Feed Again?

When your schedule calls for a feeding—or you're ready to bake—there are two options:

1. Feed your starter and continue your schedule If you’re not baking yet, simply feed your starter as usual and continue with the routine you’ve chosen.

2. Use your starter for baking If it’s baking day, what you do next depends on how much starter you’ve been maintaining:

If you keep a small amount of starter

You’ll likely need to build it up to have enough for your recipe. Give it a larger feeding and set your Sourdough Home to a warmer temperature to help it ripen faster. If you want your starter ready in:

  • 4-6 hours: Feed a 1:1:1 ratio and place it in the Sourdough Home at 78ºF (26ºC).
  • 8-9 hours: Feed a 1:6:6 ratio and place it in the Sourdough Home at 78ºF (26ºC).
  • 10-12 hours: Feed a 1:7:7 ratio and place it in the Sourdough Home at 72ºF (22ºC).

The feeding ratio affects ripening speed—lower ratios (like 1:1:1) ferment quickly, while higher ratios (like 1:7:7) take longer.

Learn more about how feeding ratios impact fermentation in our complete guide.

If you keep a larger amount of starter

You can bake with it directly. Many bakers successfully use their starter straight from the Sourdough Home—especially if it still looks active and bubbly and hasn’t overripened. No extra feedings required!

Troubleshooting

Here are a few adjustments you can make to finetune your schedule:

Is your starter peaking faster than you would like it to?
  • Feed with cooler water to slow fermentation.
  • If you’ve been using whole wheat or rye flour, switch to unbleached all-purpose or bread flour.
  • Freshly milled flour tends to accelerate fermentation, so be aware it may cause your starter to peak more quickly.
  • Increase the flour and water ratio relative to your starter—for example, go from a 1:4:4 to a 1:5:5 feeding—to help extend the fermentation time.
Is your starter sluggish or not peaking?
  • Complete a few feeding cycles and store the starter at a warmer temperature. We recommend following our daily feeding schedule.
  • Substitute anywhere from 25 to 50% of your regular flour with rye or whole wheat flour for a few feedings.
  • Feed with warmer water 72-78ºF (22-26ºC).
Curious about your starter’s temperature?

In order to test the temperature of the Sourdough Home, we recommend using a digital probe thermometer inserted directly into your starter after it has been in the unit for several hours. We do not recommend setting an indoor thermometer inside the Sourdough Home, as this will not provide accurate results. The Sourdough Home is designed to keep the starter inside at a stable temperature. We encourage you to experiment and find the routine that works best for you and your starter.

The Sourdough Home has been carefully calibrated to operate at typical room temperature of 20-22°C (68-72°F). If your ambient room temperature is outside of this range, you may need to adjust the temperature to achieve your desired results.

Sourdough Home FAQs: Your Top Questions Answered

Do you have more questions about how the Sourdough Home works?

View More Starter Maintenance Questions

Looking to upgrade?

You’ve provided the perfect environment for your starter - do the same for your dough with the Brod & Taylor Folding Proofer.

Proofer and bread dough in a loaf pan side by side

Going away?

If you’re going away for an extended time, you can put your starter on hold by dehydrating it! Here’s our guide on Dehydrating and Rehydrating Sourdough Starter.

Proofer and bread dough in a loaf pan side by side

Ready to try a new recipe?

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