Refreshing Your Sourdough Starter

Fed Sourdough Starter looks like thick pancake batter

So many things seem confusing when you first get started making Sourdough, and one is thinking about time gaps when you don’t need to bake anything and your starter has to rest.  I hope to shed some light on the world of sourdough and help you understand all you need to know about Refreshing your Sourdough Starter after you’ve taken a little break.

Maybe life just got busy and you didn’t have time to devote to your sourdough baby, or you took a vacation and couldn’t bring your jar of starter along. Whatever the case may be, life happens, and sometimes a few weeks go by with no sourdough activity.  Just breathe.  No panicking.  Your starter will survive. Chances are that if your starter was kept in the refrigerator, with a glass lid resting on top, it is probably just fine.  Think of refrigeration as a rest period for your starter, where everything goes into hibernation mode for a little siesta.  The activity of the bacteria and yeast slow down and while it does start getting hungrier as the days pass, it’s not really doing much to use up it’s nutrient stores.  Sure...some hooch will probably start forming, and it might start separating a bit...but that’s OK and it’s perfectly normal. Let's discuss the steps to refreshing your sourdough starter.

First...hooch...what am I talking about?  Hooch is a term for a liquid separation that forms somewhere on the sourdough starter (usually on the top), but it can also appear in the middle or even the bottom of your starter, depending on the starter’s density.  Hooch is technically a byproduct of the fermentation process.  The reason it smells super strong, often like paint thinner or nail polish, is because as the bacteria in the starter continue breaking down the starches and sugars in the flour, and once the bubbles release their air and no food comes in to continue the fermentation process, an alcohol-like substance starts to form...and that’s the hooch.  I recommend just stirring it back in, because its part of your starter’s hydration. That layer is actually a "good guy", protecting the starter underneath from contamination.  Think about it...not much grows in alcohol!  (note- this is ethanol, different from something like rubbing alcohol)

Hooch layer on unfed sourdough starter

Ok, so you’ve taken your jar of starter out of the refrigerator and you notice a layer of hooch, and you confirm by the odor that your starter is starving for food and attention...what now?  Do a quick inspection and make sure the discoloration and bubble pockets aren’t mold.  They shouldn’t be mold if you’ve kept your starter refrigerated, and covered properly.  I have heard some people try putting their jar in the refrigerator with just a paper towel on top, but that's unfortunately not a good idea.  Odors and bacteria can easily get through a paper towel after several days in the dark, damp fridge, and that’s more likely to cause mold. So if you see any dark blotches, fuzz, large patches of green, black, yellow, etc., these are pretty obvious signs of mold. A starter with those growths would not be safe and would have to be discarded.

However, if you’re just noticing varying shades of the starter’s color, maybe some greyish along with the watery look of the hooch, chances are your starter is still happy and just really wanting some food!  It’s going to have a strong odor, as I mentioned above, but that just means it’s ready for a good feeding.

I like to take my starter out of the refrigerator, inspect her, and then let her come to room temperature.  This time of year, that generally takes 5-6 hours.  Once she’s back at room temp, I do another inspection, just to confirm again there is no unwanted growth happening, and then I give her a good stir to mix the hooch back in.  As long as she looks right, I will then feed her.

Feeding Sourdough Starter

Now as you know, I am an equal ratio feeder of my established starter.  If the starter is too full in the jar, it’s perfectly fine to discard a portion before feeding.  Remember, you only want to keep and feed the amount of starter that you’ll actually be using, otherwise you’re just wasting that expensive flour.  Speaking of flour, I typically feed my starter with an organic, unbleached bread flour. 

Once you’ve fed your starter, and added in enough room-temperature filtered water, mix it up well.  Ideally you want to have your starter feeling like a thick pancake batter.  Over the next several hours, the live cultures within your starter are going to be so happy to be fed they will begin breaking down the new flour, and creating those beautiful fermentation bubbles...and the rising of the starter will happen.  Your starter should double in size, possibly even triple depending on its strength, and then it will be ready to use for a recipe.

A few notes: 

·      A freshly fed starter that has been resting for a few weeks, may not rise as large as usual after it’s first feeding.  That’s ok and pretty normal.  If you are keeping your starter on your counter and using it multiple times a week, it’s going to be much more active and you’ll get a much more consistent rise. 

·      Remember that hooch isn’t bad...it can be stirred back in and then you can proceed with feeding your starter

·      Starter that has been resting will have a very strong odor because it is hungry...after a feeding or two, that yummy scent will be back!

·      Hooch liquid can be any color from clear to brownish...that’s pretty normal!

If you have any questions, please just reach out and I would love to try to help you along your sourdough journey!  So much of it is trial and error, but it should always be fun.  Happy Baking!

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