Sourdough bread is hands down one of the best breads out there; however, it does take some basic maintenance as far as feeding your sourdough starter regularly. Feeding your sourdough starter routinely helps keep the starter active and alive and will curate a fluffy and sour tasting sourdough bread. But what happens when you forget to feed your starter? Can you revive sourdough starter back to it’s happy, active state?
What is Sourdough Starter?
For those of you who are new to baking, and just starting out your sourdough journey, welcome!
For every great loaf of sourdough bread, there is a strong sourdough starter behind it. The starter is what gives sourdough its leaven and classic sour taste. It is a process of fermenting flour and water together over time to create a concoction of wild yeast and good bacteria. Without the starter, you cannot make bread. Therefore having a strong starter is essential to creating tangy and fluffy sourdough bread.
A healthy sourdough starter should be bubbly and alive. It should have a strong sour tang, yet slightly sweet due to the wild yeast development. If you have achieved this, then you have succeeded in creating an active sourdough starter.
Keep in mind, the starter is alive due to the yeast and bacteria growing in it. Therefore, it is important to feed your starter at least once a day. This way you are continually giving the bacteria and yeast food to eat on and continue with the fermenting process. If your starter is left out and not fed, it will die. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure that you are feeding your sourdough starter regularly, daily if it is left out on the countertop.
If you are wondering how to make a sourdough starter from scratch, check out my recipe here to walk you through step by step on how to make the best sourdough starter for your homemade artisan bread.
How to Revive Sourdough Starter:
So the question remains, what happens when you forget to feed your sourdough starter? Can you revive sourdough starter? The answer is yes, possibly…
Reviving sourdough starter is largely dependent upon how long the starter is left out unattended to. If you leave your starter out on the counter for a couple of days unfed, you can easily bring it back to life with a couple of repeated feedings (once every 12-24 hours). With that being said, I have even had it left out for a week and have had it come back to life. While I don’t recommend doing that, sometimes it does happen. Therefore, if this happens, simple scrape off the top layer of sourdough starter, sometimes it can even be a little dry on top, and go about your usual feeding process. I recommend feeding it once every 12 hours to help bring it back to life if this happens.
Can You Store Sourdough Starter In The Refrigerator:
The quick answer to this question is yes, in fact, refrigerating sourdough starter is one of the easiest ways to store sourdough starter and keep your it going for years at a time. Refrigeration slows down the fermentation process and helps keep the starter fresh for longer.
I am a huge fan of refrigerating my starter because, let’s face it, it’s a lot of effort to remember to feed the starter every day, not to mention, it can also be wasteful as it takes a decent amount of flour to keep up with the feeding. By refrigerating your starter, you can bring your feedings down to once a week or even once a month. I typically make bread about twice a month, therefore, I only feed my starter when I am going to make bread. However, I have definitely fell victim to leaving my sourdough starter in the refrigerator for a month. While I don’t recommend this, it did come back to life. All you need to do is bring it to room temperature and feed is 4-5 times, 12 hours apart, before using it to bake.
Q&A:
- What temperature does my starter need to be in order to revive it? I recommend keeping your starter around 78-80° F. This is going to give the yeast the warmth that it needs in order to rise and ferment. An easy way to do this is by allowing the starter warm up to room temperature then feeding it with room temperature flour and warm, filtered water (about 78-80° F). Then place the starter in a warm area such as a cutting board with towel wrapped around the starter if your house is cold. This will help insulate the starter and give it the warmth needed to rise. You could also use a proof box if you have one.
- My sourdough starter isn’t springing back to life. How do I revive it? If you are feeding your starter and it is not coming back to life, try feeding it a little bit of organic whole grain dark rye flour. This has a higher nutrient base than all-purpose flour and can help with reactivating the starter. I recommend using 50% whole dark rye flour when reviving. For instance, if the starter requires 50g. of flour, add 25g. whole grain dark rye flour and 25g. organic, unbleached all-purpose flour. It is important to make sure that your flour is organic and unbleached as this is going to be stronger and purer than that of bleached, GMO flour. The more nutrients we can give the starter the better.
I would also highly suggest keeping the starter in a warm area, such as on a wooden cutting board or towel. You could even use a proofing box if you have one. Adding warm water, as mentioned above is also helpful in keeping the overall temperature warm and inviting for bacteria and yeast growth. We want the starter to be about 78-80°F. The warmth will help aid in the rising process as bacteria and yeast have difficulty living in the cold.
Finally, make sure that you are feeding your starter regularly at its peak. You do not want to feed to early or too late as this can affect the overall bacteria and yeast population in the starter. We want a strong bacteria and yeast colony working to revive the starter. Therefore, feed the starter every 12 hours to help bring it back to life.
My Favorite Sourdough Recipes:
- Cinnamon Roll Star Bread
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Sourdough Pumpkin Muffin
- Healthy Sourdough Pumpkin Bread
- Best Beginners Sourdough Bread
- How to Make Sourdough Starter
