How To Strengthen A Weak Sourdough Starter
Learn how to strengthen a weak sourdough starter with these easy tips!
A sourdough starter is a life-giving resource for making beautiful loaves of bread, rolls, and cookies. A healthy, active starter will be bubbly and teeming with good bacteria and yeast.
This vibrant bacteria is what ferments and raises your bread loaves. A starter should consistently double in size after being fed.
But despite our best efforts, sometimes our sourdough starters lose their spark. They can become flat, fail to raise after feeding, or just be generally sluggish.
For example, I recently decided to travel with my sourdough starter (yes, I’m that invested!). Due to differences in water and flour at my mom’s house, my starter became flat and failed to respond to feedings.
Luckily, I was able to revive my starter once I got home, but it took a little elbow grease to do so.
I learned some valuable lessons on reviving a sourdough starter and am excited to share them today.
Get my best tips for new sourdough bakers here!
How To Strengthen A Sourdough Starter
If your sourdough starter is lackluster, don’t give up hope! There are things you can do to revive your culture.
Here are the best tips for giving your starter a boost:
1. Feed Your Starter More Flour
A thin starter can have less activity – less of those rich, gorgeous bubbles showing that it is vibrant and active.
That isn’t to say that a thin starter can’t work for bread, but a thick, active starter will often be more effective in rising dough.
For a few days, change the hydration of your sourdough feeding in order to thicken your starter.
Instead of feeding equal portions of flour and water, decrease the amount of water you are feeding it and increase the amount of flour.
You can even feed the starter JUST flour for a few days.
Once the starter is thick and bubbly, you can return to feeding it in a 1-2-2 ratio. (For me, this is typically about 50 grams of water and 50 grams of starter added to my starter).
- Increase the amount of flour you feed your starter, while reducing the amount of water.
- If you typically feed your starter 50 grams flour and 50 grams of water, decrease the water to 40 grams and increase the flour to 60 grams.
- Alternatively, feed your sourdough culture only flour for a few days.
2. Stir More Vigorously To Add Oxygen
A starter may fail to thrive due to a lack of oxygen: this can happen if the jar is covered too tightly or if the flour and water are not stirred vigorously after a feeding.
While the bacteria within the starter are anaerobic, mixing and adding oxygen helps spread the yeast throughout the starter and encourages fermentation.
- Keep a loose cover over the jar like a paper towel secured with a rubber band.
- Stir your sourdough starter well when it’s fed, and give it an extra stir or two in between feedings to aerate the starter and encourage the yeast to spread throughout the flour.
- Do not cover your starter with a tight lid unless you are putting it in the fridge: it needs airflow to bubble up and thrive!
Learn how to score sourdough bread with these easy tips.
3.Give The Starter A Feeding Boost With Rye
Rye flour is full of enzymes that naturally feed yeast and will quickly increase the activity in your starter. This strong flour can even make your starter double in half the time as bread flour.
Rye is an excellent option for boosting a weak starter, and it will also help to give your sourdough starter more of a sour taste!
- Give your starter a feeding “boost” by feeding it rye flour. To do this, substitute half of your regular flour for rye for several days during the feeding.
4. Turn Up The Temperature
Have you ever noticed that your sourdough starter is more active and bubbly in the hot summer? Temperature significantly affects the activity of the bacteria in a starter.
If you think your starter is sluggish due to cold temperatures, turn up the heat or move the starter to a warmer location.
The ideal temperature for a starter to thrive in is 72-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything less than 70 degrees and your sourdough starter will become sluggish!
Ensure the temperature is warm enough to stimulate the bacteria in your starter, at least 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Try Warm Water
Like air temperature, water temperature can affect the strength of your starter.
Increase the warmth of the water to 75-85 degrees F at each feeding.
The warm water should activate the yeast and bacteria in the starter and give it a nice boost.
Caution: Do not use hot water, as higher temperatures can harm your starter’s bacteria.
Get my simple beginner’s sourdough loaf here.
6. Check The Water Source
Many sourdough bakers will tell you that the water source doesn’t matter much. But I’m here to tell you from personal experience that the water source can affect your starter!
Remember when I told you my starter went flat at my mom’s house?
I did some troubleshooting to see why my sourdough failed to thrive at her home. When we switched from her well water to bottled spring water, the starter perked and became bubbly and active again!
I expect this is because their well water is treated with sodium chloride, affecting my starter’s strength.
- Troubleshoot your sourdough starter by feeding it with filtered or water or bottled spring water.
FAQ’s (More Troubleshooting Tips)
The dark liquid that builds up on top of a starter is called hooch. Hooch is a harmless byproduct of the starter and tends to build up when inactive.
You can either stir it back into the starter or pour it off before feeding.
Feed your sourdough starter flour only for a few feedings, then return to feeding it a 1-2-2 ratio of flour and water.
A starter that is bubbly but not doubling may be healthy but just need a bit more food! Try feeding your starter with just flour for a few feedings or reducing the amount of water in relation to the amount of flour you feed your starter.
