Sourdough Feeding Calculator
Take the guesswork out of maintaining your sourdough starter. This tool helps you figure out exactly how much to discard and feed, ensuring a healthy, active starter for your next beautiful loaf.
Your Starter Details
Your Feeding Plan
Keep
40.0 g
of your current starter
Discard
60.0 g
(or use in a discard recipe!)
Flour
80.0 g
Water
80.0 g
Total Yield
200.0 g
of fresh, active starter
Understanding Feeding Ratios
A sourdough starter is a living culture of wild yeast and bacteria. To keep it healthy and active, you need to feed it regularly with fresh flour and water. The feeding ratio, commonly written as Starter:Flour:Water, determines the feeding size and how quickly your starter will become active.
- 1:1:1 Ratio: This is a common maintenance ratio. It means you feed your starter equal weights of flour and water. For example, 25g starter, 25g flour, 25g water. It will peak relatively quickly.
- 1:2:2 Ratio: This provides more food for the microbes, slowing down fermentation. It's great for a twice-a-day feeding schedule or if you want to build a milder flavor. For 50g of starter, you would feed it 100g of flour and 100g of water.
- 1:5:5 Ratio or higher: These high-feed ratios are used to significantly slow down fermentation, perfect for once-a-day feedings or for when you plan to leave your starter at room temperature for a longer period without it becoming overly acidic.
The goal of this calculator is to help you hit a specific amount of starter needed for a recipe. For example, if your recipe calls for 200g of active starter, and you use a 1:2:2 ratio, this tool calculates that you need to keep 40g of your old starter and feed it 80g of flour and 80g of water to get exactly 200g of fresh starter.