Feeding Your Sourdough

• Your starter should normally be fed once a day, or once a week, if refrigerated.
• To feed a live starter, remove 1-2 cups of the starter, and replace with the equivalent 50/50 mix of flour and warm water. So if you remove 1 cup of starter, replace with half a cup of flour and half a cup of warm water. Give it a good stir, until the flour is well mixed, and the starter is smooth.
• When feeding or using the starter, do not remove more than half the volume of the starter.
• If hooch has developed on the surface, simply stir it back in. It is part of what gives the sourdough its taste. If you feel there is too much hooch, then some can be poured off before feeding, but I simply stir it in.
• The starter you have removed can either be used to create a dough, or – if you are merely maintaining the starter – simply poured away. Alternatively, pass it on to a friend, with these instructions!
• If refrigerated, feed as above, but only remove 1 cup of starter, and feed only once a week.
• To revive a refrigerated starter, take it out of the fridge and leave it out overnight. The next day, feed it one cup of warm water and one cup of flour, stir, and then leave it for 3-4 hours or more. Then give it a stir, and remove two cups of starter for your baking purposes, returning the container to the windowsill or fridge, depending on your future baking plans.
• If the starter has been constantly refrigerated for more than a month (i.e. not revived in the meantime), you may find you need to repeat the above process for a couple of days to wake it up.