Do you every get hangry after a long journey and no food? Well just like us, your starter is hungry after it's trip to you!
Reinvigorating your LIVE sourdough starter is easy. All it needs is fresh flour, water and warmth. Here’s how to get started:
What You'll Need
Clean mason jar (perfect for watching it grow)
Digital kitchen scale (really important especially when first starting out)
Filtered (or tap) water at room temperature (around 27 °C is ideal)
Spoon or spatula for stirring
Lid (placed loosely) or a clean cloth to cover the jar
Flour a good quality flour
Step-by-Step
1. Add your starter to the jar
Slice the corner of the packaging and squeeze your live starter into a clean jar. Record the weight to use in the next steps.
2. Feed with flour and water
Using your scale, add the same weight of water and flour to the starter. A good starting point is 100g water and 100g flour. (See suggested ratios based on flour type below).
When feeding your starter, always use at least as much flour and water as the weight of starter to begin with.
Add the water first and mix well with the starter, then add the flour.
3. Mix well
Stir until the flour is fully incorporated, creating a thick, smooth "batter".
4. Cover and let it breathe
Place the lid loosely on top or cover with a clean cloth — this keeps bugs out but allows gases to escape.
5. Keep it warm
Store the jar somewhere cosy (around 24-27 °C), away from direct sunlight, cold drafts, or hot appliances.
Wheat starters: Feed it with quality, high-protein baker’s flour. If you don’t have high-protein baker’s flour on hand, Dough My God suggests either Lighthouse Bread and Pizza Flour or Laucke Wallaby Bakers Flour, available at Coles, Woolworths, or IGA. This will get you out of a spot of trouble and honestly works. But if you want to really take your bake up a notch, go for the stronger flour.
Rye starters: Stick with wholegrain rye flour to keep your culture strong and happy. One consideration with wholegrain flour, is that the bran absorbs water more readily than a refined flour. Adjust the ratio to 1:1:1.2 (1 part statrter, 1 part flour and 1.2 parts water), adding slightly more water than you would with a refined flour. Eg: 100g starter + 100g rye flour + 120g water. Rye ferments more quickly than wheat, so don’t be surprised if your starter looks extra lively after a feed.
Spelt Starter if you can, stick with a good organic wholegrain spelt flour. We've found the ratio which works best is 1:1:1.2 (1 part statrter, 1.1 part flour and 1 parts water). Eg 100g starter + 110g spelt flour + 100g water.
Gluten Free Starter stick with either a good quality organic brown rice flour or our gluten free flours by Wild Sourdough to feed your starter. Both will work well and keep your gluten free starter thriving. Suggested ration 1:1:1 but adjust as necessary based on flour being used.
⏳ What Happens Next? — We’ll guide you through that in the next steps.
Within 4–12 hours, your starter will begin to bubble, rise, and smell pleasantly yeasty, all signs it’s active and happy. A happy and healthy starter doubles in size within 4–6 hours of a feed, and you’ll be ready to bake! From there, continue feeding it with flour and water to build its strength and keep it fed.
If you're doing this for the first time and think something isn't quite right, get in contact with our support at ohcrumb@doughmygod.com.au
