Utah Community Learning

The feeding ratio, kept small on purpose

Let's talk about feeding, because this is where I watch people get overwhelmed for no reason.

The thing nobody tells you at the start: a feeding ratio is just how much you feed your starter relative to how much starter you keep. That's all. People make it sound like a formula out of a chemistry class. It isn't.

What I actually do

I keep a small amount of starter. Something like 20-30 grams. Then I feed it equal parts flour and water, by weight, usually somewhere around 30 grams each. So my whole jar after feeding is maybe 80-90 grams total. Small.

I don't do the thing where you keep 200 grams of starter and have to feed it 200 grams of flour and 200 grams of water every single day. That's a lot of flour going through your kitchen for no reason, especially if you're only baking once or twice a week.

Opinion time, and I'll say it plainly because I believe it: you do not have to discard half your starter every day and feel guilty standing over the trash can. I keep mine small on purpose so there's barely anything to discard in the first place. Less waste, less flour down the drain, less of that guilty feeling people talk about online like it's some big emotional thing. It's flour. Don't make it a whole ordeal.

The actual ratio, if you want numbers

A pretty standard starting point is 1:1:1. That means:

1 part starter (by weight)
1 part flour
1 part water

So if you keep 25 grams of starter, you feed it 25 grams flour and 25 grams water. Stir it up, and now you've got 75 grams total.

Some people go 1:2:2 or higher once their starter's established and they want it to rise faster or they're feeding less often. I don't mess with that much at home. I like keeping it simple and small. That's just me.

What "reading" your starter means

This part took me a while. You're not just dumping flour and water in and walking away. You're watching what it does after.

A fed starter that's healthy should roughly double in size within 4 to 8 hours, depending on your kitchen temperature. Up here that can move faster than you'd think, especially in summer when the house warms up. Mine's usually peaked by hour 5 or 6 most of the year.

You want to see: - Bubbles, all through it, not just on top - A rise you can actually track against the side of the jar - A smell that's tangy, a little like yogurt or beer, not sharp like nail polish

If it's sluggish, slow to rise, flat-smelling — that's your starter telling you something. Maybe your water's too cold. Maybe the kitchen's cool. Maybe it just needs another feeding cycle to catch back up. It's not broken. It's telling you what it needs.

Steps for home

Pull your jar out.
Weigh out however much starter you're keeping — again, I like 20-30 grams, but that's a preference, not a rule.
Discard the rest (or use it in something — pancakes, crackers, whatever, another lesson for that).
Feed equal weight flour and water.
Stir until it's fully combined, no dry flour pockets.
Mark the level on the jar with a rubber band or a piece of tape.
Write down the time and what it looked like before you fed it.
Check back in a few hours and write down what happened.

That log matters more than the ratio. I still keep mine in the spiral notebook by the flour, not on my phone. I've got the app too, sure, but I write it down anyway. Something about seeing it on paper over weeks makes the pattern click for me. Same reason I do my family history in a binder instead of trusting it'll all stay straight in my head.

A word on patience, since we're here

I mentioned a while back that I cut into my first proud loaf too early. Let me tell you the rest of that, because it connects.

That loaf came from a starter I'd finally gotten consistent, finally fed right, finally watched rise the way it was supposed to. I was so pleased it worked that I couldn't wait for the bread itself to cool. Cut it warm, right out of the oven, steam still coming off it. The middle was gummy. Underdone, basically, even though it looked done on the outside.

Bread keeps cooking as it cools. Same idea as your starter — it keeps doing things after you think you're done with it. You don't get to rush either part. I still cut into loaves too early sometimes. Old habit. But I know why it goes wrong now, and that's the difference.

One caution, small but real

If your starter ever smells like nail polish remover or acetone, don't panic and don't throw it out yet. That's usually just hunger — it's telling you it needs fed sooner or more often. Feed it and give it a day. If it still smells off after that, or you see pink or orange streaks, that's mold territory, and that one you do toss.

Before next time

Feed your starter on the small ratio we talked about, and actually write down what it does over the next few feedings — not just "fed it," but what it looked like before and a few hours after. I'll ask.