5 Sourdough Starter Secrets that No One Tells You

When I made my sourdough starter almost two years ago, I was very intimidated by it - I thought that practically anything and everything that I did or didn't do would kill it. But over the last few years, I have learned a lot about sourdough and my beloved sourdough starter.

I was so afraid to kill it because I had heard so many terrible things from other bakers and also on the internet (I know better than to trust the silly internet...). :) But I want to reassure you that your sourdough starter is SO RESILIENT. It takes so much more to kill it than you probably think (see Secret #5).

Here are a few other secrets you may not know if you are a beginner sourdough baker:

Secret #1: 100+ year old starters don't exist. This may be an unpopular opinion and I am sure I will upset some bakers here, but when you hear people say that they have a starter that's over a hundred years old, it's not technically true. This is because after about 4-5 feedings your sourdough starter has nothing to do with the original one you made - when you feed it fresh water and flour and keep it at room temperature, the microbial content changes completely. Sorry for any bubbles I may have popped today...

Secret #2: You do NOT have to discard any of your sourdough starter - if you've been following me for a while not, you know that I rarely discard any of my starter. In fact, I actually despise the word discard altogether. I avoid having to discard my starter by keeping a super small amount of inactive starter in my fridge and only feeding it as needed (when I'm baking).

Secret #3: You do NOT have to feed your sourdough starter every day. When you aren't using your starter, keep it in the refrigerator and only pull it out and feed it when you are planning to bake.

Secret #4: High protein flour is the best for feeding your starter - the yeast and bacteria in your sourdough starter love protein, so give it to them! I prefer feeding my starter with bread flour.

Secret #5: it takes a lot to kill your sourdough starter so don't be afraid of killing it, it's so much more resilient than you think. Here are a few things that can kill your starter:

High temperatures

Neglect - not feeding it enough

Mold

Chlorine

Bleach