How to Revive a Neglected Sourdough Starter?

So you’ve decided to bake bread this week, but before you can, you need to check on your sourdough starter. It’s lost its vigor after been neglected for so long. 

Can you revive it, or do you have to make your sourdough starter anew?  Fortunately, all your starter may need is a little TLC? Here’s what to do.

To revive an ailing sourdough starter.

• Use ¼ cup of starter. 
• Feed the starter with ½ cup of all-purpose flour. 
• Add ¼ cup of water. Do this twice daily, every 12 hours. 
• Cover the sourdough starter with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature. 
• It will begin to smell yeasty and sweet and double in volume 8 to 12 hours after a feeding.

Experienced bakers know that sometimes, even a healthy sourdough starter can lose its strength. Sadly, this happens, and all the TLC in the world won’t help.

However, let’s look at the intricacies of reviving a sourdough starter, both dried and kept in the fridge.  

How to revive a dried sourdough starter?

Reviving a dried sourdough starter should be a reasonably simple matter most of the time. 

Day 1: 

• In a small bowl, soak 1 ½ teaspoon of dried sourdough starter in 1 tablespoon of lukewarm spring or purified water. 
• Allow the starter to soften. 
• Stir one tablespoon of bread or all-purpose flour into the mixture. 
• Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and let it sit on a kitchen counter at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day2: 

• Feed your mixture with one tablespoon of flour and two teaspoons of tepid water. 
• Let it sit covered for another 24 hours.

Day 3: 

• Stir one more tablespoon of flour and one teaspoon of water into your mixture. 
• Within the next 12 to 24-hour period, you’ll see the start of the fermentation process begin. 
• Your mixture will begin to bubble. 
• A warmer room temperature will help your starter to activate faster.

When this happens, transfer your activated starter to a glass jar with space for expansion and stir in 1/4 cup of water and 1/3cup of flour. 

Mark the starter level on the jar with a sharpie or rubber band. In 12 hours, you should have a lively, spongy starter. 

Build your starter with one or two daily feedings until you have enough to use for baking. Your starter will double in size. 

Feeding your starter with equal quantities of water and flour will result in a good starter consistency. 

Note: If you are not sure what is a good consistency of your sourdough starter read my article “Is my Sourdough Starter the Right Consistency?”

How to revive a neglected sourdough starter?

For all bakers, it can be disheartening when your sourdough starter does nothing after you feed it. There is no fermentation taking place; it expands slightly but not enough, and it separates into a layer of watery liquid and sludge.

None of this bodes well when you’re hoping for your starter to transform your dough into a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread. What do you do to revive this dead-looking starter?

First, let’s check the basics of a good starter, then what else might be happening and how to fix it.

For your sourdough starter to thrive, you should

• Feed unbleached flour to your starter, not self-raising or cake flour. 
• Use unchlorinated water, filtered or bottled. 
• Don’t use treated well-water, distilled water, or water that uses reverse osmosis.
• Use a glass jar, Pyrex, or bowl that doesn’t have a possible soapy residue after washing. After cleaning, dunk your container into hot water and let it dry. 
• A glass bowl or jar is preferable to use as they’re easier to maintain contaminant-free.
• Place a cover loosely on your container, not because your starter needs air, but because a tight lid could pop off as the starter expands. If this happens, contaminants can get to your starter and destroy it.

If you’ve done all the above and the starter is still lifeless, other aspects of starter care might be at play. You may need to adjust and check timing, hydration, and temperature.

Timing & Temperature

In a cold kitchen environment where the temperature is under 70°F, the microbes in your starter need time to metabolize all the feedings. 

• If 12 or so hours after your starter’s last feeding, it’s barely bubbling, stir it again and let the starter sit for an additional day or two. 
• If possible, find a spot in your house where the temperature is over 70°F but under 85°F.
• Place your sourdough starter in the oven with the light on, near a warm appliance, or under a lamp.

The opposite can also happen. 

• The kitchen is too warm, and the food supply of your starter runs out before the next feeding. 
• Or, the starter runs out because you’re under-feeding it. By not giving your starter enough water and flour, this can happen. 
• If by the time you feed your starter, it’s deflated or has liquid hootch on top, the microbes are metabolizing the feedings too quickly. 
• Feed your starter less and use cooler water.

Note: If you are worried that your sourdough starter has gone bad, check out my article “Does Sourdough Starter Go Bad?”

How to feed the starter?

It’s best to use white bread or all-purpose flour to bring the starter back to a healthy state. 

• When the starter is healthy and robust, you can change to different flour though most home bakers prefer to stay with a white flour starter. 
• Remember to use filtered or spring water to feed your starter and not chlorinated tap water. 
• Another no-no is reverse osmosis water. Your starter needs to have minerals in the water to ferment.
• Your starter will have the consistency of a spongy, wet dough and not that of a runny pancake batter. If the sourdough starter is too wet, the bubbles needing to be trapped will drift up through the starter.

The benchmark of a healthy starter is where it grows after feeding. When this happens, you can expect your bread dough to rise as well. 

• If your starter is a wet one, provide it proportionately with more flour, and its consistency will thicken. If the recipe calls for a liquid starter, you can thin the starter out. 
• When feeding a starter, always think in terms of ratios and not amounts. 
• It’s just as important to know how much flour and water you provide your starter as to how often you feed your starter. 
• Don’t overwhelm or underwhelm your yeast.

Your starter will have a thicker, wet dough consistency by feeding your starter equal amounts of flour and water, with water being heavier than flour. You might be wondering if you can overfeed a sourdough starter, to answer that question you read my article “Can You Overfeed A Sourdough Starter“.

Hydration

If your starter is somewhat bubbly after feeding but doesn’t expand, two things could be happening. 

1. It could mean that your sourdough starter needs a few rounds of feeding at room temperature. The microorganisms needed for fermentation need perking up.
2. The sourdough starter consistency is too thin. The bubbles that help the starter to rise are popping rather than getting trapped.

What to do?

To see expansion in the starter and better trap the bubbles, you need to thicken the starter.

• At the next feeding, discard all but 50g of starter. 
• Place the starter into a small jar and add 50g water and 60g of flour. 
• Mix thoroughly using a spatula to scrape the sides of the jar. 
• Mark your level on the jar and see what happens over the next day or so. 
• The starter should start to expand. 
• Don’t feed the starter again until you see the top of the starter begin to flatten or start streaking the sides of the jar. 
• Once again, discard the starter down to 50g and repeat by adding 50g of water and 60g of flour. 
• Do this until you get a doubling of the starter.
• When this happens, your starter is ready for baking.

If, after a day or two, your starter hadn’t doubled in volume after feeding, it’s time to start a new one from scratch.

Answering those awkward sourdough starter questions 

The majority of questions I receive about sourdough bread are about the starter. Not its maintenance but about what’s gone wrong when it behaves differently to the way it should.

An established sourdough starter should survive difficult conditions, including neglect. As long as you feed the starter before you add it to your dough and the starter shows signs of activity, it should thrive and produce excellent sourdough bread.

Understanding and maintaining a sourdough starter is a concern for many bakers who are starting their sourdough journey. Knowing how to fix and troubleshoot a neglected starter is critical in making sourdough bread.

Frequently asked questions and troubleshooting scenarios surrounding the sourdough starter and its maintenance.

How do I know when is my sourdough starter ready to use?

To know if your sourdough starter is ready to use, it would have gone through the cycle of rising and going back down to its original level. 

The point at which a sourdough starter peaks in height is when it has its most rising power. 

But a starter doesn’t have to be used at its peak for it to make great bread. You can use the sourdough starter before and after it reaches its peak.

You can use the starter as long as it has been at least a few hours since you last fed it, and it shows signs of activity.

• There are bubbles on the surface or sides of the jar
• the starter has grown in height

Place a small amount of starter in water and see if it floats. You’ll know if it’s ready to be used. 

What’s that dark liquid floating on top of my starter?

The first time I saw a dark, watery liquid floating on my starter, I panicked. What had I done wrong? What do I do now? The watery fluid flowing on top of a starter is called a Hooch. 

• A Hooch on top of a sourdough starter shows that the starter is feeding well. 
• A Hooch comes in a range of colors. It can be clear, grey, brown, or black. 
• The longer Hooch is left on the starter, the darker it becomes. 
• Having a Hooch on top of a starter means that the starter is hungry and needs more flour. 
• If your sourdough starter begins to run out of the sugars and starches found in flour, it will start to produce Hooch.

Can I revive my starter with another starter?

I did this once as an experiment. I took a batch of newly made sourdough starters and combined it with a starter I’d had in the fridge for a little more than five months.

I checked the five-month-old starter. While covered in a deep layer of dark Hooch, the aroma of the starter was clean, sharp, and fresh. It didn’t have a musty smell or showed signs of mold. 

I drained off some of the Hooch and mixed the two starters. The new combo starter took three feedings before I could use it. 

So yes, one can combine different starters.

How do I know if a sourdough starter is bad and can’t be revived?

• You’ll know if the sourdough starter is off by its color. 
• If the liquid has a pink or orange tinge to it and smells bad, discard the starter. 
• Also, if your starter develops mold, though in some cases, you can revive the starter.

If there’s Hooch on top of my starter what do, I do?

• Hooch develops when you haven’t fed your starter for a while. 
• If you see Hooch on your sourdough starter, stir it back in and feed your starter as you’d typically do. 
• Don’t drain the Hooch off the starter, as this could affect the hydration levels of the starter. 
• If you see Hooch on your starter at every feeding, then you’re not giving your starter enough flour and water. 
• Get rid of the Hooch by feeding your starter more flour and water.

How much should I feed my starter?

• Feed your starter enough flour and water to double its volume. 
• The more starter you have, the more food it will need. 
• For example, a ½ cup of starter will need a ¼ cup of water and a ¼ cup of flour to double its volume.

To keep the hydration levels at 100%, do the following.

• Place the starter jar on a weighing scale set to zero
• Weigh out half its volume in flour, add and mix.
• Add the same weight in water to the jar and mix.

Because a sourdough starter is so forgiving, many bakers don’t measure out the flour and water. 

If you want your starter at 100% hydration, do the measurements.

I’m not home to feed my starter. What now? 

Most beginner bakers battle with this question. If you need to go away for a few days, place your starter in the fridge, as this will slow down the fermentation process of the starter. 

Before you bake bread again, check on the starter. You may need to revive it a little.

How to Store a Sourdough Starter in the Fridge?

• Refresh your starter and place it in a clean jar. 
• There should be enough space in the jar for the starter to rise up and down.
• Seal the jar with a lid and place it in the fridge.

If, however, you’re going away for a very long time, it may be better to dry your starter and re-hydrate it when you’re back.

I forgot to feed my sourdough starter.

No need to panic. An established starter can take some neglect. Forgetting to feed a starter won’t weaken its strength. 

At the next feeding, feed the starter as usual.

Can I use different flour to feed and refresh my sourdough starter? 

• It’s best to feed the same flour to your sourdough starter each time. 
• Using the same flour helps you understand the behavior of your starter and the bacteria and yeast groups established in your starter. 
• If you run out of a specific type of flour, it’s okay to use the one on hand as a one-off.

Can I permanently change my starter to a different flour?

You can change the flour you use, make the switch, and start feeding it with the new type of flour.

• It will take a couple of days for the starter to get used to the new flour. 
• It’s also good to create a daily feeding routine for the new flour. 
• A noticeable difference will be that your starter will behave differently. 
• If you switch flour too often, your starter will change the balance of the culture and weaken it.

I don’t see any bubbles in my starter. Is it dying? 

A starter is active if you see it rise, and the rise has bubbles. But not all starters grow and deflate or produce bubbles to prove they are active. 

Two scenarios come to mind.

• If your starter is thin and watery, you may not see it grow in size. The gas bubbles that are produced escape mainly through the liquid. 
• If you are using flour that contains a different type of gluten, the starter won’t rise as much or produce bubbles as other flour does.

If your starter is inactive, revive it rather than make a new one from scratch. Most of the time, the starter has just lost its oomph. 

Follow the steps in reviving a neglected sourdough starter, and you’ll soon have a great new starter to bake with.  

If you find yourself still battling, try feeding your starter a little rye flour. Rye will boost a sourdough starter and help give it the nutrients it needs to revive itself. 

Five reasons a sourdough starter becomes sluggish?

• We feed the sourdough starter too often 
• We feed our sourdough starter too little 
• We have too many temperature fluctuations
• The quality of the flour and water we’re using needs to be checked 
• We’ve neglected our sourdough starter for too long 

Any of the reasons mentioned could cause a sourdough starter to become sluggish and inactive.

There’s mold on my starter. Can I salvage it?

Whenever you see mold on a sourdough starter, it’s not a good sign. What is happening is that not enough good bacteria are surviving in the starter. 

• Carefully remove the mold if it’s on the surface of the starter. 
• Take a small amount of visible clean starter, place it in a fresh jar, and then feed it the way you usually do. 
• Keep an eye on the starter, create a routine and feed it regularly. 
• If the mold persists, it’s best to start over with a new batch of starters.

My starter smells strange.

Most sourdough starters will have different characteristics and smell different from one another

• Each is unique and will exhibit various aromas anywhere from nail polish, vinegar to fruit. 
• How your starter smells are not a reflection of how good it is or its strength? But instead on the types of yeast and bacteria that are in the sourdough starter. 

Do I discard part of my starter every time I refresh it?

• The answer is no; its’ not necessary to discard the sourdough starter. Tossing some starter helps good bacteria to develop and overcome harmful bacteria that may grow. 
• Once a sourdough starter is established, it’s unnecessary to discard part of it every time you feed it. Just add flour and water to the jar, and stir.

Making a sourdough starter is somewhat rewarding and gives one a sense of achievement. It’s a daunting task to keeping the starter alive. And all those questions I still have? What happens if my starter dies? Have I done it right? How do I revive it?

Note: You still have questions about your sourdough starter? Check out my article “Sourdough Starter Troubleshooting: Your Questions Answered“

How to revive a hibernating starter?

Your sourdough starter shows no sign of life, but on a microscopic level, there is. With a bit of TLC, you can jumpstart it back to life.

•  Bring one part of the hibernating starter to room temperature. 
• Mix it with eight parts flour and five parts water.
• Repeat the feeding using the above amounts twice a day. 
• Start each feeding by discarding half of the starter.
• Once the starter is active and bubbly, resume a regular feeding schedule.

The above information will help you with your sourdough starter journey and keep it thriving.

 Here are a few extra points to help along the way.

Point 1.

• When reviving a sourdough starter, please keep it on a kitchen counter rather than in the fridge. 
• The warmer temperature will speed up the fermentation process of the starter. 
• Keep the starter away from any drafts. If not, you will find that the temperature needed to revive the starter will fluctuate too much, preventing your starter from reaching its full potential. 
• It’s also best to keep the starter in the same place as much as you can. 

You’ll find that your starter will thrive better in certain areas than others. A little trial and error will reward you with a lively and healthy sourdough starter.

Point 2.

• When you feed a sourdough starter, it’s advisable to stick to s schedule. A schedule is the best way to keep a starter healthy. 
• It doesn’t mean that you must feed the starter twice a day, every day, or every other week. It means that, whatever you decide, let it be on a consistent schedule. 
• A starter will feed as regularly as it needs according to how you keep it. If it’s in a fridge, feed it once a week, and if it’s on a countertop, feed your starter once a day. 
• Try doing, what works for you, consistently and on a schedule.

Point 3.

• Your sourdough starter needs plenty of air to breathe. 
• When you’re refreshing and feeding your starter, be sure you give the starter a lively mix as it needs plenty of oxygen to thrive.
•  If the starter is on the counter, the lid to the starter should not be tight on, thus allowing your starter easy access to air.
• If the starter is in the fridge, keep the lid closed securely. Other aromas in the fridge can’t contaminate your starter.

Point 4.

• If your starter is not reviving the way, it should check the quality of your water. 
• Tap water is renowned for being heavily chlorinated, and in the area you stay in, its water could be affecting your sourdough starter. 
• Chlorinated water contains chemicals and contaminants that hinder the growth of a good starter. The starter will struggle to survive.

Options that are open to you are

• Use bottled or filtered water
• Use boiled water that’s cooled down to room temperature.

Point 5.

When reviving a sourdough starter, it’s essential to use suitable flour to feed the starter. Flour is the food source a starter needs. Good flour will produce a good starter so consider the following flour. 

• Unbleached flour
• Organic flour

Although not necessary, it a good idea if your starter is struggling. Switch to organic flour or unbleached flour to help revive it back to life again.

Note: You revived your starter but now what? If you need advice on how to find out when you can use your sourdough starter read my article “When Does Sourdough Starter Mature?“

Final thoughts

• A sourdough starter reacts to changes in its environment.
• Don’t allow its idiosyncrasies to put you off from baking your sourdough loaf.
• With perseverance, you can become the master baker you should be.

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