Helpful Sourdough Baking Tips

· Feed your sourdough starter 4-12 hours before using it.

· Always set your sourdough starter out on the counter the night before you want to use it to come to room temperature.

· Using unbleached all-purpose flour is the best for feeding a sourdough starter. Bleached all-purpose flour can be used, but it has the possibility of disrupting the sourdough cultures.

· Use filtered water if you live in the city; the treated water can disrupt the sourdough cultures.

· You can bake all types of bread (whole wheat, rye, white, etc.) with a sourdough starter.

· Never place an airtight lid on your sourdough starter; it can burst the jar due to fermentation taking place.

· To strengthen your sourdough starter (if it has a lack of sourdough taste or is runny), feed only flour for the next feeding.

· Hooch, the watery gray alcohol-smelling liquid, is completely normal. It just means your starter is hungry, so pour it off or stir it in and continue with the next feeding.

· If you’d like to share your sourdough starter, place 50 grams of it into a container to give away. Have the person you’re giving it to transfer it to a large container, feed it 100 grams of water and 100 grams of flour, and it’s ready to use!

· The best baking vessel for sourdough bread is a bread cloche or Dutch oven. However, you can use a regular bread pan.

· If baking sourdough bread in a regular bread pan, cook the entire uncovered + covered baking times, but during the covered portion, add a layer of foil to prevent burning.

· Store sourdough bread in an airtight container for 3-4 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge.

· You can freeze sourdough bread in an airtight bag or container for up to 3 months.

· Sourdough baking takes a few tries to get the hang of it. Don’t give up; just keep trying!

· A sourdough starter should have the consistency of a thick pancake batter. If it seems a little runny, feed a 2:1 ration of flour to water. For example, 100 grams of flour and 50 grams of water, this creates 50% starter hydration.

· 100% sourdough starter hydration means you’re feeding the starter a 1:1 ratio of flour and water (100 grams each).