How Much Sourdough Starter Should You Keep?

If maintaining your sourdough starter feels high-maintenance—or even wasteful—the problem isn’t you. It might simply be how much starter you’re keeping.

A lot of home bakers don’t actually know how much established starter they need to keep on hand. And because of that, sourdough can start to feel more complicated than it needs to be.

In this article, I’m going to walk you through three different quantities of sourdough starter and how to use and maintain each one—without overcomplicating the sourdough process.

Because in most cases, bakers are told to keep large amounts of starter “just in case.” But more starter means:

• more feedings

• more discard

• more flour wasted

• and more responsibility

  
  

And when it comes to choosing how much starter to keep, it really depends on:

• how much dough you’re making

• how often you’re baking in a given week

• and whether you want to use your starter straight from the fridge (like I teach in Sourdough Made Simple) or feed it and get it bubbly and active before making dough

  
  

First—A Quick Clarification

Before we dive in, I want to be really clear about one thing.

If you are still building a sourdough starter from scratch—meaning your starter is less than about 10 days old—this information does not apply to that phase.

If that’s you, continue following your “starting a starter” process. You can check out my How to Start a Sourdough Starter videos for that.

Everything in this article is about maintaining an established starter.

What It Means to “Feed” a Starter

When it comes to maintaining a sourdough starter, for a starter to actually be considered fed, you need to feed it at least its own weight.

So if you have:

• 100 grams of starter

  You need to feed it:

• 100 grams of food total

  • 50 grams flour

  • 50 grams water

That is the minimum amount needed to keep it alive and growing. Anything less than that, and you’re really not giving it enough food.

This would be a ratio of 1 : ½ : ½.

So if you’re keeping a lot of starter—let’s say 200 grams—you would need to feed it at least:

• 100 grams flour

• 100 grams water

Just to maintain it. Are you with me?

How Much Is Too Much to Feed?

On the other side of things, the maximum I personally like to feed a starter is about five times its size.

That would be a 1 : 5 : 5 ratio.

So:

• 100 grams starter

• 500 grams flour

• 500 grams water

You can feed up to a 1 : 10 : 10 ratio—but that becomes a lot very quickly.

For example:

• 100 grams starter × 10= 1,000 grams flour= 1,000 grams water

That’s about 8 cups of flour, and once it’s fed and doubled, you’re looking at 16+ cups of starter.

Now, if you start with just 10 grams of starter and multiply that by 10, that’s much more reasonable:

• 100 grams flour

• 100 grams water

• about 200 grams of fed starter

But in my experience, feeding more than five times—especially when starting with a small amount—can overwhelm the starter.

So my rule of thumb:

• Feed at least its size

• Avoid feeding more than 5×, especially with small starters

Option 1: Keeping 50 Grams of Starter

You can absolutely keep a very small amount of starter in your fridge.

This method:

• creates the least amount of waste

• requires very little flour to maintain

• is easy to manage

• creates no discard

• and is simple to build up when you want to bake

This is also great for someone who wants a clean jar after every feeding.(If you’ve seen my other videos, you know I don’t clean my jar often—but if that matters to you, this method might feel better.)

How You Use It

• Keep your 50g starter lightly covered in the fridge

• When you want to bake, pull it out

• Use all of it and put it into a larger jar

• Feed it (for example: 50g starter, 50g flour, 50g water)

• Let it double

• Once doubled, remove 50 grams and put it back in the small jar

• Loosely cover and refrigerate until the next dough day

• Use the rest in your dough

You tracking?

This is a very minimalist way to keep a starter.

Pros

• Takes up almost no fridge space

• Easy to travel with

• Great if you want a bubbly, active starter for baking

Cons

• You have to build it up before baking (usually the night before)

• You must remember to reserve some for next time

• It may not be enough if you’re making a lot of dough

• Larger batches may require multiple build-up days

Option 2: Keeping About 200 Grams of Starter (My Preference)

I’ll be honest—I don’t obsess over exact starter amounts. I do as little math as possible when baking.

I know how much bread I make each week, and I know that I usually pull about half of my starter to bake with. So we’re going to call this 200 grams.

How I Use It

• I pull it straight from the fridge

• Use about 100 grams to make dough

• Feed what’s left (at least 50g flour + 50g water)

• Let it double

• Put it back in the fridge

That’s it.

This amount is great for spontaneous home bakers.

If you decide, “I want to make bread today,” you don’t need to prep anything the night before. You can just mix dough and have bread the same day.

There’s also enough starter left for things like:

• sourdough pancakes

• waffles

• banana bread

…without disrupting your bread schedule.

This is my preferred amount.

Pros

• Ready to go

• Saves time

• Feeds and doubles alongside your dough

Cons

• If you use the discard method, this can feel wasteful

• Not ideal if you insist on feeding to peak activity before baking

Option 3: Keeping 500+ Grams of Starter

This is a lot of starter—and it’s not something I recommend maintaining for most home bakers.

I only keep this amount when I’m baking at scale.

I run a micro-bakery, teach sourdough classes, and sometimes make 100+ loaves in a week. When I need that much starter, I build it up intentionally—usually once a week.

I don’t maintain this amount long-term.

If you’re a home baker and you’re keeping more than 200 grams on hand, you likely already have too much.

This amount is best for:

• bakeries

• micro-bakeries

• holiday baking

• gifting large quantities

You can always grow your starter when needed.

So What Do I Do?

I keep about 200 grams of starter.

It’s ready when I want to bake for my family, and I can build it up quickly for bakery dough days.

Keeping less would require me to remember to build up ahead of time—and honestly, that just doesn’t come naturally to me.

I also know myself well enough to know that if I used all of my starter to build up, I’d forget to reserve some. This method gives me a buffer and removes stress.

And that’s the key.

Starter isn’t meant to be stored in bulk. It’s meant to be grown when needed.

Final Thoughts

There is no right or wrong way to keep a sourdough starter.

Try one of these methods and see which feels most natural to you.

If sourdough feels overwhelming, try keeping less starter, not more.

Confidence builds when the process fits you. And when baking feels sustainable, you’re more likely to keep doing it.

But before we can adjust the process, we need to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.

I’ll see you in the next one.