The BIGGEST MISTAKE You Can Make With Your Sourdough Starter: Premature Discarding!

Do you have a weak sourdough starter? You may actually be weaking your starter with your feeding method.

Many sourdough bakers get impatient with their sluggish starters, and they believe you can strengthen your starter with more frequent discard and/or larger feedings. This actually WEAKENS your starter.

Check out this one-of-a-kind video for tips on how to strengthen your starter and avoid the pitfalls if discarding and refeeding too early or too frequently!

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CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
2:06 Typical Starter Feeding
5:12 Understanding Starter Math
7:56 7 Stage Starter Feeding Cycle
13:23 Strengthening with the Peak-to-Peak Method
15:25 Weakening with Premature Discarding
18:25 The Science
19:14 Common Mistakes
24:56 The Houseplant Example
29:48 Final Exam
31:06 What if my starter still isn't active?

[robbrollinger]

After 8 days of discarding and feeding I found this series. It made SOOO much sense that I was over feeding it. I starved my “Rip Van Winkle” starter for 36hrs and placed it on top of the fridge where he’s a cozy 75 degrees. I just checked on it after 48hr starvation and it has doubled! Now I feel good about discarding and feeding it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in the videos. I can’t imagine the time/effort/commitment it takes to put them together.

[Suitslippers]

After many years spent completing my doctorate program on YouTube university I am certain that this video should be amongst the highest ranked of all time. Top quality production my good man! Bravo!!! And thanks for the knowledge. Now if I can only get my better half to agree with what you so eloquently explain. Sometimes the hands off approach is the best approach. 🙌👏👏👏

[shelblanc]

Tom, THANK YOU! After being overwhelmed with all the sourdough misinformation out there, I saw a comment on TikTok saying to not listen to anyones advice on sourdough but yours. So I ran to your website and they were CORRECT! I'm on day 3 of my starter following all your advice. Your no-nonsense approach makes so much sense to me, and the guides are beyond helpful. Everything is going great so far in my jar- the false rise occurred & it smells like a** so now I'm just waiting for the first feed and discard! YOU ROCK!!!

[girlersy]

Oh my, i am so happy i found this video. I was in a sourdough starter group on facebook and i kept messing with my first starter cause i kept following bad advice. Feed it on the clock once a day, feed it twice a day, feed it 1:1:1, feed it 1:2:2, feed it like this or that. I threw out entire stuff a few times and started again. Now i waited for 48 hours, for the first time there’s activity, it doubled, and it started deflating, i just fed it now. I finally feel like i have a chance of succeeding! Thank you

[partinsheritagehomestead]

Out of all the years trying to have sourdough starter your the ONLY one ive actually had sucess with your methods. THANK YOU and so much appreciated. I'm still learning. Like now I never thought about using the discard to make a batch for baking, instead I've been trying to bulk up my starter. 🤦‍♀️

[mytree]

Thank you, i am a newbe and i am trying to start a new sourdough starter . The fifth day my starter stopped showing any bubbles. You were right i was over feeding . I stopped feeding for 2 days and did nothing, but i did stir once a day, THANK YOU ! On the seventh day i was going to throw my starter out.
Today on the seventh day i have seen a lot of bubbles and decided to feed my starter. Thank you, in less than 4 hours, my starter has doubled in size. Thank you !

[lisarct]

Not only did I learn more from you than anyone else so far, but likely more important is that you filtered out a lot of misinformation. Thank you!

[Marmarikaa]

A must watch video for newbie sourdough bread enthusiasts. Great explanation!

[ConcordKenpo]

Tom, your videos are genius! All the junk out there is enough to make a person insane! Thank you for bringing your scientific mind to the baking world, especially sourdough and sharing with the rest of us! I think all mean well but like you said, they are not taking into consideration the environment in which the starter is trying to survive. Bravo sir!

[alessazoe]

Okay, the Houseplant Example is killing me 🤣🤣🤣

[smokinJoe]

This was funny but true! Only one important addition to "give it more time" is "put in a warmer environment".
A $23 thermostatically controlled 10" x 20.75" seeding heat mat in an old Coleman fishing cooler to regulate how fast I want Stella to ripen.
Frozen water bottles will cool it if that's your need.
78 F really gets me quick and consistent and predicable results. Down to 65-70F if I need to kill time.
The value of a thermostatically controlled proof box can't be overstated.

[Homerosish]

I was one of them. Had a starter that started nicely but was "dead" later on (fed every 12h).
Did what you said and gave it food with 1-2-2 once it reached it's peak. Two days later it's almost 3x it's size after 6h.
Thank you!

[chanep]

This tip really worked in my case. What makes this advice so helpful is the fact that the most usual sourdough guideline goes in the opposite direction: feed it as much as you can. Thanks!

[birdwatcher]

This is the best series of explanations of how to manage a sourdough starter that I have ever seen or read!. You must have a scientific background because your explanations are so precise and logical. My failures in the past are many, because I was impatient, and kept throwing in grapes and cabbage to quicken the growth, not realizing that all I needed was flour and water, and tincture of time. I also had no idea when to feed my starter, and what the ratios should be, and how they work. I intend to watch all your youtube videos as I wait a good two weeks or so for my starter to mature!

[gregory]

I clearly have been making this mistake, discarding/re-feeding based off of a set time (24 hrs) rather than waiting for a true rise and doubling of starter volume in the jar. Also, I certainly have mistaken water separation for hooch. I've been doing this for about four days. So, I'm going to need to wait quite some time to let the yeast do it's thing, I think. Thanks for this very informative video, and confirming what I was already beginning to suspect!

[allison]

You’re a freaking genius, this taught me SOOO I’m shook lol

[oceanbelow]

I’m obsessed. Just what I needed, in a way I could understand. So exciting to watch, popped up in my feed. 16 minutes in and I was thinking, he sounds like a science professor, and then you showed your lab trials. Subscribed! Thank you for helping me understand my what was once active starters issue. I created my own starter and it sat on day 3. In summation, I was doing too much. 😂

[insertuniqueusernamehere]

Thank you for this video. This has cut through a lot of the confusion I've had.

I started my first sourdough starter a week and a half ago. I followed the instructions that came with the containers I bought. That went well up until I left it a bit long between feedings and I hit the hooch stage. I think that caused some of the yeast population I'd built up at that point to die off. Since then it's shown minimal activity (some bubbles, but not real rise), but I still feed and discarded every 24 hours.

Having watched this video, I now know to give it time (especially as we're in winter, so the house is colder) and only feed it when it has hit that peak rise. So thanks again for this.

[misago]

Given that a strong starter is the foundation of sourdough success, this video is essential viewing. I've never before seen the problem with premature discarding explained, and you do it with such clarity, finally reinforcing the message with a funny sketch. By the end, the principle of "not feeding a weak starter before it has peaked" appears so obvious, but of course it's not so obvious because so many of us make that very mistake. I'm so glad that I found the Sourdough Journey. You are a great teacher, explaining everything clearly, with a great sense of humour, and backing it up with meticulous experiments. I've learnt a lot from you, and as a result, made a lot of progress in my own sourdough journey. Thank you!

[mytree]

THANK YOU !
THIS MORNING DAY 10
MY NEW NAME FOR MY SOURDOUGH STARTER IS RYEANNA
75 % MONTANA FLOUR AND 25 % RYE FLOUR
THIS MORNING 8 AM TO 9 :30 AM DOUBLED IN SIZE AT 70 DEGREES
THANK YOU ! YOU HAVE THE BEST INSTRUCTIONS I HAVE FOUND ON THE INTERNET.
On day 14, I want to start baking with Ryeanna !!! She should be safe to use !