Sourdough Starter Feeding Ratio Calculators
I’m horrible at math, so I created two sourdough starter calculators. I figured I would make them available here on my blog in case you need them, too!
The first calculator allows you to enter how much starter you need, and you can choose your own feeding ratio.
The second calculator is for those who don’t really know what feeding ratio to use. Just choose when you want your starter to be ready to bake with, and the calculator will suggest the amount of starter, flour, and water to use.
If you want to learn ALL the details about feeding ratios – what they are, what the numbers mean, how you can use them to your advantage – check out this guide: The Ultimate Guide to Sourdough Starter Feeding Ratios
P.S.: I have another calculator to help with baker’s percentages and hydration level if you need it. Find it here: Sourdough Baker’s Percentage & Hydration Level Calculator
Sourdough Starter Feeding Ratio Calculator
Here’s a calculator to help you figure out how much starter, flour, and water to use with your desired feeding ratio:
How to use this calculator:
- In the first box, type how many grams of starter you want to make. This can be any number, based on your recipe.
- In the second through fourth boxes, input the ratio you want to use, like 1 to 1 to 1 (equal parts starter, flour, and water) or another ratio like 1 to 5 to 5 (1 part starter, 5 parts flour, 5 parts water). Experiment with different ratios for different peak windows. A 1:5:5 is my favorite ratio – I do this morning and night!
- Click ‘Calculate’. The calculator will show you exactly how much starter, flour, and water you need in grams to make the total starter amount you entered.
Useful material: Is My Sourdough Starter Ready to Bake With? How I Can Tell
Sourdough Starter Feeding Ratio Calculator (Select Your Timeframe)
If you have no clue what feeding ratio you want, this calculator lets you choose how far in the future you want your start to peak.
If you want your starter to be ready in 7 hours, as an example, select the 6-8 hour option. The calculator automatically picks the right feeding ratio for you and lets you know how much starter, flour, and water to use.
Fine print: this calculator makes assumptions based on averages for a 75°F/24°C home. You may need to adjust up or down based on your lived experience or if your home is warmer or cooler than mine. The strength of your starter will also greatly impact these averages.
The calculations used are as follows: 1:1:1 – 4 to 6 hours, 1:2:2 – 6 to 8 hours, 1:3:3 – 8 to 10 hours, 1:4:4 – 10 to 12 hours, 1:5:5 – 12 to 14 hours, and 1:10:10 – 16 to 24 hours.
Related:
Thank you for these calculators. They are great. Might I make a small suggestion though. It might be a good idea to build a little waste into your calculator. For example. If I use the second calculator and say I want 200g of starter in 16-24 hours it suggests 10g starter, 95g flour, and 95g of water. This will exactly equal 200g of starter but inevitably you will lose some of that. If you built in a small amount of waste (could be identified in the notes) and said 20g starter, 100g flour, and 100g water then you will definitely get 200g of starter to use. Just a thought.
Yes that’s an excellent point. About 20g inevitably sticks to the side to the jar, plus you may want some leftover to feed for your next bake. I’m not sure if I should build that into the calculator or let the user decide how much extra they want – it could cause confusion. Let me think on that one. But great idea.
For what it’s worth, I think it’s better to just let others decide if they want to add “waste” and it seems the more accurate way to go. I automatically thought, “I know I need 200 g of starter so let me calculate for 250 g to allow for leftover and waste.
This is a brilliant tool!
Thank you so much!!
I’m new to sourdough, so I have a question regarding hydration. I get confused when a recipe says 100% hydration in the starter. How do I know how much to feed in order to get 100%?
So that’s just referring to the fact that it’s a liquid starter. 100% hydration means the flour and water are equal. I only clarify 100% hydration to ensure everyone knows the recipe is using a liquid starter. There are also “stiff” starters, which are not liquid – they basically look like bread dough and are kneaded by hand to mix. You don’t see that many recipes using a stiff starter, but they are out there!
As far as I understand 100% hydration starter means same amount of flour and water as starter, so basically feeding ratio 1:1:1.
Equal parts water and flour is 100% hydration. The flour and water doesn’t have to be the same as the starter – just the last two numbers of the ratio. 1:1:1 and 1:5:5 are both 100% hydration.
This is amazing! I spent months just guessing how much starter I would get and how long it would take to reach the peak. I even thought I had a non-active starter because I never saw it rising as I was only feeding at night.
So glad it’s helping!
Question? for instance, if I have on hand say 150g of starter and I need 300 g for my recipe. For instance if I’m using the 1:1:1 ration do I take 100 grams of starter from my 150g, and then of course 100 of water and flour? Or do I just add a 100g of flour and water to the 150g starter?
If you need 300g for a recipe and want to use a 1:1:1 feeding ratio, I’d suggest 105g starter, 105g flour, 105g water. This will ensure you have a little more starter than you need so you aren’t having to scrape out every last morsel from the jar. The extra 45g of starter from your original jar is now discard and can be stored in the fridge to use in discard recipes!
I’m so glad I found this! It has helped me so much especially when I need my starter to peak 8-10 hours after feeding so it won’t fall before I get home from work! Thank you!
Yay, I”m so glad it is useful!
I’m so grateful and excited that I found you and your site! My daughter gave me a sourdough starter that was gifted to her at Christmas time that is over 100 years old! I’ve been playing around with it for a bit not really knowing what I’m doing and having such a brilliant time! I have made two round loaves and a focaccia so far and they turned out, delicious and amazing…(beginners luck!) My daughter and I are learning together as we go and thank you so much for all your tips and tricks and all the information you share! You’re amazing !
Aww that’s amazing!
How do you “measure out” the amount of starter you need to feed each time? Do you know the weight of your empty jar, and just discard until you reach the right weight? On the other hand, are you always switching from one jar to the other each time you feed? It just seems that I am constantly making a mess.
Yeah I usually start with a new, empty jar when I’m weighing my feeds. Or I’ll pour out most of what’s in the jar to my discard jar. And what’s left, I’ll scoop up onto my spatula, zero out the scale, and add the bit on top of my spatula back in. It would probably be smarter to weigh my jar, now that you say it… haha
The calculators are great! Now, for those using tools like the Brod & Taylor Home for the starter, how might you integrate temperature into these calculators?
I don’t have one of those tools, so I can’t do any experiments with it. The times in the second calculator are based off a 75F home and many experiments I’ve done. If your temperature is higher than that, the timing will be a little faster.
We all know not every flour has the same observation so what’s the best way to figure out the hydration for my flour? The flour I’m using seems like need more water more than recipe ask for. I have to add like 20 to 25 sometime 30 g extra water to the recipe. Thx in advance.
What you are already doing sounds perfect. If it seems too stiff, just add a little more water until the texture is right.
I love your calculator. It has simplified my sourdough worries.
If I would like to feed my starter twice how would I adjust the feeding calculations so I don’t stay with too much extra, just enough to put refrigerate for future sourdough projects.
Hey Gendy, glad it’s helpful! If I want a little extra starter, I just add 20-30g to the amount I need. So if a recipe calls for 250g of starter, I’ll make enough for 280g. Then, I’ll have 30g leftover to either feed or put in the fridge.
Please make an app! ❤️
I don’t think I am smart enough for that but I am intrigued!
Thank you for these calculators. I’m very new to sourdough bread making, so I don’t have everything ingrained in my brain just yet.
Don’t feel like you have to. Most of us wing it in the beginning and slowly build on our knowledge as we make mistakes or see things we want to improve. I’m excited for you!! Sourdough is so fun!
Love the Calculator, Thankyou, has made life so much easier.
Any ideas on how to make a softer crust on a sourdough bread, mine is always so hard.
Try adding a little olive oil to the dough!
How do you know when your dough has peaked? When a recipe asked for active starter is active starter starter that is bubbly and growing, or is active starter starter that has reached its peak. I’ve had two epic fails at making bread. The first one turned into pizza. The second one was a thick dense disc of dough I guess, but I turned it into croutons, cause I didn’t know what else to do with. It wasn’t edible in any other form. May I ask for your help, maybe give suggestions. Thank you
This article explains that in detail: https://thatsourdoughgal.com/is-my-sourdough-starter-ready/
Great tools!! Love your YouTube videos, your content is very entertaining & very helpful. A lot of Sourdough snobs out there make it intimidating for a baker who just wants to bake something delicious!! Thanks for sharing your experiences & tips you’ve learned on your Sourdough journey.
Thank you so much Colleen!
Oh my gosh these calculators are great. I’m good at math (I taught it for many years) and it’s just easier to plug the numbers in. Are these calculations based on room temp starter?
Awesome! Yes, the second calculator with the time options are based on a 75F starter. I did a time lapse experiment in my home at 70F and the time to peak was about 15% slower, for reference.
stupid question, I am just a bit confused, to make my recipe in bulk, i know i need to refresh my started and keep adding the ratios to make enough for my recipes, but everytime i refresh do i discard and refeesh? In other words do I discard everytime I feed my starter?
You can scale up extremely quickly if you’re looking to bulk up your starter for a big bake. As an example, just 50g of starter to begin with can be mixed with 500g flour and 500g water (1:10:10 ratio) to make over 1,000g of active starter. You don’t have to discard every time you feed your starter. The purpose of doing that is to ensure you don’t end up with a bathtub of starter on your hands (to keep the amount in the jar manageable).
Thank you for the help that you’re giving to all of us here. I am having a problem. I don’t do good with grams. I’m not good with measuring scales. I only really know cups spoons tablespoons I’m an old foggy I guess so if you could convert those items that you have here too cups tablespoons teaspoons that would be awesome. I know I’m asking a lot, but there are a lot of us that don’t understand how to use these grams that you have here and when I did it, I measured it twice and it came up with two different g numbers so I don’t know so I appreciate all you are doing. I appreciate your work that you’ve done. You’re doing a great job. Keep up what you’re doing You one terrific lady thank you Bobbi.
Thank you for your great calculator information.
I would like to share a new idea that I absolutely love. When thrift store browsing, I came across a brand new pair of wood drum sticks,, still sealed in a package.
Hmmm…., thought it might come in handy to stir up my sourdough feedings. 😃 What a bonus, the little rubbery tip is perfect to stir up and grab things, and mixing is a breeze. It works great and so easy to catch scraps of left-overs. And the little rubbery tip is the best for getting into the nooks and crannies of my jars.🩷 Love this light bulb idea.
I also use it to rinse and clean up dirty jars.
Hi there, doing my first farmers market June 18 and extremely nervous about prep. I am aiming to make 120 bagels and 28 loaves of bread, my recipe gives me a total of 14,800 grams of starter, using your calculator I chose a 1:5:5 ratio to complete over 12-14 hours. Should I be feeding morning and night? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!
I like feeding twice a day but once a day is also just fine for most bakers! You can always bulk up and do a higher feeding ratio so you don’t have to have so much starter on hand for your big dough day. For example, you only need 33g of starter to bulk up to 14,800g of starter in two feeds. Your first feed can be 33g starter, 335g water, 335g flour. Then, the night before bake day, feed that (without discarding) 7,030g water and 7,030g flour. Both of these feeds are 1:10:10 feeding ratios. Larger masses of dough/starter tend to be slightly warmer just due to the sheer size of it, so it may ferment slightly faster, which is another reason to think about upping your feeding ratio.
Wow!!! What a great idea! Thanks so much!