This is a very common problem that people have when they make their first sourdough starter at home. And while it’s not the worst thing that can happen, you still have to deal with it and see why this happened in order to prevent it in the future.
Sourdough starters can separate into a clear liquid that sits on top of a dense layer of flour. This is a normal process that takes place when a sourdough starter isn’t fed enough. The liquid on top can be either thrown away or mixed with the flour.
As I said this is not the worst thing that can happen, and it can be easily solved, but what really matters is understanding why this happened and how to prevent it from happening again. So let’s take a look at just that, and after that, we will see what’s the difference between mixing the liquid back in and throwing it away, as this can have a great impact on the starter.
Why the Starter Separated
Starters end up separating because they are hungry, but there are a few reasons why they can get hungry, aside from not feeding them often enough.
Temperature
The most common reason why a starter will separate, even if it’s fed daily is the temperature at which it’s stored.
If the starter is kept at a higher temperature, it will become more active than it usually is, and this means that it will eat the flour that you fed it faster. After all the sugar and starch in the flour have been consumed, they will be noted for the starter to do, so it will become inactive, and as a result, the flour and the water will start separating.
The ideal temperature to store a starter is between 70°F(22°C) and 75°F(24°C). Storing it at a temperature higher than his will increase its activity and it will require to be fed more often.
Flour Type
The next thing that might make your starter hungrier than it should be is the flour type. This is a problem, especially for new starters.
When making a new starter it’s recommended to use flour that hasn’t been bleached and to continue using the exact same flour to feed the starter for the first few weeks. The bleaching process removes a lot of the nutrients that a starter needs in order to develop.
You can switch to feeding it normal flour, but only after your starter has had enough time to develop properly, until then you should use unbleached.
Feeding Ratio
Another common mistake is that you might have measured the ingredients wrong, and ended up giving it an improper ratio.
Starters are made and maintained using ratios like 1:1:1, 1:2:1, 2:3:1, etc. Those numbers are translated like this: 2:3:1 = 2 parts starter, 3 parts flour, 2 parts water.
All good ratios will have more flour than the starter, if when you are feeding your starter you give it less flour than the amount of starter that you are keeping, you will starve it, and as a result, it will end up separating.
The most common mistake is using cups instead of grams to measure the ingredients. Cups are used to measure volume, grams are used to measure weight. One cup of flour weighs 120 grams, while a cup of water weighs 236 grams. And the weight of the starter will vary from starter to starter.
How to Prevent Your Starter From Separating in the Future
Now let’s talk about what you can do to solve those problems.
Temperature
The simplest thing that you can do is to move your starter to a place that is slightly colder, but sometimes things are not that easy, especially during summer, when it can be impossible to find a cool place in the entire house, with the exception of the fridge (which we will discuss in just a moment).
If you are facing a similar situation, and you can’t find a good place to store your starter you can always feed it two times per day. This should keep your starter from separating. This will also be very beneficial if you want to make sourdough bread soon, as the starter will be more active and it will make your beard grow faster.
The other option that you have is storing the starter in the fridge. But you should know that this will significantly slow down your starter, and as a result, it will need to only eat once every 2 or 3 days, depending on the temperature. The only downside to this is that if you want to make sourdough bread with a starter from the fridge you will have to wait longer for the bread to rise.
So the temperature that you should be aiming for is between 70°F(22°C) and 75°F(24°C). At this temperature, the starter can be safely fed only once per day without going hungry.
Flour Type
The best flour that you can use to make and maintain a sourdough starter is whole grain flour.
Whole grain flour is made using all the parts of the grain, unlike white flour which is made using only one part, and as a result, it has a lot more nutrients. Whole grain also doesn’t undergo any bleaching process, so none of the nutrients are removed.
So for the first few weeks, you should be using whole grain flour, and only after your starter has risen and fallen constantly, without separating, for about a week, you should switch to white flour.
Feeding Ratio
If you were feeding your starter the wrong ratio, change it with a proper one. You can use any kind of ratio that you want, as long as the amount of flour that you are adding is equal, or greater than the amount of starter that you are keeping.
If you were weighing the ingredients wrong, get a digital scale so that you can measure them correctly. Unfortunately, there is no way around it, you need a digital scale. While there are graded cups that can tell you how many grams of water or flour you have, they are not good. For example, a cup willed with whole wheat flour is lighter than a cup of white flour.
The weight of the starter can drastically change based on how much of the sugar and gluten has been consumed, and what flour you’ve been using. So a digital scale is the only way to go.
What to Do if Your Sourdough Starter Separated
Now let’s talk about what you can do with your starter once it separates. As I said at the beginning of the article you have two options, you can either mix it up or throw the liquid away.
Both options are perfectly fine and won’t affect your starter in a bad way, but they will have a significant impact on the bread made with this starter.
The liquid is a combination of water with alcohol, which resulted from the fermentation process, and it’s very sour. If you mix it in with the rest of the starter, the bread that you will make using this starter will be more sour than it would have been if you were to throw the liquid away. This is the only difference.
So it’s up to you how you want to proceed. If you want a more sour bread mix it in, if you don’t throw it away.
And if you want to know other ways in which you can make your sourdough bread more sour you should check out this article: 21 Ways to Make Sourdough Bread as Sour as Possible, but if you are interested in a mild, slightly sweet sourdough bread you should check out this article: 21 Ways to Make Sourdough Bread Less Sour Tasting.
Final Thoughts
Dealing with a separated starter is very easy, but that’s not the only thing that you have to do. You also have to make sure that it won’t separate again. While overall this is not that bad, you don’t want it happening over and over again, as it will make your starter less efficient when you need to use it to make bread.
So, check the temperature and see if this is your problem. If the temperature is fine, have a look at what flour you are using and see if you were using a correct ratio and you were measuring the ingredients the right way.
Common Questions
What should I do if my starter has very few bubbles? Bubbles are created by the good bacteria that live in the starter when they eat. Having just a few bubbles means that the starter needs more food, so it requires more flour.
My starter was really active on days 2 and 3, and then there was zero activity. Is this bad? This is a very common thing. Most starters have a surge in activity during the first few days then scale down the activity. After a period it will regulate its activity.
Why is my sourdough starter so sticky? Depending on the amount of flour and water used, sometimes sourdough can become sticky, but this is usually common for starters that have more flour than water.
What is a 100% hydration starter? A 100% Hydration starter is a starter that contains equal parts of flour and water. As the name implies, for every gram of flour there is one gram of water to hydrate it, thus it’s named 100% hydration.
My starter doesn’t rise enough, what should I do? The most common cause for a starter that isn’t rising enough is excessive discarding. If you discard too much of the starter it won’t have enough resources to rise properly.
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