Can I use Sourdough Starter straight from the fridge? That’s a question many people ask when baking with sourdough. The answer is not always the same: it depends. Keep reading to find out when and how you can simplify your life and use your starter straight from the fridge without feeding it hours beforehand.
Can I use sourdough discard to bake bread?
Let’s start by understanding what sourdough discard is. What’s called discard is an unfed and hungry part of the sourdough starter. Unfed sourdough starter is not active and won’t bake good bread: fermentation will be way too slow, and the bread won’t get a good rise in the oven.
Although you can bake with sourdough discard, you can’t use an unfed, hungry starter exclusively when making bread. A little bit of commercial yeast, like I use in my famous sourdough discard dinner rolls, is needed to make the dough ferment and rise properly.
So you can’t use sourdough starter straight from the fridge?
You can use sourdough starter straight from the fridge as long as it is not hungry. Let me break it down for you.
When you feed your starter, it will take some time to rise and feed from all the new flour. When it doubles or is close to its peak (or even peaks), it will stay like this for a while: fed, active, and “happy” enough to bake bread with.
As you might already know, sourdough is temperature-dependent. If you leave it at room temperature after a feeding, it will quickly eat all the food and be hungry by the next day. Even less if feeding during summer!
That’s because the hotter it is, the faster the sourdough will consume all its food. It’s like fermentation: the higher the temperature, the faster your dough will ferment.
Outside the fridge, after a feeding, a starter will peak (grow as much as it can inside its jar) and then start to fall until it goes back to its original size just after a feeding. Then, it will get hungry again: it will start to smell like alcohol, vinegar, or acetone, get thinner, and if left unfed, even develop a layer of liquid called hooch.
However, if you place your starter inside the fridge after it doubles or peaks, you’re placing it in a cold environment. That will slow down the feeding process because the yeast activity will slow down.
Think about when you’re baking during summer versus winter: dough takes longer to rise during winter and sometimes overproofs if you don’t pay more attention during summer, right? Your starter will take a lot less time to consume all the food if left outside, but it will eat more slowly if stored in the fridge.
How to know if I can bake with my fridge-stored starter
The simple answer is: it can’t be hungry.
A hungry starter presents at least 2 of 3 signs:
- It’s thinner than its consistency after a feeding.
- It smells strongly like alcohol, acetone, or vinegar.
- It has a layer of liquid on the top (hooch).
So, if your starter went back all the way down the jar and has a vinegary, alcoholic smell, you shouldn’t bake with it before a new feeding. If it has hooch on top, definitely don’t bake with it before discarding the hooch and feeding it.
After storing your starter in the fridge, especially if you wait for it to fully peak, it will start to go down as the days pass. As long as it stays elastic (or at the same consistency you use when baking bread) and thick, with a pleasant yeasty, tangy smell, you can bake with it until five days after storing it in the fridge.
How to use sourdough starter from the fridge
You can store both regular sourdough starter and chocolate sourdough starter in the refrigerator.
To have sourdough starter always avaliable directly from the fridge, we’ll be feeding it every six days.
First, make sure you’re using a jar or container with a lid that can close properly to store your starter. I have a guide on how to store and maintain your sourdough starter in the fridge if you’re new to it.
- Feed your starter and wait for it to peak. I feed mine using a 1:1:1 ratio. My starter, when using this ratio, takes about 3 to 5 hours to double, depending on the temperature.
- Close the jar well and store it inside your fridge. I prefer to store mine away from the door so the temperature stays colder.
And that’s it. By the end of the third day, my starter usually starts to fall slightly, and starting on day six, it begins to show signs of hunger.
By using this method, when starting a sourdough bread recipe, you can use the starter straight from the fridge. I don’t leave it at room temperature for some time or use warm water to compensate for the cold starter.
Just remember to check if the starter is not hungry before using it: observe its texture, smell, and don’t bake with it before feeding if you can see hooch.
Hooch is the ultimate sign your starter is hungry. A starter that develops hooch will only bake good bread after it’s fed again.
These two loaves above were made with sourdough stored in the fridge. The first was made with sourdough fed two days prior, and the second with a starter that was fed and stored in the fridge for five days. Both loaves had a good rise, a crumb full of holes, and were absolutely delicious.
Can I feed my starter and refrigerate before it peaks?
Feeding your starter and refrigerating it before it reaches its peak will leave you with a sluggish starter for the first 3 to 4 days. If you bake twice or more per week but still want to refrigerate your starter, I recommend the always avaliable method: feeding it, waiting for it to peak, and then storing it in the fridge.
But if you bake exactly once every 7 days, the following method could work well for you. If using a no-discard feeding schedule, feed about 50g of starter with a 1:1:1 ratio, close the lid, and store it in the fridge. By day 6, you’ll have 100g of starter that will be ready for baking. After using it, simply feed it again at a 1:1:1 ratio and return it to the fridge. If not used by day 7, stir, discard, feed and store it back in the fridge.
I prefer to feed and wait at least a couple of hours before storing it in the refrigerator. Whenever I use the feed and store method repeatedly with one of my starters, it starts to weaken after a couple of months.
When not to use your starter straight from the fridge
I would not use a refrigerated started that has peaked before storing after day five, as it will most likely be hungry at this point. If your starter has hooch, definitely feed it before using it for baking.
Are you still having trouble baking bread with sourdough? I have the easiest method for you to try: a basic sourdough bread recipe that’s beginner-friendly and requires no fancy tools.
Looking for some bread recipes to try this method? Here are my favorite sourdough ideas:
