Get a clean jar and decide how much you need
Use a digital kitchen scale, a spoon or spatula and a clean straight-sided jar. Keep a band or piece of tape handy to mark the height. A clean jar with room for the starter to expand makes the next check easier. Use the flour and water you normally feed with, so a new ingredient does not change the conditions while you are learning the routine. [2]
The 20 g example is a maintenance feed for an established culture. If your recipe needs 100 g, build more before you bake and allow for a portion to keep. If you are creating a starter from flour and water, follow the separate first-week method.
Feed your starter in six steps
| Step | What to do | What you should see |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Set the baseline | Put the clean jar on the scale and press tare. | The display reads 0 g. |
| 2. Keep the seed | Spoon in starter until the display reads 20 g. Set the excess aside. | 20 g starter in the jar. |
| 3. Add water | Tare again, pour in 20 g water and stir to loosen the starter. | 20 g added water on the display. |
| 4. Add flour | Tare again and add 20 g flour. Mix until there are no dry pockets. | 20 g added flour on the display. |
| 5. Mark the level | Scrape down the inside walls, settle the mixture and mark its height. | A clean starting line you can compare later. |
| 6. Cover and label | Cover loosely and write down when you fed it. | A marked, dated jar with space to rise. |
You can also weigh the ingredients without re-taring between additions. Start at zero with the jar on the scale. Stop at 20 g after adding starter, 40 g after adding water and 60 g after adding flour. Stick to one method per feed so the display is easy to interpret.
If you tip in a little too much water, record what went in. To keep an equal flour-and-water feed, match the flour to the actual water weight. If you kept 20 g starter but added 23 g each of flour and water, the build will be 66 g. Write down the changed weights if you want to compare how that feed behaves.
If the scale goes to sleep mid-feed
Write down each ingredient weight before you tare. If the display switches off, a note that says “20 g seed, 20 g water” tells you what is already in the jar. You can weigh the flour in a separate dish and add it without guessing. If you forgot whether the water went in, note the uncertainty and restart with known weights when a recipe needs a precise build.
Keep it out to bake or return it to the fridge
Baking soon. Leave the fed jar at a steady room temperature and check it as it approaches its usual high point. Look for expansion and bubbles throughout, and use the recipe’s cues for ripe starter. Take what the dough needs and retain some for your next feed.
Maintaining between bakes. Refrigerate an established starter according to your maintenance method. King Arthur’s fridge routine gives a refreshed starter a brief rest on the counter before returning it to the fridge and allows room-temperature feeds before the next bake. Follow the fridge guide for the full schedule. [1]
What should I do with the excess?
The portion removed before adding fresh flour and water is commonly called discard. If it came from a healthy established starter, use it in a fully cooked recipe that calls for discard, or throw it away. If the starter shows signs of contamination, discard the entire culture. Keep raw starter and raw discard out of tasting spoons. [2] [3]
A feeding log pays off when you can’t remember whether you kept 20 g or 40 g last time. Crispy Crust is being designed to remember the last weights for each jar and let you record the actual feed when it differs from the plan.
Use the starter feeding calculator to calculate the build you need while keeping a reserve.