A healthy sourdough starter is the foundation of great sourdough bread. The Sourdough Home is a game-changing tool that is designed to control the temperature of your starter and will help you maintain a healthy starter on your own schedule.

The benefits of the Sourdough Home:

• No seasonal fluctuations: With the SDH, you can maintain a constant temperature year-round regardless of your room temperature. No more struggling with too cool or too warm. Keep the perfect temperature year-round.
• Reduced Waste and Maintenance: By controlling the fermentation rate, you can adjust feeding schedules to match your routine. If you don’t want to feed your starter every day, you can use the SDH to lengthen the time between feedings, resulting in less discard and minimized maintenance.
• Flexible Feeding Schedules: The temperature can be adjusted to slow down or speed up fermentation to suit your schedule so that your starter is ripe and ready when you are.
• Longer time at peak: The SDH allows you to slow down the fermentation process, extending the period during which the starter remains at its peak. For example, at a temperature range of 50°F-60°F, the peak phase can last several hours, giving you a larger window to use your starter before it overripens.

The Sourdough Home helps simplify the management of your sourdough starter and enhances your overall baking experience by providing consistent results regardless of external conditions.

The Sourdough Home offers a wide temperature range from 41°F to 122°F (5°C to 50°C), allowing you flexibility in managing your starter. There is no “one best temperature.” The right temperature for your starter will depend greatly on the feeding ration you use and how often you want to feed it. Ideally, you are selecting a temperature that will allow your starter to be at or near peak activity when it is time to feed it again.

If you are just starting out with the Sourdough Home and unsure of what temperature to use, here are our recommendations as a good starting point.

• Select how frequently you wish to feed your sourdough starter using the information below.
  
    Temperature Settings Based on Feeding Frequency:
     ・Feed once a day: Set to 68°F (20°C)
     ・Feed every 2 days: Set to 54°F (12°C)
     ・Feed every 3 days: Set to 50°F (10°C)
     ・Feed every 5 days: Set to 45°F (7°C)
• Set your Sourdough Home to the corresponding temperature.
• Feed your starter using a 1:4:4 ratio (starter: flour: water, by weight) and place it in the Sourdough Home.
  
  Note: Different feeding ratios may require adjustments to these time and temperature settings.

Using this method, your starter should ideally be at or near peak activity when it’s time to feed again. Keep in mind that the specific timing can vary based on the type of flour used and the unique characteristics of your sourdough culture. As you gain experience, you'll be able to fine-tune these settings to better suit your starter and your baking schedule, making necessary adjustments to fit your specific needs.

Your starter can live in the Sourdough Home around the clock. After feeding your starter, you can immediately place it in the Sourdough Home. This is true even if the Sourdough Home is set to a cool temperature–you do not need to give fermentation a “jumpstart” by leaving it out at room temperature before placing it in the Sourdough Home.

Remove it from the SDH when it’s time to feed your starter or use it for baking. You can use it immediately to feed, mix into dough, or prepare a levain. After feeding, return it to the SDH until the next use.

Many bakers store their sourdough starter in the refrigerator during the week to avoid feeding it throughout the week. However, a refrigerator temperature of 38°F (3°C) or lower is too cold for starters, and the microbes essentially go into a state of hibernation, which can cause the health of your starter to suffer.

Instead, we recommend storing your starter in the Sourdough Home. This will allow you to keep your starter at a cool but not too cold temperature that requires only one or two feedings during the week. This approach reduces your workload while ensuring your starter remains vibrant and healthy.

That said, some bakers may still prefer to use the refrigerator. In this case, when you're ready to bake, simply pull your starter from the refrigerator. You can then choose to feed it or make a levain and then use the Sourdough Home as a warm place for your starter to ferment.

You may adjust the temperature of the Sourdough Home at any time to tailor the fermentation process to your needs. Lower the temperature to slow fermentation or increase it to accelerate the activity. The great thing about the Sourdough Home is that it provides control over the temperature and, therefore, a lot of flexibility with your starter schedule.

Note about big temperature adjustments: When you need to change the temperature setting significantly—more than 20°C (36°F) between cooling and heating—turn off the Sourdough Home and leave the door open for about 5 minutes. This step isn't mandatory, but it helps reduce stress on the unit's electronics and can extend the lifespan of the appliance.

Due to its design as a low-power appliance meant for long-term storage, the Sourdough Home may require several hours to warm or cool the contents to the selected. For best results, feed your starter with cold water if you intend to keep it at a cold temperature. Similarly, if you want the starter warm, feed it with warm water. This approach helps your starter begin closer to the Sourdough Home's set temperature, potentially reducing the time it takes to reach the target temperature.

A starter can be used directly from the SDH, even if it has been kept at a cool temperature. We have taken sourdough starter straight from the SDH Home and mixed it directly into our dough with excellent results. However, if you have not refreshed your starter for more than five days, it's best to feed it first to activate the yeast and ensure the best results in your bread.

If you keep your sourdough starter at cooler temperatures, for example, between 45-55°F, it may not rise as much as it would at a warmer range of 72-78°F. This reduced rise isn't a cause for concern. Cooler temperatures make the gluten in the starter tighten, reducing its extensibility. Think of it like pizza dough: cold dough is much harder to stretch. That's why it's often recommended to let the dough warm to room temperature before stretching. Similarly, the slower rise of your starter at cooler temperatures doesn't reflect a decline in health—it's just a natural response to the colder environment.

The Sourdough Home is perfectly suited for weekend bakers who prefer a low-maintenance routine. By setting the SDH to a cooler temperature, you can reduce the frequency of feedings while keeping your starter healthy and ready for baking. You are slowing the fermentation activity but not halting it. Here's how to manage your starter using either a 3-day or 5-day feeding schedule:

You can also feed your starter more often if you prefer, but we have found that most people like this low-maintenance routine for only one day a week of baking.

3-day Feeding Schedule:
➔ Temperature Setting: Set the SDH to 50°F (10°C).
➔ Ratio: Feed your starter using a 1:4:4 ratio (by weight) of starter to flour to water.

Day 1: Feed starter
Day 2: No action needed
Day 3: No action needed
Day 4: Feed your starter again, maintaining the 3-day cycle OR use for baking following the “Ready to Bake” instructions below

Repeat this schedule as needed until you are ready to bake.

5-day feeding schedule:
➔ Temperature Setting: Set the SDH to 45°F (7°C).
➔ Ratio: Feed your starter using a 1:4:4 ratio (by weight) of starter to flour to water.

Day 1: Feed your starter
Day 2: No action needed
Day 3: No action needed
Day 4: No action needed
Day 5: No action needed
Day 6: Feed your starter again, maintaining the 5-day cycle OR use for baking following the “Ready to Bake” instructions below

Repeat this schedule as needed until you are ready to bake.

Ready to Bake?
When you're ready to bake with your 3-day or 5-day starter, you have two options:

Option 1: Use your starter directly for baking
If you have the correct amount of starter needed for your baking, simply incorporate the starter directly into your dough. We have had great success incorporating a 3-day and 5-day starter directly into the dough. Because the starter will be cooler, you might consider using slightly warmer water in your dough to adjust the temperature. This is optional but helps maintain a warmer dough temperature when incorporating the cool starter.

Option 2: Use the starter to make a levain before baking:
Even though you can use the starter directly from the SDH, some bakers may prefer to make a levain (or refresh your starter) before baking. Pull the starter from the SDH and use it to either create a levain or give it a refreshment before using it for your dough. You can raise the temperature of the SDH to promote faster fermentation– we like around 78°F (26°C). Alternatively, if you have a Folding Proofer available, set it to 78°F (26°C), place the levain or refreshed starter inside, and maintain the SDH at 50°F (10°C) for any remaining starter.

(If you are wondering what to do with your starter while the SDH is occupied with the levain, you can either keep the remaining starter at room temperature or store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to refresh it and place it back into the SDH.)

When ready, refresh the starter with a 1:4:4 ratio and place it back into the SDH set to the appropriate temperature to resume your feeding schedule.

If you want to put your starter on hold for a few weeks while stored in the SDH, follow these guidelines. Note that after extended storage, the starter will require a few refreshments to regain full activity. Alternatively, you can dehydrate some sourdough starter, which will keep for years, and can be great to have on hand as backup just in case anything were to happen to your starter.

• Set the Temperature Low:
  Adjust the Sourdough Home to 5°C to minimize fermentation activity.
• Feed Before Storing:
  Ensure your starter is well-fed right before storage. A freshly fed starter has ample food for the yeast and bacteria, helping it stay healthy during storage.
• Opt for Lower Hydration:
  Reduce the water content in your starter. High hydration starters are less stable over long periods. For instance, if your usual feeding ratio is 100% hydration (equal parts flour and water), consider adjusting the water to 50-65% of the flour's weight for storage.
  
  Example: If you typically use 10g starter, 40g flour, and 40g water, reduce the water to about 20-25g for the last feeding before storage.
• Use a Smaller Seed Ratio:
  Decrease the proportion of old starter in the last feeding before storage. A smaller inoculation (or seed ratio) extends the time before the food source is exhausted. For extended storage, use a smaller amount of starter relative to flour—something like 1:8:8 or 1:10:10 (starter:flour:water by weight).

Reviving Your Starter:
When ready to bake, increase the temperature of the Sourdough Home and resume regular feedings at your usual hydration and seed ratios. Within a few cycles, your starter will be revitalized and ready for baking.