This is one of the most common problems people have with their sourdough starter. And there are quite a few reasons why this is happening. So let’s see what are the most common causes.
A sourdough starter can become runny if you keep it in a room that is too warm, you don’t feed it regularly, feed it the wrong type of flour, or you are feeding it the wrong proportions of water and flour.
So there are quite a few reasons for a runny sourdough, so let’s take a closer look at them.
Storage Temperature
This is probably the most common reason why sourdough starters become runny.
Temperature plays a huge role in the fermentation process that takes place inside the starter. To put it simply, at high temperatures fermentation happens faster, while at low temperatures the fermentation process slows down.
If the fermentation process speeds up, the bacteria in the starter will become more active and they will start eating all the sugar and starch in the flour faster, and they will produce more lactic and acetic acids at a higher rate. So basically they will eat the solid things and produce liquids, this will result in a runny dough.
Through the article, you will see me mentioning the bacteria that live in the sourdough, if you don’t know about them, you should know that this is completely normal for sourdough to have them, they are good bacteria that don’t even make it into the bread itself, and they are also called probiotics. If you want to know more about them, you can check out my article: Does Sourdough Contain Probiotics? (+What They Do)
If the process slows down, there won’t be any visible signs, the only major difference will be in the taste of the bread, which will be even more sour.
The best temperature at which you should try to keep your starter is 75°F (24°C), going slightly over or under by a few degrees won’t be a problem, but do your best to try and store the starter in a place with a proper temperature.
The ideal solution for this problem is to store your starter in a place with a proper temperature, but from personal experience, I know that this is not always an option, so there is one more thing that you can do.
And that is to feed your starter more often. If your starter eats more, then simply feed it more often. Where I live the last few summers have been really hot, so my starter became really active, and since I couldn’t find a place with a good temperature I started feeding it two times a day, once in the morning, and once before going to bed. And the consistency became normal again.
Feeding Schedule
The activity of a starter is not only influenced by the temperature, there are a lot of other small things that can affect it. So some starters are more active than others.
To solve this problem is simple, as we just discussed, if your starter is hungry, feed it more often. Feeding your starter two times a day should be enough. Ideally, you should feed it once every 12 hours, so for example at 8 in the morning and 8 in the evening.
Flour Type
Here things can get a little complicated. Flour type is extremely important and can drastically affect the consistency of a starter. The reason for this is simple, some flour types can absorb more water than others.
Rye flour can absorb more water than whole grain flour, which can absorb more water than white flour.
Rye Flour > Whole Grain Flour > White Flour
There are a few more things about flour that you should also take into consideration:
- Some flours absorb water quicker than others. Some types of flour will absorb water much quicker than others, leaving the impression that they can absorb more than other types, but in reality, they just do it quicker.
- How the flour was stored is also important. If the flour was tightly packaged and kept in a dry area it will be able to absorb more water than flour that wasn’t as tightly packaged and spent time in a place with high humidity.
- The age of the flour also plays a part. Usually, older flour is able to absorb less water than fresher flour.
So it’s very important to know that changing the flour used for the starter will most likely change its consistency.
If this is your problem then the solution is relatively simple, but you will need to do some tests and adjust the proportions.
The Feeding Ratio
Most starters use a proportion of 1:1:1, this means that you will use an equal quantity of starter, flour, and water. And the usual result is a wet starter (but nut a runny starter).
If your starter is too runny you could try to adjust the proportions. There are a few different ways in which you could do this. Let me show you a couple of examples, which you can try out.
Ratio 1:1:1 – 100 gr starter : 100 gr flour : 100 gr water
Ratio 2:2:1 – 100 gr starter : 100 gr flour : 50 gr water
Ratio 2:3:1 – 100 gr starter : 150 gr flour : 50 gr water
The good thing about starters, regardless of their consistency is that you can experiment with different feeding ratios without damaging the starter. A starter can be runny and still be good, or it can be almost like a dough and still be good.
So feel free to experiment with different feeding ratios until you reach the texture that you want, there is no correct ratio, the only real danger is when you are reducing the amount of flour too much, up to the point where you are basically not giving the starter enough food.
And all this brings me to a very important point that I want to make.
The Consistency of a Starter Is Not That Important
Starters can come in all kinds of consistencies, some can be runny, some can be dough-like, and everything that is between those two.
What really matters is that your starter is healthy and able to make the bread rise.
The consistency of a starter does indeed influence the way your bread is going to come out of the oven, but this is a matter of taste. If you are just starting out you should be experimenting with different types of starters, and different types of sourdough bread.
If you are just starting out, the consistency of the starter is not that important, but the health of the starter is, so look for the following things:
- Bubbles in and on top of the starter
- Daily rises
If your starter has bubbles and rises daily then your starter is healthy and able to make sourdough bread. If none of those are happening then your starter has gone bad and it’s best to start over.
If you are not sure if your starter is in good health or not you should check out my article: Is Homemade Sourdough Bread Safe? (The Final Verdict), here I talk about the most common safety concerns about sourdough, as well as more signs that a sourdough has gone bad, and more importantly false signs that people misinterpret.
Watch Out for Hooch
One common thing that happens when a starter is not fed enough is that it will start to develop liquid on the top, which is known as hooch, and it looks like this:
Hooch is not dangerous in any way to you or to your starter, but it is a bad sign. And it means that you are not feeding your starter enough.
If you like your sourdough bread extra sour, hooch can actually be a good thing. If you want to know how to use it to make your bread sourer you should check out my article: 21 Ways to Make Sourdough Bread as Sour as Possible.
Final Thoughts
If you want to make your starter less runny my suggestion is to start by checking the temperature of the place where you are storing it, then change the feeding schedule, if that doesn’t work out either you should either change the flour that you are using or a different ratio.
But as I said don’t stress out too much about the consistency of your starter, what’s important is that it produces bubbles and rises consistently.
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.
When can I start using a different type of flour? While there isn’t an exact amount of time specified anywhere, I would advise you to at least wait two weeks after you made your starter. At this point, the starter should have a good balance that will allow it to successfully accommodate the new flour.