Masa Madre
sourdough starter care instruction
Masa madre means "sourdough starter" in Spanish.
Similar to the "mother" at play in other forms of fermentation (kombucha), our masa madre is the community of wild yeast + bacteria that we use to start our bread dough every day. It is alive! It feeds off of flour and water and produces gas and acid in exchange.
If you're new to this process, simply keep in mind that you are caring for a living thing and it will change depending on the environment and food you're providing. If you are an active baker, you can stick to room temperature keeping and plan to feed your madre daily. If you would like to have starter available for your weekly batch of homemade bread, keep it in the refrigerator and follow the instructions to keep your madre fed during hiberation and when to take it out so it's active for your bake.
You can feed your madre simple bread flour (we recommend organic + non-bleached, non-enriched options), and you can also experiment with how the starter reacts to other flours (such as whole wheat, rye, spelt, etc).
If you're looking for recipes (bread, sourdough discard, etc) please check out the King Arthur Flour website! They have so many great resources, including a Baker's Hotline where you can call in with your baking questions and get help troubleshooting solutions.
Below are instructions for either room temperature (daily) OR refrigerated (weekly) maintenance + feeding. Read both and then decide which is best for your lifestyle.
Room Temperature Maintenance
Room temperature, roughly 77° F (25° C), is the preferable environment for maintaining an active madre. Feeding it water and flour can be a daily task depending on how much you bake, but it’s a simple one, and you might find it less demanding than you’d think. You can always stash the starter in the fridge when daily feeding isn’t convenient, but maintaining it at room temperature with daily feedings for at least a little while is a great way to become familiar with the various stages of your starter’s cycle.
daily feeding at room temperature
Stir the madre well and pour off all but 100g.
Add 100g of water and 100g of flour, mix until smooth, and cover.
It will become ripe in about 6-8 hours.
Baking with room temperature madre
If you plan to use the madre the next day, feed it twice without pouring off any madre. There should be a minimum of 6 hours between feedings, and the last feeding should be 6-8 hours before you want to build a levain in order to make a batch of bread.
Refrigerated Maintenance
When daily feeding isn’t convenient, you can store your madre in the fridge and feed it once a week instead. It’s also appropriate to keep your starter in the fridge if your kitchen is very warm (say, over 85° F / 29°C). In a hot summer kitchen, a madre left on the counter will ferment like crazy, and you’d have to feed it very frequently to prevent it from becoming overripe.
WEEKLY feeding (refrigerated)
Take the madre out of the fridge, stir well, and pour off all but 100g. Add 100g of water and 100g of flour, mix until smooth, and cover.
Allow the starter to work at room temperature for at least 2 hours before putting it back in the refrigerator.
Baking with refrigerated madre
Two to 3 days before you’re planning to bake, you’ll need to raise the activity of your starter to a more energetic level. Here’s how: Take the starter out of the fridge in the morning, feed it as usual, and let it ferment for 24 hours at room temperature. The next day, feed it twice: once in the morning, and then again about 12 hours later. On the third morning, feed the madre early and allow it to ferment until it’s ripe, about 6 hours. It should then be ready to use in your recipe.
