I make my own sourdough bread to save money on groceries. Here are 5 things I wish I'd known before starting.

"To keep a sourdough starter active, it has to be fed regularly using flour and water. However, I didn't realize this until I inherited my first one. How often it's fed depends on where it's stored. For example, if I leave the starter on the counter, I feed it once every 12 to 24 hours. When I keep it in the refrigerator, however, I can feed it less, typically about once a week."

"When I first started making sourdough, I didn't know I could store my starter for a while without feeding it. Turns out, it can be left in the freezer for up to a year. Another more reliable, long-term storage option is to dehydrate the sourdough starter. This would've been good to know when I let mine go bad because I went on a work trip and couldn't find a friend to feed it for me."

"Luckily, even if the starter looks grim, it's still possible to bring it back to life. To do this, I feed it regularly with flour and water until it becomes active again, demonstrating that sourdough starters are resilient and forgiving even after periods of neglect."

Sourdough baking is a rewarding hobby that requires understanding the unique demands of maintaining a starter. A starter must be fed regularly with flour and water, with feeding frequency depending on storage location—every 12-24 hours on the counter or weekly in the refrigerator. Beginners often don't realize starters can be preserved long-term through freezing for up to a year or dehydration for extended storage. Even neglected starters that appear inactive can be revived through proper feeding. Additionally, sourdough discard can be repurposed into other baked goods like flatbreads and muffins, reducing waste and expanding creative possibilities.

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