Drawn to its outside size
For temperature control around a starter jar
Brod & Taylor Sourdough HomeA small heating-and-cooling chamber for a jar, rather than a full dough bowl.
41 to 122°F, heats and cools8 × 10 in outside
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Stiff vs liquid sourdough starter
A liquid starter is fed equal weights of flour and water (100% hydration); a stiff starter gets about half as much water as flour (50 to 60%). Liquid starters are quicker and easier to stir; stiff starters ferment more slowly, so they peak later after a feed. Hydration alone does not make the bread more sour: timing, temperature and the recipe decide that.
Most home bakers: a liquid, 100% starter. Like a firmer starter that peaks later: a stiff one. Convert with two or three feeds at the new hydration.
Side by side
When you swap one for the other in a recipe, the dough's total water changes: the baker's percentage calculator counts the flour and water in the starter.
| Liquid (100%) | Stiff (50 to 60%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Feed example | 20 g + 20 g flour + 20 g water | 20 g + 40 g flour + 20 g water |
| Texture | Thick batter | Firm dough |
| Speed | Faster | Slower |
| Flavour | Set by timing and temperature | Set by timing and temperature |
| Between feeds | Shorter | Longer |
| Hooch | More likely | Rare |
Converting
To go stiff, feed 1 part starter with 2 parts flour and 1 part water for two or three feeds. To go back to liquid, feed equal flour and water. The feeding calculator lets you set the hydration of the seed starter. Stiff or liquid, the signs for throwing a starter out are the same: fuzzy mold, pink or orange streaks, or a smell that is not its usual clean, sour one (when to throw a starter out).
Which to choose
If you bake every week and want an easy routine, keep it liquid. If you prefer a firm starter that peaks later after a feed, keep it stiff. For more or less tang, change the timing and temperature rather than the hydration (see too sour or too weak). Both make excellent bread.
Questions bakers ask
Does a stiff starter make bread more sour?
Not on its own. King Arthur withdrew that claim, and the one that stiff starters keep better in the fridge, after advice from the microbiologist Debra Wink. How long and how cool the starter and the dough ferment matter more.
Can I use a stiff starter in a recipe written for a liquid one?
Yes, but water alone does not keep the formula the same. 100 g of liquid starter is 50 g flour and 50 g water; 100 g of a 50% starter is about 66.7 g flour and 33.3 g water. To match the recipe, use 75 g of the stiff starter (50 g flour, 25 g water) and add 25 g more water to the dough, or enter the starter's hydration in the baker's percentage calculator.
Equipment for this job
Keep what you own when it does the job. These are the other exact models we profile.
Drawn to its outside size
OXO Good Grips 11 lb Stainless Steel Food Scale
For seeing the display past a wide bowl
OXO Good Grips 11 lb Stainless Steel Food ScaleA pull-out display helps keep the reading visible under larger containers.
11 lb (5.0 kg), reads in 1 g steps