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If you’ve tried recipes like my No-Knead Artisan-Style Sourdough Bread, then you may have stumbled across the float test.
Many sourdough recipes rely on the float test to determine whether a starter is ready to bake. If your starter doesn’t pass this test, you may need to wait a few hours (or several days) before you can try again.
But is the float test helpful? Is it a good way to ensure your bread will rise as it should? Let’s take a closer look at this common baking tip.
As sourdough starter matures, it releases small carbon dioxide bubbles. These bubbles often become trapped within the gluten network of the flour and water mixture. The longer your starter rises, the more gas becomes trapped in the mixture.
The float test is a technique to see whether the starter has trapped enough gas to adequately lift your bread dough.
To perform the float test, simply spoon some of your starter into a cup of water. If the blob sinks straight to the bottom, the starter has not developed enough to adequately trap carbon dioxide. If it floats on the surface of the water, your dough has enough carbon dioxide to lift your bread.
In theory, anyway.
The float test works well enough for some recipes, but it does have its drawbacks. The float test isn’t reliable in a few different situations, and if you rely too heavily on it to determine whether you should bake, you might end up with a flat loaf.
False Positives
A false positive happens when a starter traps enough carbon dioxide to float. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should put it in your bread just yet.
Some flours, such as whole meal and rye, hold onto gas better than others. A rye starter may be more likely to float than an all-purpose one.
Additionally, not all starters are fed to 100% hydration. A stiffer starter, for example, can hold more gas than a liquid one, resulting in a false positive.
False Negatives
A false negative occurs when a fully mature starter sinks to the bottom, giving the impression that it’s not ready to bake. However, if you were to put it in your bread, you may still see a beautiful rise and oven spring.
High hydration, or liquid, starters have more water than flour. When dropped in even more water, the starter immediately starts to break down, resulting in a sinking negative.
Additionally, sourdough starters are delicate. If you are rough when handling your starter and dropping it into the water, you may knock out the gas that would otherwise make your starter float.
Knowing when your starter is ready to bake is an art, which is why many bakers recommend using the float test. It’s fast and easy to understand.
But because the float test is inconsistent, you may want to try the following methods instead:
You should note that all of these methods depend on you regularly feeding your sourdough starter. If your feeding times vary or if you feed your starter inconsistently, you may struggle to predict your starter’s peak baking times. If you recently took your starter out of the fridge, you’ll need to give it at least three days of regular feedings before it’s ready to use again.
I understand that sourdough starters can be fickle to work with. I’ve covered a lot of common sourdough starter questions in the past, but if you have additional questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Just post them in the comments section below and I’ll get back with you.
Basics + FAQ Maintenance Baking Troubleshooting
Many people are creating sourdough starters and exploring sourdough for the first time. It’s exciting to see people diving into a subject that I’m so passionate about!
Over the past month, I’ve received many questions on sourdough starters. To create a helpful and easily referenced resource, I’ve put together an extensive Sourdough Starter Troubleshooting Guide below.
If you’ve already established a strong sourdough starter and are experiencing troubleshooting issues related to bread baking, please check out my Sourdough Bread Troubleshooting Guide.
Here you’ll find answers to the following questions and much more:
Note: If you have additional questions not addressed, please leave them in the comment section.
Basics + FAQ Maintenance Baking Troubleshooting
Q: How do I get started?
A sourdough starter is a culture of naturally occurring wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria used to make naturally leavened, fermented bread. Sourdough starters are active organisms that require regular feedings for best results.
If you’re new to sourdough baking and interested in creating a starter from scratch, I recommend checking out this list of my favorite sourdough resources and tools before getting started.
While I don’t have a sourdough starter recipe, I recommend The Perfect Loaf’s starter guide or Baker Bettie’s starter guide. Be patient as it can take up at least 2 weeks (or longer) to build an active, strong sourdough starter ready for bread baking.
Q: Do I really need a kitchen scale?
Yes. This is less of a deal-breaker for creating a starter, but vital for bread baking if you’re looking to achieve consistent results.
Volume measurements are wildly inaccurate (on that note, be sure to learn how to measure flour properly!) and will not yield consistent results for sourdough baking. I recommend this basic scale, but any accurate scale with 1-gram increments will work.
Q: Where are your starter jars from?
I’ve found Weck jars to be perfect because they’re straight-sided. This makes them easy to clean and offers a visual clue as to your starter’s activity level.
If you would prefer to use something else, choose a container that meets the following criteria: 1) easy-to-clean, 2) glass, 3) includes a lid, which can be set askew or is not airtight, 4) is appropriately sized and allows your starter to grow at least 3-4x in volume.
Q: Do I have to discard sourdough starter? How can I reduce flour waste?
Yes! Discarding part of the starter is required to maintain a healthy sourdough starter. This actually reduces waste, as it means your starter remains small and requires less flour during feedings. Also, please remember that homemade bread is less wasteful and less resource-intensive than packaged store-bought bread.
When I’m not baking bread, I scale down my starter. If I do plan on making bread, I simply scale it up during the previous night’s feeding (same feeding ratios, just larger quantities) before preparing sourdough bread or sourdough pizza dough the next morning. Please remember that you can always scale a starter up or down; the volume of your starter does not have an impact on its strength.
The best way to reduce the amount of sourdough discard during each feeding is to maintain a small starter or use the discard in sourdough discard recipes or for bread baking. You can also compost discard or gift dry sourdough starter to friends.
Note: If you want to use the discard, but don’t want to bake every day, you can compile the discard into one jar at each feeding and store this in the refrigerator. You’ll need to bring it back to room temperature (wake it up!) or give it additional feedings, depending on what you are using it for.
Q: Why do some starter guides call for different types of flours?
Methods will vary depending on a baker’s preference and experience. While you can make a sourdough starter with many flour types (do not use bleached flour for any bread baking), whole grain flours will generally yield faster results.
Rye flour is one of the best, as it is higher in nutrients than other whole grain flours. Extra nutrients will often speed up the process. If you don’t have access to rye flour, organic whole wheat flour is the next best option. Most starter guides will transition flour types and instruct you to change feeding ratios as it builds strength.
Whole grain flours contain the germ and endosperm, which become rancid if stored for extended periods at room temperature. Make sure your flour isn’t spoiled before starting.
Q: What kind of flour should I feed my starter?
Sourdough starters can be made and maintained with many different types of flours. All sourdough starters will behave differently, but different flours will yield different characteristics and flavor profiles.
Once your starter is active, I generally recommend feeding it with the type of flour that you will most often bake with. Therefore, if you’re making mostly whole grain bread, you might want to maintain a whole wheat (or predominantly whole grain) starter.
If you plan on baking with bread flour, you might want to slowly transition it to bread flour or unbleached all purpose flour over time. See more on transitioning to different flour types below.
Q: Can I make a gluten free sourdough starter?
Yes, this is possible! Gluten free starters behave extremely differently and require a completely different baking approach. There are various flour options you can try, so you’ll need to do more research to figure out what is best for you.
I am not experienced with gluten-free sourdough baking, but there are great resources (Vanilla and Bean, as well as King Arthur Flour) out there if you’re interested.
Q: Can I use packaged yeast in my starter?
No! Sourdough starters are cultures of wild yeast/lactic acid bacteria. You cannot jumpstart or create an a sourdough starter from commercial or dried yeast. It sort of defeats the point.
Q: What is a 100% hydration starter? What does that mean?
Hydration refers to water (or other liquids) quantity relative to total weight (grams) of flour. A 100% hydration sourdough starter is fed and maintained with equal parts flour and water by weight. Most sourdough bread recipes call for and use this type of starter.
Q: Can I switch or transition flour types over time?
If your starter is brand new, I don’t recommend constantly switching your flours (type or brand) as this will impact its activity and can create confusion if you’re looking to establish a solid feeding schedule.
However, if your starter is active and mature, you can change flour type as desired or needed. I recommend transitioning the flours slowly over the course of a week. Remember that flours behave differently and you may need to adjust your feeding schedule.
Q: How do I scale my starter up or down for baking or other reasons?
Simple increase or decrease the quantities in your next feeding using the same feeding ratio (see explanation below) to maintain your current schedule. Example:
Current Starter Feeding: 20 grams starter: 100 grams flour: 100 grams water (1:5:5 ratio)
Scaled Down Starter: 5 grams starter: 25 grams flour: 25 grams water (1:5:5 ratio)
Scaled Up Starter: 40 grams starter: 200 grams flour: 200 grams water (1:5:5 ratio)
Q: Can I preserve my sourdough starter in case something happens? What’s the best way to gift it to other people?
For long term storage, I recommend keeping dried sourdough starter on hand. Follow this guide on how to dry sourdough starter. Great for an emergency back-up or for gifting to friends and family.
Q: Can I refrigerate my starter if I don’t bake frequently?
Yes. If you don’t bake frequently or are going out of town, you can refrigerate a healthy sourdough starter for long period of time. Cold temperatures slow yeast and bacteria activity and will naturally extend how long your starter can sit between feedings.
I don’t recommend continuous refrigeration as it can change the balance of wild yeast/lactic acid bacteria and yield inconsistent results. However, it’s a great option for short-term breaks!
Before refrigerating your sourdough starter, discard a portion and give it a regular feeding. Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for roughly 1 hour before transferring it to the fridge.
Once you are ready to resume regular feedings or bake with your starter, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to sit at room temperature (ideally between 74°F-78°F) until it is bubbly and has reached peak activity. Continue with regular feedings and observe its activity.
Depending on how long it has been refrigerated, a refrigerated sourdough starter may require an additional 2 to 3 regular feedings at room temperature before it has resumed regular activity levels and is strong enough for baking sourdough bread or sourdough pizza.
Q: What do you mean by feeding ratio? Which feeding ratio should I use?
Feeding ratios are used to indicate the ratio of sourdough starter, flour, and water in each feeding. Here are a few examples:
1:1:1 ratio = equal amounts of sourdough starter, total flour, and total water by weight. [Eg. 20 grams sourdough starter: 20 grams flour: 20 grams water].
1:2:2 ratio = [Eg. 20 grams sourdough starter: 40 grams flour: 40 grams water]
1:5:5 ratio [Eg. 20 grams sourdough starter: 100 grams flour: 100 grams water]
*Most sourdough starter guides begin with a 1:1:1 ratio. As your starter becomes more active (more wild yeast/lactic acid bacteria), you will change your feeding ratio to account for the increased activity level.
Once your starter is active and on a reliable feeding schedule, you can adapt your feeding ratio as needed to adjust baking timelines, etc.
Q: How do I know when my starter is ready for bread baking?
Before baking, your sourdough starter should rise predictably and be on a reliable, consistent feeding schedule. If your starter is struggling to rise between feedings or taking a significantly long period to reach peak activity, it is most likely not strong enough to leaven bread.
This might vary depending on the type of flour you’re using, but your starter should at least double in volume (or more) at peak activity and pass the float test.
My current feeding and starter activity: My two-year-old starter is currently fed King Arthur unbleached bread flour. Using a 1:5:5 ratio, my starter peaks in about 10-12 hours when held at a temperature of roughly 75F.
Q: Do I have to use my starter at peak activity? Can it be used early or late?
Once your starter is active, you can play with these elements to introduce different flavor profiles into your bread. Younger starters will have a more delicate, sweet flavor. Peaked, slightly fallen starters are higher in acetic acid and will contribute more sourness/tanginess to your loaf.
I prefer to use my sourdough starter at peak activity and when it is just beginning to fall, as this has yielded the best results for me. Remember that changing these variables will impact your dough and bulk fermentation times.
Q: My starter is developing mold. How do I know if my sourdough starter is bad?
If your starter is developing any mold (pink, etc.), throw it out immediately. There is no way to fix or salvage a moldy starter. Check your flours (are they rancid? spoiling?) before starting over.
Q: My starter isn’t showing any signs of activity and it has been several days. Did I kill my sourdough starter?
Be patient and try placing it in a warmer area of your home (76F-80F is ideal). Use your nose as a guide, as it a better tool than visual activity in the beginning. Use recipes as guidelines, not strict timelines. If your starter peaks in activity, feed it. If it sluggish, wait and give it more time.
Many guides indicate that your sourdough starter should be active and ready for baking within less than a week. This is best case scenario and is not common. Many starters take up to 2 weeks or longer to become active enough to use in bread.
Q: My starter was really active on day 2 and 3, and then there was zero activity. What is happening?
It is common for a sourdough starter to have a surge in activity those first few days and then die down. This is normal and the results of another type of bacteria build up, not an indication that your starter is dead.
It will pick up again with time and the right types of bacteria (wild yeast/lactic acid) will increase and become more stable.
Q: My starter is active, but is barely rising between feedings. What do I do?
Stay the course, be patient, and continue with regular feedings until it strengthens. If you’re using a smaller ratio of sourdough starter in your feedings, consider increasing it until the starter gains more strength.
If your starter is not doubling or growing substantially in volume between feedings, it is not strong enough to leaven dough. You can certainly try baking, but you most likely will not achieve proper fermentation.
Q: Why isn’t my starter passing the float test?
Float tests are not fool-proof, but are generally reliable for 100% hydration sourdough starters (starters that are fed equal portions of flour and water). Failed float tests generally indicate the following:
Q: My ambient kitchen is very cold. What can I do?
Wild yeast prefers warmer temperatures. If you’re dealing with cooler temperatures, your sourdough starter will take longer to develop, require more time to peak between feedings, and your bulk fermentation time for bread baking will be extended considerably. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but something to be aware of.
You can try storing your starter in an oven with the light on (please use an ambient thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature as some ovens can easily become too hot). You can also try placing your starter container in a microwave next to a warm bowl of water.
If you’re serious about bread baking and struggling with temperature regulation, I highly recommend a bread proofing box (I own this Brod & Taylor one and love it).
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out my other sourdough bread baking resources:
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