Sourdough Starter for Lazy Bakers (Once-a-Week Schedule)

Most sourdough guides want you to feed your starter twice a
day, discard half each time, and treat it like a second pet. That
is how you burn out in three weeks and end up with a dried crust
in the back of the fridge.

Real-world sourdough, for people who work jobs and have other
hobbies, is a once-a-week operation. Feed it Saturday morning,
bake Saturday afternoon, fridge it until next Saturday. That is
the schedule. It makes excellent bread. No discarding flour down
the drain twice a day.

## Why most sourdough guides are wrong for home bakers

Professional bakery starters are fed constantly because they bake
daily and need maximum rise on a reliable schedule. A home baker
who makes one or two loaves per week needs a starter that sleeps
in the fridge for 6 days, wakes up in 12 hours, and produces one
great dough.

The home-baker schedule is:

| Day | Action | Time |
|-----|--------|------|
| Saturday 8 am | Remove from fridge, feed | 2 min |
| Saturday 4 pm | Starter peaked, mix dough | 15 min |
| Saturday 4-8 pm | Bulk ferment (folds every hour) | 10 min over 4 hrs |
| Saturday 8 pm | Shape, refrigerate overnight | 10 min |
| Sunday 9 am | Preheat oven, bake | 1 hour |
| Sunday 11 am | Fresh bread done | - |
| Saturday next | Repeat | - |

Total active time: about 40 minutes over a weekend. One week of
fresh bread.

## Starting a starter from scratch (one time, 7 days)

You only do this once. After that, you maintain.

- **Day 1:** 50 g whole wheat flour + 50 g water in a jar. Stir,
cover loosely, room temperature. Leave alone.
- **Day 2:** Probably no change. Stir once.
- **Day 3-4:** You will see bubbles. Smell might be funky or
acetone-like. Normal. Feed: discard all but 50 g. Add 50 g
white flour + 50 g water. Stir.
- **Day 5-6:** Should double in 8-12 hours after each feed.
Continue daily feeds.
- **Day 7:** If it reliably doubles in 6-8 hours and smells like
yogurt or bread, it is ready.

Important: use whole wheat at first, transition to white. The
wild yeast on whole wheat bran kickstarts the culture faster than
bleached white flour.

## The lazy maintenance schedule

Once your starter is established:

- Keep it in the fridge.
- Once a week, feed it: discard all but 30 g, add 100 g flour +
100 g water, stir, leave at room temperature 4-6 hours until it
doubles, then refrigerate.
- That is it.

If you skip a week, the starter survives. If you skip two weeks,
feed it twice before baking — 1 morning feed, 1 afternoon feed,
then bake the next day. Three weeks? Three feeds.

Starters are extremely resilient. I have revived 6-month-abandoned
starters with three feeds over 2 days.

## When to bake

Your starter is ready to bake when:

- It has doubled in volume.
- The surface is domed, not flat or sunken.
- A small spoonful floats in water (the classic float test).

This peak usually happens 4 to 8 hours after the feed, depending
on room temperature. Warmer room = faster peak.

## The easy weekend loaf

For a single loaf:

- 400 g bread flour
- 100 g whole wheat flour
- 350 g water (70 percent hydration — forgiving for beginners)
- 100 g active starter
- 10 g salt

**Mix:** flour + water, rest 30 minutes (autolyse). Add starter
and salt, pinch to combine. Rest 30 minutes.

**Bulk ferment:** 4 to 5 hours at room temp (72 F). Do 4 "folds"
at 30-minute intervals in the first 2 hours (wet hand, grab edge,
stretch up and over, rotate 90 degrees, repeat 4 sides).

**Shape:** Turn out onto counter, shape into a ball, let rest 20
minutes, shape again into the final form. Into a floured banneton
or bowl lined with floured towel.

**Cold retard:** Refrigerate covered 8 to 16 hours.

**Bake:** Preheat Dutch oven at 500 F for 30 minutes. Flip loaf
in, score, cover, bake 20 minutes at 500 F, then uncover and
bake 20 minutes at 450 F. Cool fully on rack.

## Troubleshooting the 3 most common failures

**Flat loaf:** starter was not peaked, or bulk ferment was too
short. Next time, wait for a clear dome and do the float test.

**Gummy interior:** underbaked or cut too hot. Bread needs to
cool 1 full hour before slicing. The internal structure sets
during cooling.

**No ear / no spring:** blade was too dull or score was too
shallow. Score with a razor blade at a 30-degree angle, one confident
slash 1/2 inch deep.

## Scaling the lazy schedule

You can bake twice a week on this schedule by doubling the starter
feed on Saturday. 60 g starter + 200 g flour + 200 g water makes
enough active starter for two loaves, one Saturday and one Tuesday
night (keep half of it out of the fridge, refrigerate the rest).

You can also freeze bread. A sourdough loaf sliced and frozen,
then toasted straight from frozen, is nearly as good as fresh.

## The sourdough trap to avoid

Do not start a starter and immediately plan to feed it twice a
day because Instagram bakers do. That is the fastest path to
abandoning the hobby. The once-a-week fridge method makes
excellent bread, respects your time, and is sustainable.

Add your sourdough recipes to your [recipe box](/blog/what-is-recipe-box)
with the exact hydration, flour brand, and timing — small
variations between flours matter more in sourdough than any other
style of baking, and tracking them saves months of trial and error.