Stiff Sourdough Starter Ratios

Updated September 2026 · Baking Resources

A stiff starter is any starter fed at 50 to 60% hydration, which means the water weighs half to three fifths of what the flour weighs. The most common feed by a distance is 1:2:1 by weight, meaning 1 part old starter, 2 parts flour, 1 part water. Feed 20 g of starter with 40 g of flour and 20 g of water and you have a stiff starter at exactly 50% hydration.

That's the whole answer. The rest of the useful stiff sourdough starter ratios are just different amounts of the same idea: 1:3:1.5 and 1:5:2.5 are also 50% hydration, they simply take longer to peak because there's less old starter doing the work.

Feeding a bigger or smaller batch than the chart shows? Our free recipe converter scales any set of weights by a factor and keeps the ratio locked, so your hydration doesn't drift.

Updated September 2026

Stiff sourdough starter ratios, at a glance

Every ratio here is written as starter : flour : water, by weight. Never by volume. Flour packs differently every time you scoop it, and a starter is too sensitive to survive that.

Two things to read off that table.

The hydration comes from the last two numbers only. Water divided by flour. In 1:2:1 that's 1 divided by 2, so 50%. The first number, the old starter, changes the speed and nothing else.

The first number is your timer. More old starter means more yeast and bacteria at the start, so a faster peak. That's how bakers control the schedule without a proofer: feed 1:1:0.5 when you want it ready after lunch, feed 1:5:2.5 when you want it ready when you wake up.

For the wider math of flour-relative percentages, our bakers percentage guide sets the whole system out, including how to fold a starter into a recipe's totals.

Stiff versus liquid: what actually changes

A standard liquid starter is 100% hydration, fed 1:1:1, equal weights of everything. Stiff runs at half the water. Here's what that does.

The flavor difference is the part people notice first. Less water means the bacteria that make acetic acid, the sharp vinegary one, are held back, and the milder lactic acid dominates. A stiff starter smells sweet, almost of yogurt and ripe fruit. A neglected liquid starter smells like nail polish remover.

The other real advantage is patience. Stiff starter tolerates being forgotten. Two weeks in the fridge and it usually comes back with two feeds instead of five.

How to tell when a stiff starter has peaked

Stiff starter does not double the way a liquid one does, so the "doubled in the jar" test misleads people constantly. Watch for these instead.

• The surface goes from smooth and taut to slightly domed, then cracks and starts to flatten.
• Tearing a piece open shows an even honeycomb, not big irregular holes.
• The smell moves from floury to sweet and yogurty.
• Pressed with a finger, it springs back slowly and holds a dent.

A useful trick: after feeding, roll the starter into a ball, drop it into a straight-sided jar, and mark the level with a rubber band. It's a firm dough, so it holds its shape and the mark tells you exactly how far it's climbed. Most stiff starters go up by 1.5 to 2 times, and that's a full peak.

If yours barely moves at all, it's usually temperature or a weak culture rather than the ratio. Our guide to dough that won't rise walks through the same diagnosis for a finished dough.

Temperature moves these times more than the ratio does

Feeding ratio sets the schedule roughly. Temperature sets it precisely. A 10 degree change roughly halves or doubles the time.

Treat these as starting points and write down what your own culture does. Two starters at the same ratio in the same kitchen can be two hours apart, because the microbial mix is different.

The water temperature you feed with matters too. Cold tap water in a cold kitchen can push a peak out by hours. Aim for water at about 80°F and the timings above hold up well.

Converting a liquid starter to a stiff one

You don't need a new culture. You convert the one you have, over two or three feeds.

Feed 1. Take 20 g of your liquid 100% starter. Add 40 g of bread flour and 20 g of water. Mix, and it'll feel like a firm dough. Knead it in the bowl for 30 seconds until smooth. Rest until it peaks.

Feed 2. Discard down to 20 g and repeat exactly. By now it should smell noticeably sweeter.

Feed 3. Same again. After three feeds at 50% hydration the culture has adjusted and the timings become predictable.

Bread flour makes a better stiff starter than all-purpose, because the extra protein gives the firm dough something to hold onto. One cup of bread flour is 127 g against all-purpose at 125 g, close enough that you can swap freely by weight. Our bread flour versus all-purpose guide covers what the protein difference does in a finished loaf.

To go the other way, stiff back to liquid, feed 1:1:1 for two or three cycles. It reverts just as quickly.

Worked example: swapping a stiff levain into a 100% hydration recipe

This is the calculation that trips everyone up, so here it is in full.

The recipe says: 100 g of 100% hydration levain, 400 g flour, 300 g water, 10 g salt.

Step 1. Break the levain into its parts. At 100% hydration, 100 g of levain is 50 g flour and 50 g water.

Step 2. Decide what to hold constant. You want the same amount of prefermented flour, so 50 g, because that's what sets the fermentation speed and the sourness.

Step 3. Build the same 50 g of flour as a stiff levain. At 50% hydration, 50 g of flour needs 25 g of water. So your stiff levain weighs 75 g, not 100 g.

Step 4. Put the missing water back. The old levain brought 50 g of water. The new one brings only 25 g. Add the missing 25 g to the dough water, taking it from 300 g to 325 g.

Step 5. Check the totals. Old way: 400 + 50 = 450 g flour, 300 + 50 = 350 g water, so 77.8% hydration. New way: 400 + 50 = 450 g flour, 325 + 25 = 350 g water, so 77.8% hydration. Identical. The dough behaves the same, but the flavor is milder and the fermentation runs a little slower.

Step 6. Adjust the clock. A stiff levain is slower to get going, so add 30 to 60 minutes to bulk fermentation, or use a slightly larger levain. Watch the dough, not the timer. Our autolyse guide explains where the rest period fits into that timeline.

If you'd rather not do this by hand every time, our recipe converter will scale a whole formula and its levain together, and the ingredient weights chart gives the gram figures for every flour if your recipe is written in cups.

Worked example: sizing a feed so you don't waste flour

You need 150 g of stiff levain for tomorrow's dough, plus 20 g held back to keep the culture going. So the target is 170 g total.

Step 1. Pick your ratio. You want it ready in about 6 hours in a 76°F kitchen, so 1:2:1 fits.

Step 2. Add up the parts. 1 + 2 + 1 = 4 parts total.

Step 3. Divide. 170 divided by 4 = 42.5 g per part.

Step 4. Write out the feed. 42.5 g starter, 85 g flour, 42.5 g water. Round it to 42 g starter, 85 g flour, 43 g water. That gives 170 g and hydration of 43 divided by 85, which is 50.6%. Close enough to make no difference.

The check: 150 g into the dough and 20 g back into the jar. Nothing goes in the trash. Sizing feeds this way is the fastest route to no discard at all, which beats every discard recipe going.

Feeding schedules that work

For the fridge, the key detail is when you put it in. Let the fed starter sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours first so fermentation is properly underway, then chill it. Refrigerating it straight from the mixing bowl leaves it cold and inactive with a long lag when you take it out.

A stiff starter in the fridge develops a firm skin and sometimes a little dark liquid on top. Scrape off the skin, discard, and feed twice. It's almost never dead.

What flour to use, and the sweet stiff variant

Bread flour is the default. Whole wheat and rye speed things up dramatically because of the extra minerals and wild yeast on the bran, so if you feed a stiff starter 25% whole wheat, expect the peak times in the chart to shorten by a quarter or so.

Lievito madre, the Italian stiff starter used for panettone, runs at 45 to 50% hydration and is often bound in cloth or kept under water. Bakers who use it feed three times a day before a bake to push the acidity right down, since a highly acidic starter can weaken the gluten in a heavily enriched dough over a long proof.

Sweet stiff starter, common in Asian-style milk breads, adds sugar to the feed, usually around 20% of the flour weight. So 40 g flour, 20 g water, 8 g sugar with 20 g of starter. The sugar suits the yeast in an enriched dough and the resulting bread is milder still. Types of flour behave differently here, and our flour types guide covers protein levels for each.

Frequently asked questions

What is the ratio for a stiff sourdough starter?

Feed 1 part starter to 2 parts flour to 1 part water, all by weight, which gives 50% hydration. A typical feed is 20 g starter, 40 g flour, 20 g water. Ratios like 1:3:1.5 and 1:5:2.5 have the same hydration and simply take longer to peak.

What hydration counts as a stiff starter?

Anything from about 45% to 60%. Below 45% it's hard to mix evenly and fermentation slows a lot. Above 60% it behaves like a thick liquid starter and loses the mild lactic flavor that makes a stiff one worth keeping.

How long does a stiff starter take to peak?

Between 3 and 14 hours, depending on the ratio and the temperature. A 1:1:0.5 feed at 78°F peaks in 3 to 4 hours. A 1:5:2.5 feed in the same kitchen takes 10 to 14 hours, which is why bakers use it as an overnight feed.

Can I convert my liquid starter to stiff without starting over?

Yes, and it takes about three feeds. Take 20 g of your liquid starter and feed it 40 g flour and 20 g water each time, letting it peak between feeds. After the third cycle the timings settle down and the smell turns sweeter.

Does a stiff starter rise as much as a liquid one?

No, and that's normal. A stiff starter typically climbs 1.5 to 2 times its height rather than doubling or tripling. Judge it by the domed, cracking surface and the even honeycomb inside rather than by how far it went up the jar.

How long can a stiff starter stay in the fridge?

Ten to fourteen days comfortably, and many go a month and still come back. Let it ferment at room temperature for an hour or two after feeding before it goes in the cold, and revive it with two feeds at 1:1:0.5 when you pull it out.

Why does my stiff starter smell like vinegar?

It's overfermented, so the acetic acid has built up. Feed it more often, use a bigger ratio like 1:5:2.5 so it takes longer to exhaust the flour, or move it somewhere cooler. Two or three fresh feeds bring the smell back to sweet and yogurty.

Is a stiff starter better for bread?

It's better for some bread. Enriched dough, panettone, brioche and anything with a long cold proof benefit from the milder acidity, since acid weakens gluten over a long ferment. For an everyday sourdough loaf, a liquid starter is faster and simpler. Both make good bread, so pick the one that suits your schedule. Our guide to why bread comes out dense covers what to check if a loaf disappoints either way.

Related guides: Bakers percentage explained | What is autolyse | Bread flour vs all-purpose | Why dough is not rising | Recipe converter