Measuring Temperatures and Keeping Track

Tracking everything you do with your starter is important if you want to make changes to it or understand its development and what you’ve done successfully and unsuccessfully. You can’t control something you haven’t measured. I suggest to clients to take the temperature of their flour and water.

Both flour and starter should be room temperature (72°F to 74°F/22°C to 23°C). Water should be 68°F to 70°F (20°C to 21°C). Because friction and reproducing bacteria add heat, water temperature should be lower than target temperature, the low 70s—a nice average starting point. But remember, sometimes you can’t control the temperature of the environment your starter will be in.