Sourdough starter recipes are perfect for anyone interested in baking their own bread on the homestead. This tutorial showsyou how to get started making your own.Not all of us are lucky enough to have the best sourdough starter passed down to us from our grandmas. If you're feeling a bit adventurous you can actually make (or grow) your own sourdough starterwith this recipe!
Beginner'sSourdough Starter Recipe
What is a Sourdough Starter?
A sourdough starter is made from two simple ingredients — flour and water. It attracts wild yeast which lives everywhere in the environment. In a way, sourdough starter is how we cultivate the wild yeast in a form which can be useful for baking. This culture of microorganisms is what will leaven your bread and make it taste so darn good!
Making your own sourdough starter may take up a little time, but you'll surely enjoy the process. Have kids in the house? Do this little project with them and cultivate their scientific minds while cultivating your food.
Making a sourdough starter involvesmixing flour and water together, then leaving it alonefor a little while. However, if you want the feisty critters tomake your bread rise, it can be more extensive. Growing asourdough starter takes about 5 days on average, andit can take longer depending on the conditions of the environment. We have compiled a simple step-by-step guideto makingyour own starter and what to expect on a daily basis. You can find the original article here.
Make Your Own Sourdough Starter!
What you'll need:
Day 1: Make the Initial Starter
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Weigh4 ounces or 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of flour andcombine with4 ounces of water.Stir vigorously until combined into asticky, thickbatter. Cover the container with plastic wrap, and leave it on your kitchen counter or somewhere with a consistent room temperature of 70°F to 75°F. Do not refrigerate.
Day 2: Stir theParty in Your Bottle
Afterthe first 24 hours, you will alreadyfind afewtiny bubbles. This means that the yeast has already started a party in your jar! Stir the bottleevery once in a while to attract more yeast and to ‘move' the little critters towards their food. After all, yeasts don't run around the jar. They're floating and eating whatever is nearby so a little stirring here and there is just as important as feeding the sourdough starter. By the end of the day, you'll find more bubbles in your jar.
Day 3: Feed the Starter
Take a good look at your starter. You may find that more bubbles have started to appear and that's agood thing! This means that the yeast has also started making themselves at home in your starter. It's now time to feed the starter with more flour and water! Measure another4 ounces of flour and 4 ounces of water, stir vigorously until combined into a smooth batter.
Day 4: More Feeding and More Stirring
By now,your starter should look extremely bubbly and the volume should have doubled. Also, the aroma should be noticeably sour. Feed your starter with the same amount of flour and water. Stir vigorously or whisk if you prefer.Stirring will makeit easier for the yeast to get oxygen, an important factor if you want your yeast culture to reproduce.
Day 5:Time for Your First Harvest
Give your starter a good, long look. Before harvesting, make sure that your starter is already ‘ripe.' One way you can find this out istofill a glass with water and drop a teaspoon of starter into the glass. If it floats, it’s ready to use. If it sinks, don't despair. Give it an additional day andmorefeeding.
Day 6 and beyond: Maintain Your Starter
If you'll be using your starter often, discard half of it and keep feeding it with the same amount of flour and water daily.But if it will be a while before you use the starter again,cover your container tightly and place it in the fridge. Take it out of the fridge and feed it at least once a week to keep your starter going.
Watch this video by Allrecipes for another helpful guide in making a sourdough starter:
Growing and making your own fooddefinitely makes iteasier and tastier!Now that you have yourstarter ready, you can now use it in your bread recipes. Watch out for our delicious sourdough recipes!
What do you think of this sourdough starter recipe? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
Up Next:Sourdough Bread Recipe
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 19, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
FAQs
As with any sourdough recipe, before you start baking bread, you want to make sure that your sourdough starter is as strong as possible. My basic sourdough recipe uses just 50g of starter for 500g of flour (so just 10% of starter).
What is the secret to a good sourdough starter? ›
Over the years, I've found keeping the mixture warm at around 80°F (26°C), and high hydration (100% water to flour in baker's percentages) helps get things started. In addition, while not mandatory, using certain flour also helps increase the chances a starter will take hold quickly (see below).
What is the ratio of starter to flour for sourdough bread? ›
but they almost always use this formula. 100% flour 20% starter 2% salt and 75% water.
What is the 1/2/2 ratio for sourdough starter? ›
A 1:2:2 feeding ratio would consist of one part existing starter, two parts flour and two parts water. For example, if you have 30g of existing starter, you would feed it 60g of flour and 60g of flour. The most common feeding ratios for daily maintenance are 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.
What happens if you put too much sourdough starter in your dough? ›
If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.
What happens when you use too much sourdough starter in bread? ›
And you guessed it..the more starter you use, the faster your dough will ferment - resulting in a less sour loaf. Using less starter in your recipe will help slow down the fermentation process.
Do you have to discard sourdough starter every time you feed it? ›
It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.
What is the healthiest flour for sourdough bread? ›
Compared to whole wheat flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient- and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means it produces slack, sticky, and dense doughs.
What is the best flour for sourdough starter? ›
The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour.
What is the best hydration for sourdough bread? ›
I typically like to stick to the 70 to 75% range. This gives me a nice open crumb without being to wet of a dough that it is impossible to work with. Should sourdough starter be 100% hydration? Sourdough starter can be at right at, above, or below 100% hydration.
NOTE: Use regular, unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour for best results- skip organic. The enzymes are different which can hinder the rising process the first time around.
Does whole wheat flour need more water in sourdough starter? ›
TIP: Whole wheat flour is incredibly thirsty. Because it absorbs more water than regular white flour, extending the “autolyse” or first rest period gives this dough ample time to hydrate. You'll notice a huge difference after the full hour. The dough will be incredibly soft, and easy to stretch and fold later on.
How often should I clean my sourdough starter jar? ›
I wipe the top and rim of my starter jar every time I feed, which helps keep most of the jar clean. Transfer your sourdough starter to a new, clean jar whenever your current jar becomes overly crusted with sourdough starter. I typically do this once every two weeks.
What is the best sourdough starter ratio? ›
The most common feeding ratio is 1:1:1 (sourdough starter: flour: water). This is also known as a 100% hydration starter. For example, let's say you have 40 g of sourdough starter in a jar. To feed it, you'll add 40 g of flour + 40 g of water.
How much should I discard my sourdough starter? ›
Experts recommend feeding a starter twice daily. And at each feeding, you hold onto 1/2 cup of your original starter, discard the rest, and then add its same weight in water and flour. With this schedule, you'd discard almost a cup of sourdough starter every day.
How much starter should I use in my bread? ›
As a general guideline, a common rule of thumb is to use around 20-30% of the total flour weight in the recipe as the amount of starter. For example, if your recipe calls for 500 grams of flour, you would use 100-150 grams of active starter. How much sour dough starter do you need for one loaf of sour dough bread?
How much starter should I add to my dough? ›
20 grams can easily become 210 grams if you follow a 1:10:10 ratio—10 grams starter, 100 grams water, 100 grams flour. If you want your starter to rise more slowly, you can use a ratio such as 1 part starter to 3 parts flour and 3 parts water (1:3:3).
How much sourdough starter to use instead of yeast? ›
How much sourdough starter equals a packet of yeast? As a general rule, 100g of sourdough starter can be used to replace one packet of yeast (a packet usually contains 5-7g of commercial yeast).
How to use your sourdough starter to make bread? ›
Feed a sourdough starter 4-12 hours before starting the dough, ensuring it is active and bubbly. Add warm water, active starter, salt, and flour to a large mixing bowl. A kitchen scale will give the most accurate results. Mix together with wooden spoon or even just your hands.
