How to Start a Sourdough Starter
Learn how to start a sourdough starter and start baking delicious breads and other foods for your family with sourdough! All you need is flour, water, and a clean jar to get started!
What are the Benefits of Sourdough Bread?
Sourdough is a great hobby to take up! Not only is it a healthier option for your family, it’s fun to bake with! So, why sourdough?
- Sourdough is easier to digest
- It has a lower glycemic index
- It has more good acids
- Less yeast
- Provides healthy bacterias
- Good for gluten sensitivity
- No preservatives
- It’s nutritious
- It tastes good
- It’s versatile
You can read more about the benefits of sourdough here. Let’s get to the good part on how to start your own!
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Sourdough Starter Recipe:
Ingredients you will need:
- Flour (whole wheat, or all purpose is great. Personally I use all-purpose flour.) If you want to make an einkorn starter read here.
- Filtered water.
Tools you will need:
- a kitchen scale
- banneton baskets
- a dough scraper
- a tea towel
- a clean jar (I like to use wide-mouth quart jars, but anything with a large opening around that size will do)
- a Dutch oven
- here’s a kit with all kinds of sourdough tools that you may need later
Sourdough Starter Day 1:
First, mix one cup of flour, and one cup of water together in your jar. Next, make sure it is well combined, and scrape down the sides. Lastly, cover with a tea towel and set it aside on your counter. Allow it to sit for 24 hours.
Day 2:
Discard half of mixture, and then add one cup of flour, and one cup of water to the remaining mixture. Next, mix very well and scrape down the sides.
Why discard half of the mixture? If you didn’t do this, by day four, you would have sourdough starter overflowing from your bowl. Removing half also ensures that the right amount of flour and water is feeding the growing colony of beneficial yeast. If you don’t discard half, the cup of flour won’t be enough to feed the beneficial yeast on days three and four. Basically, you would end up with a lot of extra starter by the end of the process, and none of it would be mature.
Day 3-5:
Repeat the steps from day two for days three, four, and five.
Day 6-7:
On days six and seven, repeat the same process, but instead of every 24 hours, switch to every 12 hours.
By day seven, you should have an active starter, that is ready to start baking with! If it bubbles and doubles in size, it’s working!
How to Maintain Your Sourdough Starter
Now that you know how to start a sourdough starter, let’s go over how to keep it alive! It’s easier than you think! Take good care of it, and you can keep it alive for the rest of your life!
If you don’t plan using it very often you can keep it in the refrigerator, and feed it once a week, or once every other week. When it’s in the refrigerator, it slows down the fermentation process. Keeping it in a sealed jar in the fridge is a good idea, that way if you forget about it, it’s not as likely to get contaminated and grow mold.
I accidentally left mine in the fridge unfed for seven months! I do not suggest neglecting yours for that long, but by my surprise it was actually still good, and after a couple feedings it was back to its bubbly self!
If you are going to keep your starter on the counter at room temperature, you will need to feed it every single day! Otherwise it will likely grow mold.
FAQ About How to Start a Sourdough Starter:
How long before my sourdough starter is ready to bake with?
When it is nice and bubbly, after feeding, and has a slightly sour smell, it is ready to start baking with!
What flour is best for sourdough starter?
Personally I love using AP flour, but you can use many other different kinds of flour for sourdough starter! Experiment and decide which one you like best!
What if my sourdough starter develops a clear-gray liquid on top?
This means it is hungry. As long as there is no mold, it is still good! Feed it and watch it return to its bubbly self!
Do you have to discard sourdough starter every time you feed it?
Yes, and before your sourdough starter is established you will just have to throw it away (or feed it to your chickens!) Once it is an active starter, you can put you discard in a jar and use it for baking many different things!
How to Start a Sourdough Starter
Equipment
- 1 Clean Jar
- 1 Tea Towel
- 1 Spoon for Stirring
- 1 Rubber Band for holding tea towel on jar
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour all purpose
- 1 cup water filtered
Instructions
- Day 1: Put your water and flour into your clean jar. Stir vigorously until the mixture is well combined. Cover with rubber band and tea towel and set aside on your counter for 24 hours.
- Day 2: Remove half of mixture and discard into the trash (or feed to your chickens) and add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water to the mixture. Stir until well combined and then cover and sit on your counter for 24 hours.
- Days 3-5: Repeat day 2 process
- Days 6-7: On these days, do the same process, but feed every 12 hours instead of every 24.
- By day seven it should be ready to bake with. If it is not bubbly and doubling in size, it is not ready yet. Keep repeating the process from day six and seven until it is ready.
Notes
Once your starter is active, you will need to keep up on maintaining it if you want to have it for years and years!
In the Refrigerator
- Storing it in the fridge slows down fermentation, so you don’t have to feed it as often. Once a week is enough. I like to keep mine sealed in the fridge, so it doesn’t get contaminated. If you put a sealed lid on it, it is less likely to go bad quickly.
- If you plan on using it for baking, pull it out of the fridge and feed it the day before you plan on baking with it! That will ensure it’s active and ready to bake with!
- At room temperature, the bacteria in the starter will be very active. So make sure you feed it daily or it will likely mold.
- I would only keep it on the counter if you plan on baking with it daily. Otherwise you are going to have a lot of starter, and discard that will need to be used up!
