Sourdough Starter

Most recipes online are just plain mind-boggling with lots of complicated steps and unfamiliar terms and math ... I mean, I hated math at school, and I sure don't want to be calculating complicated percentages when all I want to do is make a loaf of bread. 

So I am here to demystify it. This is my simple, no-fuss guide to making a sourdough starter. I want to make the whole process accessible and approachable.

I want anyone, whether a natural baker or not, to be able to come along and learn to make a sourdough starter and a basic loaf of sourdough bread without getting confused over a million different complicated steps and without having to negotiate unfamiliar baker's terminology.

Of course, there is a time and a place for the proper terminology, baker's percentages and dough hydration, etc, but the average person isn't bothered with all that. They just want to come along and make an uncomplicated, easy starter, then knock out a pretty decent loaf of bread once it's ready. That's it. 

So if you are that average person who just wants to learn to make a sourdough starter with no fuss and no complicated instructions, then you are in the right place.

And if you don't want to be making massive jars of starter that grow and grow, take over your entire kitchen and need feeding twice a day without fail for the rest of your life, while you try to figure out what to do with the massive amounts that you are told to discard, you have also come to the right place. 

What Is Wild Yeast?

The Best Container For Sourdough Starter

A wide-mouthed, clear glass jar of between 750 ml (25 oz) and 1 litre (34 oz) is perfect. Something like a mason jar, a Weck jar, or a cleaned-up store-bought peanut butter/marinara sauce jar.

It should be clear so you can see inside easily, wide so it's easy to spoon the flour into and the starter out of, and a decent size so that when the starter rises, there is no risk of it spilling over.

I started out with recycled glass jars from the pantry and have now upgraded to Weck jars. They really are perfect. Wide, smooth sides for easy stirring, and the glass lids without the rubber seals and clips are ideal for covering the starter without making it airtight.

Technically, you can use any good-quality unbleached flour to make a sourdough starter, but some flours create more demanding or vigorous starters than others.

Common flours to use when making starters are all-purpose flour, bread flour, or whole wheat flour, but for this easy starter recipe, you need to use rye flour.

Using rye flour makes the process almost foolproof. Your starter will come to life a lot quicker than starters made with other flours, and it will get more nutrients, so it will be able to cope well with the small feeds required in this recipe. Other flours will not work in this recipe.

The rye flour you use must be fresh. Don't use a bag of flour that has been sitting open in your pantry for the last 6 months. If you want your starter to be healthy and happy, you need to feed it fresh food.

We might start the process all full of enthusiasm and excitement, but there will come a time when you forget to feed your starter for a few weeks or leave it in the back of the fridge for 3 months ... Yes, I did that to my starter .... Sorry, Percy. A rye flour starter will be much more forgiving and willing to spring back to life after that than any other.

In fact, if you already have a starter made with another flour that doesn't appear to be flourishing or that you think is dead, feed it some rye flour and watch it come back to life again. They just love it!

And don't worry, just because you use rye flour to make your starter, it doesn't mean you can only make rye bread. You can use your rye starter to make white or whole-wheat bread.

Feeding Sourdough Starter

How Do I Know When I Can Bake Bread With It?

Now that you have your own living and breathing sourdough starter, you need to hold a naming ceremony and make it part of the family. It's an essential right of passage into the sourdough bread baking world ;O)

My starter is called Percy because when I shared a picture of it on Instagram and asked people to choose a name, someone noticed that the bubbles in the top looked like a pig's face.

Here are some sourdough starter names for inspiration:

• Doughreen
• Bread Pitt
• Jane Dough
• Gloopy
• Little Bread Rising Hood
• Clint Yeastwood
• Bubbles
• Frankendough

Here is Percy, my old sourdough starter. Charlie (the dog) loves the smell of him and is there by my side for every feeding and bake session!

To get things moving along quickly, a temperature between 20°C (72°F) to 26 °C (80°F) is perfect. Some of us are lucky and have an environment naturally at that temperature, but if the room you keep your starter in is cooler then things will move along quite slowly. To be clear, it will still happen if it's cooler, it will just take much longer.

Here are some ideas to provide your starter with a warmer environment to help speed it up:

• Move it to another room - You might have one room in your house that gets warmer than others. Try leaving it in there.
• Use the light in your oven - Simply place the jar of starter in a cold oven and turn the light on. The heat from the bulb will keep your starter warm. Just make sure no one comes along and turns the oven on while it's in there!
• Use your home heating - Place the jar of starter near (but not too near) the furnace, radiator, fireplace, or stove.
• Use an Instant Pot - If your Instant Pot has a yogurt setting, set it to low and place the jar of starter on the trivet inside. It's important to leave the lid off the Instant Pot as otherwise it will get too hot for your starter.
• On top of your fridge/fridge freezer - This is usually a nice warm spot and works well if you don't have built-in appliances.
• A sunny windowsill - Don't put it in direct contact with the sun, as it could damage your starter, but put it in indirect sunlight or in a dark box on the windowsill to protect it.
• In the airing cupboard - If you are in the UK in an older-style house, you might well have one of these.
• A warm closet - I have forced air heating in my house, and the closets have vents in them and get really warm. My starter loves it in there!

You have a happy and thriving sourdough starter, and you are ready to make bread.

Let's say your starter took 7 days to establish. That means that you now have 350g of sourdough starter in your jar.
25g of rye flour + 25g of water = 50 g
50 g x 7 days = 350g

.... I promise that's the extent of the math involved.

You can now remove all of that starter from the jar and use it for baking bread, or any other recipe that uses starter. You just need to leave the scrapings behind (the clingy bits that are left on the bottom and sides). These clingy bits are all you need to keep your starter going.

Put the (almost) empty jar with clingy bits in the fridge and leave it there until a day or two before you want to make bread again.

Here is my jar of sourdough starter scrapings:

Then next time you want to bake:

• If a week or less has passed since you put the jar in the fridge - the night before you want to bake, read your recipe and see how much starter it calls for.
  If it says you need 100 g of starter, put 50g of flour and 50g of water into your starter jar and stir it up really well. 50 g + 50 g = 100 g, which is what you need for the recipe.
  If the recipe says you need 300g of starter, put 150g of flour and 150g of water in your jar. 150g + 150g = 300g.
  Get it? Then cover the jar and leave it wherever you keep it, until the next morning, when it should be at its peak and ready to bake with. Take out all of the starter to use in your recipe, leaving the scrapings in the jar and pop it back into the fridge for next time, then follow these directions again the next time you want to bake.
  
• If 2 weeks have passed since you put the jar in the fridge - 2 nights before you want to bake, read your recipe and see how much starter it calls for. You are going to feed the starter over 2 nights to get it excited again.
  If your recipe says you need 100 g of starter, put 25g of flour and 25g of water into your starter jar and stir it up really well. Then, the following night, add another 25g of flour and 25g of water. That brings you up to 100g of starter. Leave it until the next morning, and it should be nice and bubbly, and ready to bake with.
  If the recipe says you need 300g of starter, put 75g of flour and 75g of water in your jar and stir it up, then the following night add another 75g of flour and 75g of water, stir it up and leave it 'til morning when it should be ready to bake with.
  
• If more than 2 weeks have passed since you put the jar in the fridge - Don't worry. If it's only a few days over 2 weeks, follow my directions above, and you should be fine. If it's much longer, then you might need to feed it over 3 or 4 nights to get it raring to go again. The good news is that it's pretty hard to kill it so no matter how long you've left it, it should be salvageable (unless it's mouldy - see my FAQ below for more info on that).

Don't let the amount of starter you have build up in the jar. Too much and it can get sluggish and struggle to double in size. Just feed it as much flour and water as you need for your bake and no more. If you accidentally end up with too much, use it up by making any recipe that calls for sourdough discard.

After feeding your starter, you need to wait for it to reach its peak before you can bake with it. This time varies from starter to starter and is also dependent on temperature. For me it's about 6 to 8 hours. If it's particularly warm where you are, it could happen more quickly. You will get to know how long yours takes once you've been feeding it for a while.

I feed my starter the evening before I plan to bake with it because I tend to mix my dough in the morning. If you are going to mix your dough in the evening, feed your starter when you wake up in the morning.

What Do I Do If I Want To Make Something Other Than Bread With My Starter?

By making a waste-free sourdough starter, you lose the problem of having to figure out what to do with all of the discard. But sometimes having some extra starter available to make pancakes, crumpets, or waffles is a good thing.

If you want some extra starter available to do this, feed your starter as normal the night before you are baking, but use some extra flour and water so you have more than just the scrapings left in the jar after making the bread. Then you can use it right away or leave it in the fridge until you need it.

If you aren't making bread but want to make something else that calls for discard, simply feed your starter enough to make the amount of discard called for in the recipe a day or two before you want to make it. Take out what you need for your recipe and pop the scrapings back in the fridge for next time.

You might be wondering what the ratio of sourdough starter to flour is when you make bread.

The amount of starter you need to use will be listed in the recipe you are following. It varies from recipe to recipe, but the general rule of thumb is that you use about 1/5th of the amount of flour. So for every 500g of flour, that's about 100g of starter.

The more starter you use, the quicker the progress will be and the less sour your bread will be. If you use less starter, things will take much longer to happen, but you will get more complex flavours and more sourness.

I suggest following recipes as they are written to start with, until you get the hang of things, then you can experiment with amounts to get the balance of sourness and time that you need once you are more experienced.

I don't like my sourdough bread to be too sour, so I never use less than 100g of starter to 500g of flour. That's a perfect balance for me.

How Much Sourdough Starter To Keep

When you use your sourdough starter for baking, all you need to save are the scrapings that are left in the jar. You will feed the scrapings in the jar with more flour and water the night before you want to bake again, and in the meantime, the jar will stay in the fridge. There is no need to keep more starter than that.

You aren't just limited to bread when using sourdough starter. Here are some other ideas for using it:

A Sourdough Starter Insurance Policy

Just in case the very worst happens and your starter gets mouldy or dies or put in the dishwasher accidentally (yes, that happened to me once!), you could stash a little bit away as insurance. Keep a tiny bit in a pot or bag in the freezer and change it every 3 or 4 months for a fresh piece, or scrape some wet starter in a thin layer onto some parchment paper and allow it to dry out completely until hard and moisture-free. Then scrape it off and keep it in an airtight jar in the back of the pantry. It will keep just about forever like that.

Hopefully, you'll never need it, but if you do, it will be there ready and waiting to help you get up snd running again quickly.

What Equipment Should I Gather In Preparation For Making My 1st Loaf Of Bread?

While your starter comes to life over the next week or two, you might want to prepare for when you make your first sourdough bread recipe.

For that, you will need:

• a large mixing bowl for mixing the dough
• a Dutch oven or a baking/pizza stone, but a baking tray will do if that's all you have
• a metal roasting pan or baking tray with sides and some boiling water (if you aren't using a Dutch oven)
• rice flour, coarse cornmeal or polenta - This isn't for actually making the bread. It's to ensure your dough doesn't stick to anything. Regular flour does not work well because it just absorbs the moisture from the dough and then sticks. If you've got rice (white or brown) in your pantry, and you have a blender, you can make your own rice flour in 2 minutes. Just pour the rice into the blender and blend until a fine powder. Store in an airtight container.
• a banneton (proofing basket) or a mixing bowl lined with a clean dish towel
• a very sharp serrated knife or a razor blade (or a lame/grignette if you want to get all posh) for scoring the bread.
• a spray bottle filled with water

Amazon sell handy little sourdough starter kits that contain a banneton (proofing basket), a lame and a dough scraper. I bought myself one when I was starting out. The rest of the things you probably have at home anyway.

(This section has been added post-publication after getting lots of messages about why I recommend measuring in grams and not ounces or cups)

The amounts of flour and water that you use MUST be absolutely exact and the only way to make them exact is to weigh them. Ounces don't go small enough. Grams are the only accurate way to measure very small amounts.

We need to use really small amounts of flour in this recipe so that we don't have to discard anything. If we were using larger amounts that you could potentially measure in ounces it would all build up too quickly in the jar and then we'd have to discard which is something this recipe avoids so that we aren't wasting precious food. That's what makes this recipe different to every other one out there. With every other recipe I have seen, you litreally have to throw away half of your starter every single day. That is something I cannot get behind when it is completely unnecessary.

I absolutely do not recommend the use of cups to measure because they aren't accurate enough for measuring a recipe like this. The measurements need to be absolutely exact so that you end up with a 100% hydration starter (50% water 50% flour). If the amounts of water or flour are even slightly off then the hydration won't be correct and then you will run into all sorts of problems when you come to make a sourdough bread recipe with the starter because they all rely on you having a 100% hydration starter. If it's not you'll end up with your dough being either too dry or way too wet and you won't get a good result. 

Sourdough is a science. If it's going to work well you have to weigh. All digital kitchen scales measure in grams and you can pick one up for less than $15. Even the big grocery stores sell them (like Walmart etc). The amount you spend on a scale will be offset very quickly by the amount of flour that you don't have to buy and then throw away every day like you would have to do with any other recipe.

A scale is such a good investment because all of your baking recipes will turn out better if you weigh the ingredients. It might seem like a cup is a cup, but 1 cup of every single type/brand of flour weighs a different amount, and even the way you fill a cup changes how much flour ends up in it. Scooping flour results in about 25% more than spooning it in gently and levelling it with a knife. Because of that, you can never be absolutely accurate when using them and that's why I always bang on about using a scale in my baking recipes and why professional bakers don't use cups to measure. They all weigh because it's the only way to be accurate and consistent.

I have added cup/tablespoon/teaspoon measurements in this recipe (under duress ;O) for those people without a scale, but if you want a good result (in this and more importantly your future bread) then you must use a scale.

Sourdough bread is not easy to make at the best of times until you've got some experience behind you. If you don't have all of the measurements correct you'll just be making the whole process even more difficult for yourself and will likely end up failing.

And that's why I recommend measuring in grams!

When your starter is just a few weeks old, it isn't yet fully mature. Although it can bake bread, it won't have the power and strength of a mature starter. It will be quite weak and slow.

It's also important to realize that if you are new to the world of baking sourdough, your technique won't be perfect. That comes with time too.

Sourdough is as much an art as it is a science. For the first little while your bread might not be 100% perfect. Keep using your starter and practicing your technique, and you and your starter will get better and better.

Remember too that no two sourdough starters are the same and everyone's will behave differently. You will get used to your starter's unique characteristics once it's been in the family for a while.

Sourdough starter FAQ

Recipe

Sourdough Starter Recipe

Author: Melanie McDonald

4.77 from 69 votes

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PREP 35 minutes mins

COOK TIME 0 minutes mins

Fermentation time 7 days d

Total 7 days d 35 minutes mins

SERVINGS 1 jar (about 350 g or starter)

Learn how to make a sourdough starter the easy way. You will learn all about what a sourdough starter is, what you need to make one, how to make it without endless feedings and wasteful discard, and why the whole process doesn't have to be as difficult and time consuming as you think!

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

Ingredients

  

0.5x1x2x

• ▢ about 175 grams (1¾ cup) rye flour * (plus more as necessary) - please measure in grams if at all possible - see under heading "Why measure in grams and not ounces or cups?" in post above for more info.
• ▢ 175 grams (½ cup + 3 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) room temperature water , (plus more as necessary) (please measure in grams if at all possible).

RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT

• Digital Kitchen Scale
• 1 litre Weck Jar
• Slimline Spatula
• Sourdough Starter Kit (banneton, lame and dough scraper)

INSTRUCTIONS

 

• ▢
  Please start by reading my post above. It's long, but it includes lots of important and useful information that will help you succeed.
• ▢
  IMPORTANT - I do not recommend using cups/tablespoons to make this starter because they are not accurate enough.
• ▢
  ALSO IMPORTANT - At no point in this process should you discard any of the starter.
• ▢
  Day 1 - To a clean jar/container that's between 750 ml (25 oz) and 1 litre (34 oz) in size, add 25 grams (3 tablespoons + 2¾ teaspoons) of rye flour and 25 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) of room temperature water. Mix well so you can't see any dry flour, level it as best you can and cover with the jar lid. Screw it on loosely but don't fully tighten it up. Don't screw the lid on tightly. If you have an elastic band, put it over the jar so it is level with the top of the flour/water mixture. That way you can see easily if there is any increase in volume. Leave the jar in a sheltered spot for about 24 hours, ideally at a temperature of between 20°C (72°F) to 26 °C (80°F)  If your kitchen is very cool see my tips in the post above for how to keep your starter warm.
• ▢
  Day 2 - There probably won't be any changes yet but you might see a few bubbles and/or notice a milky smell. Open the jar of starter and add another 25 grams (3 tablespoons + 2¾ teaspoons) of rye flour and 25 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) water. Mix well so you can't see any dry flour, level it as best you can and cover loosely with a lid, adjust the elastic band so it's level with the top of the mixture and put the jar back in it's spot.
• ▢
  Day 3 - You might see and smell some changes now. Maybe a few bubbles and a fruity smell. Open the jar of starter and add another 25 grams (3 tablespoons + 2¾ teaspoons) of rye flour and 25 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) water. Mix well so you can't see any dry flour, level it as best you can and cover loosely with a lid, adjust the elastic band so it's level with the top of the mixture and put the jar back in it's spot.
• ▢
  Day 4 - You will likely see more bubbles today and it could be increasing in volume. Don't get excited and think it's ready to use yet though. Sometimes this happens, then the activity will stop again for a few days, so keep going for now. Open the jar of starter and add another 25 grams (3 tablespoons + 2¾ teaspoons) of rye flour and 25 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) water. Mix well so you can't see any dry flour, level it as best you can and cover loosely with a lid, adjust the elastic band so it's level with the top of the mixture and put the jar back in it's spot.
• ▢
  Days 5 to 7 - Keep feeding it 25 grams (3 tablespoons + 2¾ teaspoons) of rye flour and 25 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) on days 5, 6 and 7. It should be pretty active and smell pleasantly sour and fruity by now. If by day 7 it has been rising to twice its volume then falling again after each feeding for a few days in a row then it is ready to use for baking bread.

  If it hasn't been rising to twice its volume consistently after feeding, just keep feeding it 25 grams (3 tablespoons + 2¾ teaspoons) of rye flour and 25 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) daily until it does. Ensure the area it is kept is between 20°C (72°F) to 26 °C (80°F) and no less to give it a boost. See the recipe notes for what to do if your jar starts to become more than half way full after feeding.
• ▢
  Once your starter has been rising and falling consistently after feeding for a few days it is ready to bake with. Now you must name it and make it part of your family ;O)
• ▢
  You can use the starter to bake bread when it is at its peak (doubled in size) after feeding. Use what is in the jar for baking with and just leave behind a tiny bit of starter. A few teaspoons is sufficient, or what amounts to the scrapings in the jar. Pop the jar of scrapings in the fridge where it can stay until the day before you bake again. It does not need to be fed in between.

  The next time you want to bake, remove it from the fridge the evening before and feed it so it's ready and at its peak for you the next day.

NOTES

IMPORTANT - It really is best to use grams when making this starter. It is impossible to be accurate when using cups and tablespoons and teaspoons and ounces don't go small enough. But if you must use cups, spoon the flour into the cup/measuring spoon gently and level with a knife. Don't shake or compact it. 

WHEN YOU WANT TO BAKE BREAD AGAIN:

If a week or less has passed since you put the jar of starter in the fridge – the night before you want to bake, read your recipe and see how much starter it calls for.
If it says you need 100 g of starter, put 50g (½ cup) of rye flour and 50g (3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) of water into your starter jar and stir it up really well. 50 g + 50 g = 100 g which is what you need for the recipe.
If the recipe says you need 300g of starter, put 150g (1½ cup)of rye flour and 150g (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) of water in your jar. 150g + 150g = 300g.
Get it? Then cover the jar and leave it wherever you keep it, until the next morning when it should be at its peak and ready to bake with. Take out all of the starter to use in your recipe leaving the scrapings in the jar and pop it back into the fridge for next time, then follow these directions again next time you want to bake.

If 2 weeks have passed since you put the jar in the fridge – 2 nights before you want to bake, read your recipe and see how much starter it calls for.

You are going to feed the starter over 2 nights to get it excited again.
If your recipe says you need 100 g of starter, put 25g ( ¼ cup) of rye flour and 25g (1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons) of water into your starter jar and stir it up really well. Then the following night add another 25g of flour (¼ cup) and 25g (1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons) of water. That brings you up to 100g of starter. Leave it until the next morning and it should be nice and bubbly ready to bake with.
If the recipe says you need 300g of starter, put 75g (¾ cup) of rye flour and 75g (5 tablespoons) of water in your jar and stir it up, then the following night add another 75g (¾ cup)  of flour and 75g ( 5 tablespoons) of water, stir it up and leave it ’til morning when it should be ready to bake with.

If more than 2 weeks have passed since you put the jar in the fridge – Don’t worry. If it’s only a few days over 2 weeks follow my directions above and you should be fine. If it’s much longer then you might need to feed it over 3 or 4 nights to get it raring to go again.

The good news is that it’s pretty hard to kill it so no matter how long you’ve left it it should be salvageable (unless it’s moldy – see my FAQ below for more info on that).

*FLOUR

The flour you use must be rye flour and it must be fresh. Don't use a bag that's been sitting around in your pantry for 6 months or you'll be setting yourself up for trouble. The bacteria need nutrients to grow so you'll have a hard time getting it going and a strong chance of mold appearing at some point if you use old flour.  
I recommend using rye flour because it produces a hardier and more resilient starter that will be ready to use a lot quicker than other flours and that will be easier for a beginner to get going and maintain. It also copes really well with the unique maintenance regime of this recipe. Other flours will not. And don't worry, if you make a rye starter you aren't stuck with just having to make rye bread forever. It works fine for making any kind of sourdough bread with flour such as white or whole wheat. 

IMPORTANT NOTE

Make sure that your starter never fills more than half of the jar when you have just fed it because otherwise, it could overflow when it increases in volume. That's why I suggest using a large jar. If it does though, simply remove most of the starter from the jar, just leaving a little bit at the bottom (about a tablespoon is fine), or transfer a tablespoon of it to a new clean jar and start feeding it daily with 25 grams (3 tablespoons + 2¾ teaspoons) of rye flour and 25 grams (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) of water as before. The excess starter that you removed can be used in any sourdough discard recipe. I like to add it to the dough of regular yeasted loaves or pizza dough or I use it to make pancakes or waffles. You can also compost it. 

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NUTRITION

Serving: 350g | Calories: 611kcal | Carbohydrates: 132g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 12mg | Potassium: 655mg | Fiber: 21g | Sugar: 2g | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 4mg

Did you make this recipe?Rate it & leave feedback in the comments section below. I love seeing your remakes too. Tag @avirtualvegan on Instagram! 🌟

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