This post, How to Make Sourdough Starter, is part of a complete guide to sourdough bread for beginners. I recommend reading the entire guide in order to get a broader and more complete understanding of real bread: what it is, and how to make it at home.
Now is the time to do it, step by step.
You’ll find all sorts of “tricks” online to make your sourdough starter grow faster if you’re starting from scratch. Some people use water kefir, others use the water from boiled potatoes. Those methods probably work well.
However, I recommend taking the simplest route. So, to start your sourdough starter, you only need water and flour. And about a week. If you live in a colder climate, it may take up to 1.5 to 2 weeks for it to become active enough to use for making your homemade bread.
Two more VERY IMPORTANT things before we begin…
1) You need a good set of scales if you’re going to get into baking. Perhaps our ancestors didn’t need scales. But we do now. Or at least we did during our first years experimenting with homemade sourdough bread. I’m very fond of my scale now. It helps me make really good loaves.
When we measure correctly, we are more likely to get a delicious loaf of bread.
2) You’ll see that in the process of feeding your sourdough starter, I instruct you to discard half (of the VOLUME) of it before feeding it again. Why “discard” half? This helps balance the acidity levels in the starter. It also prevents the starter from rising too much.
And just so you know, we’re not throwing anything away. In this post of the guide, you can learn how to use this “discarded” half of the sourdough starter.
To make a 100% hydration sourdough starter* YOU NEED:
*100 hydration means that you use equal parts of flour and water, in this case 60 grams of each.
- Wheat flour (preferably organic). Ideally, you should use wholemeal flour (rye flour, for example) on the first day and then white flour (or all-purpose or bread flour) because if you feed your sourdough starter with wholemeal flour every day, you’ll probably have to feed it twice a day instead of once, since wholemeal flour has many nutrients and it will grow too quickly.
- Chlorine-free water (we are making a probiotic dough and chlorine is an antibiotic)
- A one-liter glass jar (more or less), preferably with a wide mouth for easier mixing
- A thin piece of fabric and an elastic band
- Optional but HIGHLY recommended: a funnel with a wide mouth . It helps all the flour get into the jar.
Here’s the jar I use, tall so the sourdough starter can rise.
Instead of a cloth, I usually use a coffee filter. You could also use cheesecloth.
The funnel will make your life MUCH easier.
DAY ONE:
Mix 60 grams of whole wheat flour with 60 grams of water in a glass jar. Cover it with the cloth, secured with a rubber band.
Today is the only day you might need to use a little more water. Wholemeal flours, especially rye flour, absorb more water. If you find the consistency is too thick or there isn’t enough water to mix all the flour, you can add about 5 or 10 grams more water to the jar. This won’t happen on the other days when you use all-purpose flour (white flour) to feed it.
This is what the sourdough starter looks like at the end of the first day. It hasn’t “activated” yet.
DAY TWO:
Check your sourdough starter. See if there are bubbles, if it has risen a little, etc. If you don’t see any changes, don’t worry. The microbes are there working even if you can’t see them.
This is what it looks like at the beginning of day two. Today you don’t need to add any water or flour.
This is what it looks like almost 12 hours later, at the end of day two. Do you see the bubbles? It’s already activating. The yeast is waking up.
DAY THREE:
Today is feeding day for the sourdough starter. Discard half of the starter (that is, look in the jar and scoop out half of what you see inside)*. Feed the remaining half in the jar with
60 grams of white flour** and 60 grams of water.
*Actually, we’re not throwing anything away. We can use this “extra” half in thousands of other recipes that aren’t bread.
If you were to use whole wheat flour to feed your sourdough starter every day, it would be very expensive because you would likely have to feed it twice a day (since whole wheat flour contains more nutrients and activates the starter more quickly). The best and most economical approach is to keep your starter active with white flour and then use whole wheat flour in your bread recipes. On the first day, as we’ve already mentioned, we use whole wheat flour to give the starter a boost.
This is what the sourdough starter looks like after discarding half of it (which wasn’t much, today is only day three) and feeding it again with flour and water.
This is what the sourdough starter looks like at the end of day three. Can you see that it has bubbles and has grown?
DAY FOUR:
Another day of feeding the sourdough starter. Discard half of the starter. And feed the remaining half in the jar with
60 grams of flour and 60 grams of water.
This is what the sourdough starter looks like on day four, after half of it was discarded and then it was fed again. A rubber band is in place so you can easily measure how much it will grow over the next 24 hours.
NOTE: It was a very cold night. In the end, I didn’t take another picture of the sourdough starter because it had barely risen and there were no bubbles.
DAY FIVE:
Another day of feeding the sourdough starter. Discard half of the starter. And feed the remaining half in the jar with
60 grams of flour and 60 grams of water.
I couldn’t feed my sourdough starter until four in the afternoon. This is what it looks like after removing half of it and feeding it again with flour and water.
Less than five hours later, look how much it has grown and the bubbles it has.
DAY SIX: (It’s ready!)
Today was another day of feeding the sourdough starter. At the end of the day, it turned out to be ready. Remember that it can take your sourdough starter longer (up to two weeks) to activate, especially if you live in a cold climate.
First, as always, discard half of the dough. And feed the remaining half in the jar with
60 grams of flour and 60 grams of water.
I couldn’t feed her until the afternoon. At 3:00 I threw out half of it and gave her flour and water. Just two hours later…
It had doubled in size and was full of bubbles. It’s ready to use on bread.
How do you know when it’s ready to use?
- There are many bubbles throughout the mass and on its surface.
- It has doubled in size. You can use an eraser to mark the dough’s growth on your jar.
- It has a spongy texture.
- Its aroma is pleasant.
How to care for your sourdough starter?
- If you’re going to bake bread every day, you could leave it on your kitchen counter, feed it EVERY DAY (with the 60/60 ratio) , and use it every day to make your bread. It’s ALWAYS GOOD TO USE THE SOURDOUGH STARTER WHEN IT’S ROSE AND FULL OF BUBBLES, that is, when it’s most active.
- However, most of us aren’t going to bake bread every day. So it would be better to store it in the refrigerator. Remember that fermentation continues inside the refrigerator, although it’s much slower. Therefore, you still need to feed the sourdough starter, but only at least once a week , instead of every day.
General advice
- If you live in a cold climate, wrap your jar well in towels and be patient. It may take more than six or seven days for it to become active and bubbly enough.
- If you notice your sourdough starter slowing down at any point, use rye flour (or any other wholemeal flour) to give it more life and nutrients. It will become very active again very quickly.
- Another tip if your sourdough starter is taking a long time to become active: use warm water when feeding it. Yeast likes warmth and will become more active that way.
A good routine if you’re going to bake bread once a week (on Sundays)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday = leave the jar inside the refrigerator
Thursday night = Take it out of the refrigerator. “Throw away” half of it and feed it again, leaving it on the counter.
Friday night = Same thing. We want the sourdough starter to become very active again. So you should discard half of it and feed it with flour and water.
Saturday night = Half (more or less) of your now very active sourdough starter will be used in the bread recipe. When using the portion you need for the bread, be sure to always feed it again with fresh flour and water. Store the jar with the starter in the refrigerator until next Thursday night.