Learn how to make and maintain a sourdough starter from scratch so that you can make homemade bread products anytime you desire! A sourdough starter is simply flour and water mixed together that has been fermented so that is contains live and active bacteria and yeast cultures. These active cultures are very gut-beneficial and taste amazing!
Let me begin by saying that I am a bread fanatic! I love any restaurant that serves bread with or before the meal! However, I always felt sluggish and weighed down after eating the bread. Now that I know more about grains, I now know the reason behind that feeling.
In our home, we now have a sourdough food items at least once per week, usually two or three. Sourdough is now a favorite way of eating bread in our home. The time to prepare the item has now become enjoyable rather than time consuming.
I will admit, when I first researched making my own sourdough starter, I immediately felt intimidated over the process. It seemed like so many steps to perfectly follow that could quickly turn into failure. I could not have been more wrong!
Literally, beginning a sourdough starter requires a mixture of flour and water left to ferment out on the counter for about 7 days! That is all! I only wish I had found my sourdough love sooner!
What is a sourdough starter?
As previously mentioned, a sourdough starter is simply a ratio of flour and water mixed together in a bowl, covered, and left alone to ferment on the counter for 12-24 hours. Over time, the starter will become more concentrated and even stronger as it pulls in the wild yeast from your home.
An active sourdough starter is thriving with life, as evidenced by the bubbles that rise to the top of your starter.
Why make and maintain a sourdough starter?
In the late 1800s and prior, a sourdough starter was passed down from generation to generation for years upon years! It was definitely a family heirloom to cherish. Before the invention of yeast packets, a sourdough starter was the only way to bake a bread product that would rise.
With the creation of the yeast packets, the active yeast was isolated from the starter. When the yeast rose to the top of the fermented sourdough starter, it was removed and then dehydrated and commercially sold worldwide by the mid 1900s. It is now the most common form of yeast used today. Source
There is nothing wrong with baking with yeast packets, except you are missing out on all of the health benefits from an the active bacteria found in a sourdough starter. The starter pre-digests and strips away the phytic acid found on grains so that our bodies have a much easier time digesting grains.
That phytic acid that my body was having to digest on all that bread I used to enjoy, is what made me have that sluggish, weighed down feeling I mentioned earlier.
Baking grains with a sourdough starter is so beneficial to your health and so much tastier as well!
Once you go sourdough, store-bought bread items just won’t cut it anymore!
The process to make a sourdough starter From scratch
So I hope I have proven to you how beneficial it is to ferment your grains by keeping a starter alive in your own home, but how do you even make this concoction???
Ingredients
Flour ( There are some great options: unbleached All-Purpose, whole wheat, any King Arthur flour, Einkorn)
Filtered Water – any temperature (we love our Berkey Water filter)
tools needed to make a sourdough starter
Glass bowl (metal or plastic can react with the live cultures of yeast and bacteria)
Wooden spoon
Tea Towel
A little bit of patience 🙂
Process
Day 1: Add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water to a glass bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your countertop for approx 24 hours.
Day 2: Discard half of the starter mixture. Add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your countertop for approx 24 hours.
You may be wondering why half of the starter must be discarded. This is so that eventually you won’t be feeding 20-30 cups of flour and water to your starter. This bigger your starter is, the more it eats. So discarding half keeps it at a reasonable amount to feed daily.
You are only discarding daily for the first week. But if the discarding part really bothers you, it can be saved in the fridge to make pancakes, tortillas, or even my Sourdough Blackberry cobbler!
Day 3: Discard half of the starter and again add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your countertop for approx 24 hours.
Day 4: Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter. This is the day you may begin to see bubbles in your starter meaning it is now alive and active. It will be hungrier, therefore on this day you will begin feeding it twice a day. So for example, discard half and feed it in the morning and then about 12 hours later, that evening, repeat.
Day 5: Same as Day 4. Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter for about 12 hours. Repeat this process again in the evening.
Day 6: Same as Day 5. Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter for about 12 hours. Repeat this process again in the evening.
Day 7: Same as Day 6. Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter for about 12 hours. Repeat this process again in the evening.
By Day 7, or around then, your starter should have enough beneficial bacteria and yeast present to rise bread. You will know its ready if you see bubbles and it doubles in size when you make a recipe that requires a rise.
If your starter isn’t at this point by day 7, don’t worry, mine wasn’t! I went on a 3-day weekend vacation and had to place my starter in the fridge on day 6 before it was ready. When I returned home, I just picked up the process twice a day discarding and feeding my starter.
The temperature in your home, your water quality, and flour quality are all factors that contribute to how quickly your starter will become active. It could take anywhere from 6-14 days for your starter to be ready!
Just don’t get discouraged!
How to maintain an active sourdough starter
IN the fridge
Now that you have a live and active sourdough starter, make sure to maintain it and keep it alive for years and years!
If you store it in the fridge and only pull it out when you need it, it will need to be fed every 1-2 weeks or each time you are using it. The cold temp in the fridge will slow the feeding way down. It can go a long time in the fridge without food.
I feed my starter approximately 1 cup flour and 1 cup filtered water each time. I don’t even really measure anymore! Sourdough starters are very forgiving!
on the counter
Since the sourdough starter contains live bacteria and yeast, they require feeding. At room temperature they will eat much more often than when kept in the fridge.
If you plan to keep your sourdough starter out on your counter, you will need to feed it every day. You will also need to be baking with it daily to use up that much starter.
Unless you plan to bake bread products daily, or own a bakery, store your starter in the fridge between uses!
Ways I use my Sourdough starter weekly
I usually use my starter 2-3 times per week. So for example, if I plan to make bread on Sunday, I will pull out my starter on Saturday morning and feed it. By Saturday night the starter will be ready to rise my bread overnight so that I can bake bread on Sunday.
If I plan to make pancakes on Saturday morning, I will take my starter out of the fridge on Friday morning to feed it, then by Saturday morning it is bubbly and ready to make pancakes!
Some recipes don’t require a feeding before you use your starter. These are called sourdough discard recipes and require less planning ahead of time! My sourdough blackberry cobbler is one of these recipes I have previously shared!
is my starter ruined?
If you are new to sourdough and take your starter out of the fridge, there may come a time you think your starter has ruined. You might see brownish liquid on top of the starter called hooch. This is simply an indication that your starter is hungry and needs to be fed. Source
Once you stir the starter, discard half, and feed it equal parts flour and water, it will bounce right back and will be ready to bake with!
Don’t be intimidated and put off making a sourdough starter like I did! I challenge you to go for it today! Ask me any questions you may have in the comments below and I will do my best to help you out!
Try some of our favorite sourdough recipes from our homestead
More coming soon!
Print the steps to make a sourdough starter
How to Make and Maintain a Sourdough Starter from Scratch
Equipment
- glass bowl
- wooden spoon
- tea towel
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4-1 cup filtered water
Instructions
- Day 1: Add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water to a glass bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your countertop for approx 24 hours.
- Day 2: Discard half of the starter mixture. Add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your countertop for approx 24 hours.
- Day 3: Discard half of the starter and again add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your countertop for approx 24 hours.
- Day 4: Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter. This is the day you will begin begin feeding it twice a day, or approx every 12 hours.
- Day 5: Same as Day 4. Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter for about 12 hours. Repeat this process again in the evening, or 12 hours later.
- Day 6: Same as Day 5. Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter for about 12 hours. Repeat this process again in the evening, or 12 hours later.
- Day 7: Same as Day 6. Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup of flour and ¾-1 cup of filtered water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover with towel and allow to ferment on counter for about 12 hours. Repeat this process again in the evening, or 12 hours later.
- Refrigerator storage: It will need to be fed every 1-2 weeks or each time you are using it. The cold temp in the fridge will slow the feeding way down. It can go a long time in the fridge without food.
- Countertop storage:You will need to feed it every day. You will also need to be baking with it daily to use up that much starter.
Notes
watch the tutorial
pin for later
