How to Make Sourdough Starter

With everyone being encouraged to stay at home in an effort to ‘flatten the curve’ and control the spread of coronavirus, more and more people are turning to baking to help pass the time. Surprisingly, there’s been a surge in the number of people making sourdough bread based on this article by Wired that dubbed this the “Stay at Home Bread Boom“. This makes sense because I feel as though most people don’t attempt to make sourdough bread due to how much time it takes to make one!

Last year, we put together a detailed Step by Step Guide on How to Make No-Knead Sourdough Bread.

However, we didn’t really get into the detail of how to make Sourdough Starter which was something we really struggled with. In this post, we’ll go into detail of how to make sourdough starter.

NOTE: If you’re planning on making Sourdough Bread and you don’t have a Sourdough Starter to begin with, we recommend starting 7 days in advance as this is the time it takes for your starter to get really strong before you can use it. You’ll need to feed it everyday (we’ll get into this). It’s like having a pet so now is the best time to start!

But first, what is Sourdough Starter?

Sourdough Starter (also known as Levain) is the natural, homemade version of Yeast that is typically used in breadmaking. Unlike yeast, Sourdough Starter lends a ‘sour’ taste to the dough that gives Sourdough its signature taste. The starter only consists of 2 ingredients: Flour and Water. Through the process of ‘fermentation’, we wait for the yeast and bacteria to do their thing! Over time, you’ll notice your starter ‘rise’ in its vessel and generate more air bubbles – this is a sign that your starter is ‘alive’ and ready to generate more air bubbles used to help bread rise!

Things you’ll need to make Sourdough Starter:

A large clear vessel/jar with a loose fitting lid (Mason Jar works best). This allows you to monitor the rise of your starter. I used a 32oz Mason Jar
Digital Food Scale
Unbleached All Purpose Flour
Rye Flour
Water

Day 1:

In your large mason jar, add the following:

100g rye flour
150g warm water (~90F)

Mix to combine using a small rubber spatula or wooden spoon ensuring all flour is well incorporated. Then, place a loose fitting lid (i.e. just the mason jar lid without screwing the lid closed) on top of the jar and place it somewhere warm to allow it to ferment overnight. The starter is going to produce a lot of gas while rising so you do not want to leave the lid tightly on or it may pop. You also want to make sure our jar has enough space on top of the starter to allow for it to rise (at least double in size).

We like to keep it in the oven with the light bulb turned on. This tends to be the ideal proofing temperature for us 🙂

Day 2:

Your starter should’ve risen a little bit. When you take off the lid, you should see tons of air bubbles formed and it will produce a pungent acidic smell. Remove 70g of starter from the jar and dump out the rest of the starter (you won’t need it anymore). Clean out the jar with some water and dry it out. Then, add the following:

70g of starter that you previously weighed out
50g rye flour
50g unbleached all purpose flour
115g warm water (~90F)

Stir everything together in the jar and cover lightly with the mason jar lid. Let proof again overnight somewhere warm. You will be repeating this process of removing some of the mature starter for the next feeding over the next several days.

Day 3:

Repeat ‘Day 2’ above.

Day 4:

70g starter
50 rye flour
50g unbleached all purpose flour
100g warm water (~90F)

Day 5:

Repeat ‘Day 4′ above’

Day 6:

50g starter
50 rye flour
50 unbleached all purpose flour
100 warm water (90F)

Day 7/Maintenance Feed:

50g starter
50g rye flour
50g unbleached all purpose flour
100g warm water (90F)

After this feeding, your starter will be ready to use for Sourdough Bread! However, this doesn’t mean you should stop feeding your starter like you have for the past 6 days! Starter still needs to eat if you intend to keep making sourdough bread., you will need to keep up with the same feeding schedule and repeat Day 7 moving forward as part of your maintenance.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: I don’t have rye flour. Can I just use all purpose flour?

A: We recommend using Rye flour because it contains more nutrients than regular all-purpose flour. This really helps kick start the fermentation process. If you don’t have access to Rye flour, you can also use whole wheat flour.

Q: Do I need to feed my starter everyday?

A: If you plan on making sourdough bread regularly then yes you do. This is important to keep your starter alive and healthy. If you don’t plan on making sourdough much, you can keep your starter in the fridge and just feed it once a week.

Q: How do I revive my sourdough out of the fridge?

A: Just take it out of the fridge and give it a stir and take out the necessary amount of starter that you need for your feeding per your original feeding schedule (see our post above for our maintenance feeding scheudle).