How to make a sourdough starter
Making your very own sourdough starter isn't hard. What you need is water, unbleached whole grain flour and patience. That's all! At the end of the process, you will have your very own active sourdough starter to make anything your heart desires, from cakes to pancakes, crackers and rustic sourdough bread, bagels, focaccia and much more.
Ingredients
- 300 g whole wheat flour
- 300 g of water at room temperature (filtered water is best)
Instructions
- Day 1: in a clean glass jar, place 50g of water with 50g of whole wheat flour and mix well. Partially close the lid or cover it with a towel and leave it on your kitchen bench.
- Day 2: do not do anything today; just let it do its magic!
- Day 3: using your scales, weigh out 50g from the starter to another clean glass jar and feed this with 50g of water and 50g of whole wheat flour. Mix well and leave it on your kitchen bench.The rest of the sourdough starter left in the original jar, called discard, can be thrown away or left in the jar and stored in the fridge.I don't like throwing away the discard; instead, I collect it in a glass jar stored in the refrigerator and use it for baking crackers, waffles, etc. There are plenty of recipes online using sourdough discard.
- Day 4, 5, 6, 7: using your scales, weigh out 50g from the starter to another clean glass jar and feed this with 50g of water and 50g of whole wheat flour. Mix well and leave it on your kitchen bench. What's left in the jar can be added to the discard jar and kept in the fridge.
- Day 8: you will have seen lots of activity in your sourdough culture by now. Your sourdough starter is ready if it doubles in size within 1-4 hours from the time you feed it. It should be airy and bubbly and have a pleasant sour smell.Sometimes a sourdough starter can take up to two weeks to fully develop, so give it some time. If you don't see much activity after 8 days, continue feeding it for couple more days.You can also feed your starter twice a day, morning and night, using the same flour ratio to water.Every culture is unique and reacts differently depending on the environment it is prepared in and the flour used. So do not be disappointed if your starter takes longer than normal to make.
- Bake your first sourdough bread when your sourdough starter is ready to go!
Notes
1. Remember to use the sourdough started when it's fully active and bubbly. Only then you will achieve the best results in your baking. This is an important point to remember. A good way to check if your sourdough starter is ready to use is to place a rubber band around the jar to the level it is at the time of feeding. This way, it will be easier to see the starter's growth and know if your starter is active enough and has multiplied after a few hours. Another way to test if your starter is ready is to do the float test. Once you see that your starter has doubled in size, drop a small dollop of starter into a glass of water, and if it floats to the top, it means it is ready to use. 2. When you finish developing your starter, you have two options. You can store it in the fridge, feed it once a week, or if you bake regularly, leave it on your kitchen bench and feed it daily.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!