How To Make Sourdough Starter (2024)

Julie Clark

Posted: 2/7/2024

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For the past two years I’ve been tackling two types of sourdough. One is sweet, theAmish sourdough starter recipeneeded for thisFriendship Bread. The other is a classic sourdough that bakes up beautiful loaves ofsourdough bread,sourdough biscuits, waffles,sourdough pancakesand even achocolate cake with sourdough.

Does sourdough really take a week?

Plan a week to get this sourdough active enough to rise a loaf of bread.Yes…a week seems like a long time, but it’s easy because it takes about 5 minutes a day. There aresourdough starter recipes with yeastif you want a “lazy” sourdough.

Sourdough starter without yeast is 100% worth it. When you make your own sourdough starter, it’s so rewarding!

Two Tools Needed

There are two tools needed for the best results:

• kitchen scale– Although you can measure by volume, for the best consistent results, investing in a kitchen scale. It’s worth it and will give a consistent hydration level.
• sourdough jar– Glass jars hold sourdough beautifully. I love that they are glass so you can see the fermentation. They give lots of room for the starter to double. And they seal nicely when you need a break from baking bread.

Did you know?

Don’t store your sourdough starter in a metal container. Not all metal is created equally and acids react to metals. Use glass for the safest results.

Two Key Ingredients

It’s important to use unbleached flour and non-chlorinated water for sourdough starter.

• Non-Chlorinated Water. Use filtered water since chlorine in tap water can kill the yeast as it tries to grow. Keep bottled water on hand.
• Unbleached Flour. Bleached flour does not have as much natural yeast as unbleached flour does. I’ve had the most success with Meijer store brand unbleached flour. Please note that the first day you’ll need unbleached whole wheat flour, but the rest of the days use unbleached white flour. King Arthur unbleached flour is another good option.

DAY 1:

• Start with aclean glass jar,such as a pint size mason jar or weck jar. It should able to hold about 2 cups so that it can handle the rise of the starter.
• Place the jar on the kitchen scale. Turn the scale on andmake sure it is reading 0 grams. If it isn’t, press the “tare” button to get the display to read zero.
• Add60 grams of unbleached whole wheat flour and 60 grams of warm, non-chlorinated water. The mixture will be very, very think. It won’t be impressive at all to start. But just wait. 🙂

• Cover the jar loosely with plastic wrap and let it sit on the kitchen counter at room temperature, or in a slightly warm place, rather than cool.

DAY 2:

• Check the starter. You’re looking for bubbles to form. If you don’t see any, it is ok because they come and go fairly quickly.
• Don’t mix it. Just check it, then let it sit again for another 24 hours.

Day 3.

• This is the first day you’ll feed the starter.Feed it no matter what it looks like. At this point the starter is going to be “stretchy”.

• Pull out half of the starter and throw it away. Use your kitchen scale to againadd 60 grams of all purpose, white, unbleached flour(remember…you only use whole wheat that first day) and60 grams of warm water to the remaining starter. Always use equal parts flour and water.
• Mix it all together. It will still be really thick. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

Day 4, 5, and 6.

• Discard half of the starter and feed as you did in Day 3.You’ll do the same thing each day no matter what the starter looks like.Discard half, and feed with equal amounts of flour and warm water.
• As these three days pass you’ll notice a natural rise and fall to the starter.This isan important process to observebecause it will help you learn you when the starter is ready to bake with and when it is hungry. You can use a rubber band (or a piece of tape) on the jar to mark where the starter is when you feed it, then how it doubles as the starter grows.

Day 7.

• Your new starter should have lots of bubbles and you are almost ready to bake!A healthy starter should looklight and airyand have asweet and tangy aroma. It should not be a sharp or harsh smell.
• When your starter looks like this, it means it is ready to start baking the baking process!

• If your starter does not look like this, you might want to continue the feeding process for a few more days before using it. This can happen often in cooler temperatures.

When is starter ready to bake with?

Starter is ready when it is bubbly and in the “doubled” stage. This is called an “active sourdough starter”. If you are wanting to bake bread and the starter is “deflated”, feed the starter, wait a couple of hours and it should be doubled and ready to bake with.

TRY THE FLOAT TEST

Drop a little bit of starter into a glass jar. If the starter floats, it is ready to bake with. See the picture below.

And for fun…name your starter!

Once you have your homemade sourdough starter it’s time to name it! We named ours Clint. You know…for “Clint Yeastwood”. 🙂 Have fun with it!

​Feeding Schedule

• If you are storing your starter at room temperature, you’ll need to feed it daily.Depending on how much you keep, you can discard about half the starter (use it insourdough pancakes) and feed it equal amounts of the unbleached all-purpose flour and non-chlorinated water.
• If you don’t use your sourdough often, seal it and store it in the refrigerator. Feed it weeklywith equal amounts of flour and water. There will be a cloudy liquid on top of the starter. That is called “hooch” and it means your starter is hungry. Stir that liquid in, then feed. Do this weekly. I like to set a reminder on my phone to go off once a week. That way I always have starter on hand.
• Once your sourdough is refrigerated, be sure to remove it from the fridge 12-24 hours before you are ready to bake.Mix it, feed it, then watch for it to bubble. If it doesn’t bubble, discard half of the starter and feed again with equal amounts of water and flour.

You’ll learn the timing of your own starter and know how long it takes to get it bubbly and active after a few times.

What should I make with my new starter?

First, make a beautiful loaf ofartisan sourdough bread! There’s just nothing like it. Then you can trysourdough cinnamon rolls. Because you know we’re all about thehomemade cinnamon rolls. 😍

How much starter should I keep?

Replenish your starter after you’ve used some up by adding 25 to 50 grams of flour and an equal weight of water to keepat least¼ cup of starter.

If you have an active starter, it’s so easy to quickly grow more sourdough if you’re needing a large amount. There is no need to keep huge amount of it in your refrigerator.

And that’s about it! Please share your hints for making sourdough. What have you had success with? I know many of you are pros and can help me along my sourdough journey!

Books to Help You Learn

• Artisan Sourdough Made Simple. This cookbook was a lifesaver for us!
• Starter Sourdough. The step by step guide