How To Make Sourdough Starter For Delicious Sourdough Bread

WHAT IS SOURDOUGH STARTER?

Sourdough starter is a fermented, bubbly, wild yeast mix of flour and water. It was once the only way to leaven breads. That was before the creation of commercially produced yeasts in the late 19th Century. Available today at the grocery are Fresh, Active Dry, and Instant Dry Yeast and chemical reaction leaveners Baking Soda and Baking Powder. Need more in-depth instructions to grow your sourdough starter? Try my e-book, The Sourdough Tutor that walks you through day-by-day exactly what to do to create a living, usable Sourdough Starter.

In ancient times, unleavened breads made flat, thin breads. This method is reflected in the modern flat breads commonly found today, like tortillas, naan, roti, etc.

Sourdough Starter was the first method used to create leavened breads, the lofty and acidic breads that we know and love today. This method was likely discovered by accident when someone mixed water and flour and set it aside and upon returning discovered that wonderful acidic aroma now known as Sourdough Starter.

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT:

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GLASS JARS

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Two glass jars with hinge top lids. Two is helpful so you always have a clean one on hand for when you want to transfer sourdough starter to a clean jar.

DIGITAL KITCHEN SCALE

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A digital kitchen scale is essential for weighing ingredients precisely, the #1 secret to maintaining a healthy and successful starter.

FLOUR CONTAINER

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The 21-cup Lock & Lock storage container is an ideal pantry solution for 5 lb of flour (2.27 Kg). I own multiple of these to store varying kinds of flour and pantry items. The flip top lid makes measuring flour so easy.

How Does Sourdough Starter Work?

Sourdough Starter works by harvesting the yeast spores from the air and flour and turning them into a form that can be used to bake bread. Yeast spores are all around us and also reside naturally in the flour used to create the starter. Yeast is a microscopic plant that feeds off sugars in flour creating enzymes. The enzymes turn sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol. This process gives starter its characteristic air bubbles and acidic/alcoholic smell. Sourdough starter incorporated into a sourdough bread recipe in the right proportion to flour, is leavened by the resulting CO2, creating the lofty structure found in the crumb of real sourdough breads.

How long does it take to cultivate a Sourdough Starter?

Great question! To cultivate a healthy, mature sourdough starter it takes about 2-3 weeks. The starter will then consistently bake great bread. To see the beginnings of activity in your starter, the answer is: it depends. The best advice I can offer is be patient. Every region in the world is different. The environment contains different types and quantities of yeast spores. It is these yeast spores that cultivate your bread starter.

In Colorado, where I cultivated my starter, it took nearly seven days to get it to the point where it doubled overnight (it still took a couple more weeks to get it to maturity). In Poland, at my in-laws house, it literally doubled overnight! As you can see in the photo, my in-laws house is surrounded by hearty fields of wheat and other crops. Their region is teaming with millions of these lovely microscopic yeast plants! Even if that is your experience, continue to refresh it for two weeks until it produces a mature starter. Ultimately, be patient, it will happen.

What do you Mean by a Mature Starter?

A mature starter doubles within 6-8 hours after being fed/refreshed and has a pleasant acidic smell. An immature starter contains bad bacteria that is detrimental to baking a successful loaf of bread. If you try to bake with an immature starter it will produce a flat or dense loaf of bread. A happy starter produces a light bread crumb.

RECOMMENDED INGREDIENTS:

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RYE FLOUR

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I recommend using organic rye flour to cultivate a starter. Click on the photo above to order 5 lb of flour so you will have enough to cultivate and feed your mature starter.

DISTILLED WATER

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If your local water source has a large amount of chlorine consider purchasing distilled water to prevent killing off the yeast bacteria. Once the starter is strong and healthy you can switch back to using tap water.

How Do I Maintain My Starter?

Maintain a starter with routine feedings. “Feeding” means to refresh your starter by adding fresh water and flour to some of the existing starter. I maintain 300 grams of starter. That’s because I like to make two loaves of sourdough bread at a time and I need 200 grams of sourdough to do that according to my easy sourdough bread recipe.

Feeding a Starter

To feed my starter, I remove 200 grams of mature starter and set aside (leaving 100 grams in the jar). To that, I add 100 grams of room temperature tap water and 100 grams of fresh rye flour. Mix it and set aside at room temperature until it doubles (within 6-8 hours). If my starter is lagging (doesn’t double in 6-8 hours), I feed it a second time. The most important test is it must at least double within the 6-8 hours and smell pleasant to your nose (not awful or burning). Once the starter has doubled and has a pleasant smell, it is ready to mix into a final dough to bake bread.

Why Should I Make Sourdough?

It’s healthy. Sourdough Starter is all natural and consists only of natural yeasts found in the air, on the wheat, and bacteria created during fermentation. The bacteria belongs to a group called lactobacilli. It is the friendly bacteria that promotes digestive health. It is commonly found in yogurt and buttermilk.

It’s fun. You must try and make it! It’s an incredible science experiment and you will learn so much while making it. Just follow my how-to instructions below for making your very own best sourdough starter. Happy wild yeast growing!

It’s satisfying. Getting a starter to grow is as satisfying to the Bread Baker as getting a garden to be happy and healthy is to a gardener. No doubt, it is the ultimate in bread baking success to grow a starter and bake a perfect sourdough loaf of bread.

Sharing is Caring

After you have succeeded in making sourdough starter for delicious sourdough bread, you can try this easy sourdough bread recipe with detailed how-to instructions. Bake two and give one as a gift to a friend. Bake One Share One – Great Bread for All! Oh, and share sourdough starter discard with a friend so they too can bake Great Bread. Happy baking, Bread Bakers!

Best Sourdough Starter

Christina

This provides you with the basic instructions for cultivating a sourdough starter using rye flour. Every environment is different so this is a guide to get you started. If you do not have measuring tools, no matter, at the end of the day, a Sourdough Starter is just a pasty mixture of flour and water. Trial and error will get you there in the end.

5 from 5 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

5 days d

Total Time 5 days d 15 minutes mins

Equipment

• Glass Jar with lid (60 fl. oz. or 2 L size – like a large pickle jar)
• Stainless Steel Spoon (large, long handled, like a soup spoon)
• Digital Scale for metric measurement

Ingredients

  

• Dark Rye Flour
• Room Temperature Water

Instructions

 

Part I: Day One through Three

• Clean the glass jar and lid thoroughly by running it through the dishwasher or hand-washing well.
• Fill jar with 120 grams of warm (room temp) water.
• Mix in 60 grams of medium or dark rye flour.

  Hint: Do not use light rye flour as it does not work well because the yeast spores that assist the Sourdough Starter in establishing are resident on the outside of the rye kernel. Light rye is made from the inside of the rye kernel, which has less yeast.
• Screw the lid loosely on the jar.
• Set the jar aside in a warm place for 24-48 hours.

  Hint: The yeast and bacteria needed to cultivate a starter need a warm, moist environment to grow.
• Wait for 24-48 hours. Check after 24 hours, move on to the next step if you see small bubbles of carbon dioxide forming. If there are no bubbles, do not worry, set the starter aside for another 24 hours. Check again at 48 hours. Take the lid off the jar and take a sniff. The starter should smell slightly acidic due to the beginning of fermentation.
• If you don't yet see any tiny bubbles, remove 120 grams of discard (throw away), and feed with 60g of warm water and 60g of rye flour. Set aside for 24 hours. You may see tiny bubbles forming.

Part II: Approximately Day Three through Five

• When you see bubbles form and the starter tastes and smells slightly acidic, discard 120g of starter again, and mix in 60 grams of warm water (95-105 F degrees) and 60 grams of rye flour.
• Screw the lid loosely on the jar.
• Set jar aside in a warm place for 24 hours.
• Wait for 24 hours. You should see bubbles of carbon dioxide forming and the starter may grow to nearly double its size. If starter has not yet grown, do not worry, discard 120g of starter and feed with 60g of water and 60 g of rye flour. When you see the bubbles form and starter has grown (possibly doubling its size), take the lid off the jar and sniff. The starter should smell strongly acidic due to fermentation.

  Hint: If mold develops on top of your starter, scrape it off, take some of the starter from below, place it in a clean jar and continue to feed/discard/feed every 24 hours.
• Continue to remove about 120g of the starter from the jar, leaving 60g of the starter in the jar.

  Hint: The sourdough discard is a wonderful flavorful ingredient in its own right. It can be used in a variety of recipes, muffins, quick breads, pancakes, etc.
• Feed with 60 grams of warm water and 60 grams of rye flour.
• Screw the lid loosely on the jar.
• Set jar aside in a warm place for 12-24 hours.
• At this point your starter will likely grow to at least double and might even fill the jar overnight. It will take another 10-14 days to mature (produce all the good bacteria). Continue to feed and refresh your starter every day using a 1:1:1 method (for instance 60g starter + 60 g of water + 60 g of fresh flour). After 2 weeks, you can try to bake some bread. However, it may take 3 weeks of feeding to bring your starter to full maturity, which consistently bakes excellent bread.

  Hint: If you would like a white flour or whole wheat starter, simply take 1 Tablespoon of your rye starter and use it to cultivate 1/4 cup of different flour w/ 1/2 cup of water into a new starter. I predominately use rye starter because I enjoy the earthy, rustic flavor the rye lends to sourdough bread.
• Congratulations! Now, your Sourdough Starter is ready for baking Great Bread for All!

Notes

Troubleshooting:

1. Weak Growth.  If your starter does not double but shows some signs of life, throw nearly all of it away and start again at Step II above by stirring in 120 grams of water/60 grams of rye.  Leave for 24-48 hours to see if it grows.
2. Bad Flour. Try changing the flour you used, you may have gotten a bad batch of flour.
3. Water.  Try using unchlorinated water, either run your tap water through a filter or buy a bottle of spring water.  Tap water should be fine to maintain a mature starter after it is cultivated but excessive amounts of chlorine may kill off the good bacteria.
4. Patience.  Give it more time. Like I said, cultivating a starter is environmentally dependent.  It can take up to 14 days to get a healthy, mature starter that is ready to bake with.
5. Warmth.  Yeast and bacteria like to be cozy and warm.  Keep your starter in a warm place, between 70-85 F degrees.
6. Air.  Like any mold, yeast and bacteria like a warm, moist environment.  Keep your starter in a container with a fitted lid.  Leaving it open to the air will dry your starter out.  
7. Excessive Time.  I keep my starter on my counter in my kitchen and bake with it every week. If I am going to be gone for longer than a week, I move my starter to the fridge. If the starter is left unfed for an excessive amount of time (1-3 months), scrape off the top skin, salvage about 1 T to 1/4 cup of starter below.  Re-feed the starter from Step II above.  

Keyword culture, natural yeast, rye, sourdough, starter, wild yeast