Best Sourdough Starter
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.
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:
- 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.
- Bad Flour. Try changing the flour you used, you may have gotten a bad batch of flour.
- 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.
- 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.
- Warmth. Yeast and bacteria like to be cozy and warm. Keep your starter in a warm place, between 70-85 F degrees.
- 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.
- 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.