How To Make Sourdough Starter Step by Step Instructions

Let’s make a SOURDOUGH STARTER!

Are you ready to start your sourdough journey?! This is the FIRST step in baking sourdough and it’s only🌟2 ingredients! All sourdough recipes call for an active bubbly starter, which is the YEAST for your bread. It takes about🌟5-7 days to create an active starter and once your starter is established you’re ready to bake!

To do this you will need⬇

•A kitchen scale or 1/3 & 1/4 measuring cups 🌟preferably a kitchen scale.

•A clean pint or quart size glass jar with the lid or a thin cloth/coffee filter/ paper towel & a rubber band.

•A rubber band or dry erase marker to measure how much the starter rises.

•Good quality flour- preferably unbleached.

•Filtered water🌟DO NOT use tap water if your tap water is harsh, some chemicals can kill your starter.

Starter Recipe follows⬇️

SOURDOUGH STARTER

50 grams flour or 1/3 Cup (I use AP flour)

50 grams or 1/4 Cup filtered water

DAY 1 • mix both ingredients in a glass jar & set the lid on top. Mark your jar using a rubber band, or a marker to measure how much it rises.🌟DO NOT screw the lid on, you want your starter to breathe. Put your starter in a warm place out of direct sunlight for 24 hours. I like to keep mine next to the oven. (If you do not have a lid you can use a paper towel, coffee filter or thin cloth & a rubber band to create a breathable lid)

DAY 2 • After 24 hours your starter may have bubbles & have risen or it may NOT & that’s OK! It takes time, don’t rush it.

TIME TO FEED YOUR STARTER🌟Dump all your starter into a clean bowl & weight out 50 grams or 1/4c. of starter back into your glass jar, add in fresh water 50grams or 1/4c. & fresh flour 50grams or 1/3c. mix well. The mixture should be very thick like pancake batter or thicker. Place the lid on and let it sit another 24 hours.

DAY 3 – DAY 7 • starting on day 3 you will feed your starter🌟2X a day 12 hours apart. You should start to notice activity in your starter. It will begin to smell like vinegar, rise and double or triple in volume. Then fall within 12 hours. The smell as well as the rise & fall of your starter means the yeast growing.👍🏻🤠

DAY 5 – start🌟testing your starter to see if it’s ready to bake with.

How do you know if your sourdough starter is ready?

(STARTER FLOAT TEST) • Fill a glass with cool water and add a teaspoon of your starter once it is at PEAK. (meaning it has doubled or tripled in size) If your starter FLOATS it’s ready to bake with if it SINKS it needs a few more feedings.

🌟REMEMBER to give your starter time & be patient. It may take longer than 7 days to have an established starter & that’s OK!

Here is a visual to help you get started!

Tips to help keep your sourdough starter strong.

1. Consistent feedings, if you’re keeping your starter at room temperature you should be feeding it at least once a day, but twice a day is better. If you’re keeping your starter in the fridge you’ll want to feed it once a week.

2. Flour type, you’ll want to feed your starter a good quality flour- unbleached & non enriched. Bread flour is even better because of the high protein content. If your sourdough starter is acidic, thin & not rising much try feeding it a scoop of whole wheat or rye flour.

3. Feeding ratios, you should always be feeding your starter equal parts of starter/flour/water or MORE flour & water to starter. The higher the ratio- meaning the more flour & water to starter the stronger your starter will be. You can feed your starter a 1:2:2 – 1:10:10 or even higher ratio. Finding your starter’s sweet spot is key.

4. Temperature, you ideally want to keep your starter around 72-85 degrees & out of direct sunlight. You can keep it at lower temperature (in the fridge for example) . It will just take longer to reach peak because the wild yeast slows down, almost going to sleep. You can also keep your starter at a higher temperature to increase the time it takes to reach peak. The wild yeast will become more active the higher the temperature but can start to become acidic at 90 degrees & will die at 130 degrees.

My best advice for sourdough starters is consistency. Being consistent with feedings, ratios, flour type & temperature will help your starter thrive.

🫙How to make a sourdough levain & what exactly is a sourdough levain??

A sourdough levain is an off shoot of the original culture. It’s created by using🌟RIPE starter at PEAK. Meaning it’s doubled or tripled in size and then fed a 1:2:2,1:3:3,1:4:4 or higher ratio in a separate jar. The levain is a very strong starter that is used ENTIRELY for one recipe,🌟you do NOT feed the levain after you use it. Most of time there will be none leftover. With a levain you can easily scale the hydration up or down & incorporate new types of flour without altering the original starter.

Here’s how to make one👇🏻

Once your original starter has reached peak you will take a small amount of it and add it into a new jar. Then you will feed that small amount a bigger amount of flour and water. Usually a 1:2:2, 1:3:3, 1:4:4 or higher ratio. Once that new jar has peaked( doubled or tripled in size) it’s ready to be used. The more you feed the levain the longer it take to reach peak and the stronger it will be.

I like to feed my original starter in the afternoon about 1:00pm so by 8:00 or 9:00pm it’s peaked, then I make my levain and in the morning the levain is ready for me to make my dough.

Here are some ratio examples: 1:2:2- 25g starter/50g water/50g flour. 1:3:3-16g starter/50g flour/50g water. 1:4:4-12g starter/50g water/50g flour.

🌟Using a levain is a game changer and really helps boost the dough. Guaranteeing a more successful loaf with a more open crumb & bigger oven spring

🥣Sourdough Timeline The night before you plan to make a loaf.

You can get away with less hands on folds but i find this method gives me the best loaf!

9:00 pm- Make levain 1:3:3 ratio The next morning- making the dough •

8:00 am- mix all the ingredients together, rest for 30 minutes- bulk ferment begins •

8:30 am- stretch & fold the dough •

9:30 am- 1st coil fold •

10:30 am- 2nd coil fold •

11:30 am- 3rd coil fold •

12:30 pm- 4th coil fold •

1:30 pm-5th coil fold •

2:30 pm- 6th coil fold •

2:45 pm- pre-shape & rest •

3:15 pm- final shaping & cold proof 12-18 hours 🌟depending on the temperature of your kitchen your bulk ferment can be longer or shorter The following morning- baking the bread •

8:00am-pre heat oven •

9:00-bake bread -(Dutch Oven- at 450 degrees,30 minutes with the lid on & 10-25 minutes with the lid off- score expansion score before baking) -(Open Bake- at 480 degrees 20 minutes with steam & 10-15 without steam- preform the 5 minute score for the expansion score 5 minutes into the steam bake, add more water into lower pan for steam if needed) •

9:30//9:45am- let bread cool for 2 hours before slicing

One of my TOP FIVE favorite sourdough recipes that I make every week!