Sourdough bread is made entirely by using a sourdough starter aka wild yeast. A starter is a mix of flour and water that has been fermented and contains a natural colony of wild yeast that makes your dough rise. With a good, active sourdough starter, you won’t need any commercial yeast at all. Wild yeast works a little bit slower, so sourdough bread needs to be made over the course of a day, or even two days. It’s important you organize your time correctly. This slow development helps to tease out more complex, nuanced flavors in your sourdough bread — far beyond those of store bought ones.
You can take a look at my sourdough journey on my Instagram Stories in Highlights.
Note: With your sourdough starter you are able to make sourdough bread, babka, waffles, pizza, bagels, …
Recipe Homemade Sourdough Bread HERE
You need
- 60 g all-purpose flour (or spelt flour or a mix of all-purpose and whole grain flour)
- 60 g lukewarm water
How to
The process takes about a week.
Day 1
Weigh the flour and water. In a glass jar, stir vigorously until combined into a smooth batter. It will look like a sticky, thick dough. Scrape down the sides and cover with a tea towel secured with a rubber band.
Place the jar at room temperature for 24 hours, until you begin to see the mixture bubbling up. It is important that you stir the sourdough starter every day in the morning and in the evening.
Day 2
Feed the starter. Add 60 g flour and 60 g lukewarm water, stir well to combine, and let sit out for 24 hours. Place a rubber band on the outside of the jar, at the top of the mixture, to track how or/if the mixture has grown. Stir in the evening and in the morning.
Day 3
At this point, you should see a few small bubbles here and there and it smells a bit sour, mildly sweet and yeasty. Which is great! The bubbles mean that wild yeast have started making themselves at home in your starter. They will increase the acidity of the mixture, which helps fend off any bad bacterias.
If you don’t see anything, it is possible that the process takes a little longer, it depends on the temperature in your kitchen. A colder environment may take longer. You can just continue with the stirring process for about 2 more days.
Day 4
The surface of your starter should look dotted with bubbles and your starter should be visibly larger in volume. Use a wooden spoon to discard half of the mixture, and throw it away. OR even better, you can fry ‘the batter’ in olive oil like a pancake or naan, with a pinch of salt and pepper. You will be surprised!!
Feed the starter with another 60 g flour and 60 g water. Stir in the morning and in the evening.
Continue this process for 2 more days. Discard half, then feed with 60 g of flour and lukewarm water. Your starter is like a baby, don’t forget to feed, stir every day and treat him with love. You can give your starter a name, I called mine Lemmy.
Day 5
Discard half of the mixture and feed your starter. If you don’t notice significant growth each time, feed the starter twice a day.
Day 6
If all is well, the wild yeast is quite active now. The starter should be completely webbed with bubbles and also be smelling quite sour.
You can now feed your starter just one more time and if everything is looking and smelling good, you can consider your starter is ripe and ready to use!
Day 7
You can now make the dough for bread. Don’t discard the starter but use the amount you need for your dough and then feed it with new flour and lukewarm water.
If you’re using the starter within the next few days, continue discarding half and feeding it daily. Your starter will remain active.
If you want to bake less often, you can also store the starter in the fridge. Remember to take it out and feed it at least once a week.
If you want to use your starter again, take it out of the fridge. First leave it until it reaches room temperature for at least 3 hours, then feed your starter. The starter is ready to use when it’s bubbly and airy.
FAQs
Creating a healthy and vibrant sourdough starter can take anywhere from 7 to 14 days depending on several factors. The temperature of your kitchen is the most important factor to consider. Starters thrive in a warm environment, ideally around 75°F (24°C).
What is the ratio of sourdough starter to flour? ›
Sourdough starters should be fed a minimum ratio of 1:1:1, meaning equal WEIGHTS of starter to flour to water. If you feed your starter this way and keep it at a consistently warm temperature 78ºF, your starter should peak and become active/bubbly in about 3-4 hours.
How much sourdough starter is enough? ›
I keep 1 ounce of starter and feed it with 1 ounce of flour and 1 ounce of water because I rarely need a massive amount of starter on hand, but various other sourdough luminaries advise different amounts. If you don't have a scale, go for 1/4 cup starter to 1/2 cup of flour to 1/4 cup water.
How do you calculate sourdough starter? ›
an easy way to figure this out is to write down the amount of flour and water per feeding, and divide the water amount over the flour amount. i usually feed my starter 30g of flour, and 24g of water. 24 / 30 = 0.8, meaning my starter is at 80% hydration. at 80% hydration, my stiff starter has a dough-like consistency.
What is the fastest way to activate a sourdough starter? ›
Place your starter in a warm spot to rise and activate, ideally 75-80 F. Temperature is really important. The warmer it is, the faster it will rise. Your starter is active when it shows the following signs: doubles in size, small and large bubbles appear, has a spongey or fluffy texture and exhibits a pleasant aroma.
How to make a strong active sourdough starter? ›
There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.
Can you add too much flour to sourdough starter? ›
Overfeeding can be a cause of this “sickness,” as can lack of feeding and neglect. Because, yes, you can overfeed your sourdough. The explanation is quite simple: if you add too much water and flour, you're basically diluting the natural population of yeast and bacteria.
Can I just add flour and water to my sourdough starter? ›
To Activate Your Sourdough Starter:
I love these deli quart containers for this purpose. Add 45 g each of all-purpose flour and room-temperature water. (Note: The consistency should look like a thick batter.) Wait.
Can you use too much starter in sourdough bread? ›
If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.
How often should I clean a sourdough starter jar? ›
I keep my starter jar very clean by scraping down the sides and wiping the rim every time I feed it, so I transfer it to a clean jar once every few weeks. If you keep a very messy starter jar you may want to transfer it to a clean jar more frequently. The only thing that can really kill your starter is mold.
On the counter, it needs to be fed daily, but in the fridge, it only needs to be fed once a week. You can even switch back and forth between the refrigerator and the counter if you use it sporadically. If you use the starter every day, leave it on the counter.
How much should I feed my 2 cups of sourdough starter? ›
Sourdough Feeding Ratios:
So If you're using 50 grams of starter, add 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour. If you want to feed a sourdough starter by volume, the ratio of starter to flower to water is 1:1:1.75. So you would use 1/2 a cup of starter to 1/2 a cup of water to just under a cup of flour.
What is the best sourdough starter ratio? ›
Basically, if you want to build strength in your starter stick with a 1:1:1. If you want to maintain a mature starter, use a 1:2:2. ALWAYS WEIGH YOUR FEEDINGS. The most important part of sourdough is precision so buy a cheap kitchen scale.
What is the proportion of sourdough starter to flour for bread? ›
As with any sourdough recipe, before you start baking bread, you want to make sure that your sourdough starter is as strong as possible. My basic sourdough recipe uses just 50g of starter for 500g of flour (so just 10% of starter).
How many grams of flour to feed sourdough starter? ›
1:1:1 Ratio: This ratio means using equal parts of flour, water, and starter by weight. For example, if you have 100 grams of a starter, you would feed it with 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water. This starter will rise quicker than a higher ratio of flour/water to the starter.
What is the timeline of making a sourdough starter? ›
How long does it take for a sourdough starter to be ready? In general, I've found it takes about 7 days from when you first mix flour and water to when a sourdough starter is ready to be used to bake bread.
Can sourdough starter be ready in 2 days? ›
The general rule of thumb is that it takes about 10-14 days to develop a starter strong enough to rise a loaf. Experienced sourdough aficionados may be able to bake with a new starter in as few as five days. And, for less experienced bakers who struggle with the process, it may take up to 30 days.
Can you make a sourdough starter in 3 days? ›
Using heat and hydration it's possible to speed up the fermentation to get through the “bad bacteria” phase in just 48 hours, leaving you a usable culture on the third day with some luck. I created my starter on a Tuesday and I baked with it on that Friday with great results.
How long after making sourdough starter can you use it? ›
You should wait at least 2-4 hours or until the starter is at its peak before you use it in your baking. Can you use sourdough starter after it falls? Yes you can use sourdough starter after it falls. It's best to use it at its peak when the yeast colony is at its greatest, but using it after it falls is also possible.
