Easily make a sourdough starter using this fool proof, beginner’s recipe. All you will need is flour and water, and soon you will be on your way to a rich and bubbly sourdough starter.
Does creating your own sourdough starter seem daunting? Fear no more, because I am simplifying the process of cultivating a jar of active yeast (sourdough starter).
What exactly is a sourdough starter?
A sourdough starter is simply a mixture of flour and water that has been fermented. During the fermentation process, your sourdough mixture cultivates a wild yeast from the naturally good bacteria around your house.
This differs from regular baked flour goods, because it does not require a packet of yeast to make. Your sourdough starter has captured all the yeast you would need to bake your goods. This is great if you are looking to become more self-sufficient at your home.
Can a beginner make a sourdough starter?
Yes! As a beginner cook, I dove head first into the sourdough world. Making a sourdough starter is not as scary as it looks. It actually only involves flour, water, and just a sprinkle of patience. In order for the starter to become active, it usually takes 7 days.
What you need to get started:
- A glass jar – I used this full quart Mason jar
- Non bleached all purpose flour – I used this flour
- Filtered water – I used this Zero Water picture to filter my well water
- Wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- Tea towel or paper towel
Day 1:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of non bleached, all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup + 3 tbs of filtered, room temperature water
Directions:
Start by measuring out ½ cup of flour and pouring it into your mason jar. Then measure ¼ cup of water. It is very important that you are using room temperature water that has been filtered. Room temperature water will help your sourdough to ferment quicker.
I always start by adding ¼ cup of water and mix the flour and water together first, before adding the rest of the water. You want the consistency of the starter to be like a thick pancake batter. If it looks like more of a biscuit dough, add more water. I like to add my water one to two tablespoons at a time. This way I do not over water the starter. Generally, ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons of water is enough to get it looking like thick pancake batter.
Next, cover your mason jar with a paper towel and the silver ring to hold down the paper towel. You do not want to put a lid on the jar because it builds gases during the fermentation process. It needs to be able to breath freely.
Place your sourdough starter somewhere warm, such as a window sill for 24 hours. You want your starter to stay as close to room temperature as possible. This will help the yeast to grow in the sourdough starter and become more active. Our goal is to see tiny little bubbles form in our starter. Yay! You are on your way to making a sourdough starter.
Day 2:
Check your starter. You may begin to see a few bubbles forming. If not, don’t fret. Most people don’t see activity in their starter until day 3. If you happen to see a black liquid on top of your starter, that is fine. This is called hooch and it is a sign that our sourdough is hungry and wants to be fed. Poor out the hooch off the top of the starter and you’re good to go.
For my easy recipe, I don’t recommend discarding any sourdough starter just yet.
Add ½ cup of flour to your mason jar and stir. Make sure you are incorporating all of the flour in with your starter. This will be hard to stir until we add the water.
Add ¼ cup of room temperature, filtered water to your sourdough starter. You may have to add a few tablespoons more of water depending on the consistency of your starter. Remember, we are aiming for thick pancake batter.
Cover and place in a warm area for 24 hours.
Days 3-5:
Hopefully you are seeing active bubbles in your sourdough starter today! This means the fermentation process is working and we are capturing live yeast in our sourdough starter. If you do not see this today, don’t worry. Keep feeding your starter and checking in on it to see if the bubbles are forming.
Today we will discard all but ½ cup of our starter. As a rule of thumb, whenever you feed your starter, you have to double what you already have in your mason jar. So if we did not discard our sourdough today, we would have to feed it around 1 cup of flour. We don’t want an over abundance of sourdough starter, so we will discard some.
Once you have ½ cup of sourdough starter, you are going to add ½ cup of flour and ¼ cup of water. Again, make sure you are reaching a thick pancake batter consistency. You may need to add a few tablespoons more of water in order to reach that.
Cover your sourdough and return to the warm spot. You will repeat this process for days 3, 4, & 5.
Day 6 & 7
On days six and seven, we want our sourdough starter to truly activate so that we can begin to use it in recipes. Now we will begin feeding our sourdough starter twice daily.
Discard all but ½ cup of your sourdough starter.
Add ½ cup of flour and stir.
Add ¼ + 3 tbs of filtered, room temperature water.
Repeat this process after every twice daily on day 6 and 7. We are feeding our starter and telling it to become more active throughout the day.
After you have fed your starter twice on day 7, you have made a successful sourdough starter.
Thank you for stopping by the homestead. If you enjoyed the post, take a look at some of my others!
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