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
Typical feeding ratios are 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 (old sourdough: fresh flour: water). However, even extreme ratios like 1:50:50 would still work. In that case, the freshly fed sourdough would just require more or much more time to grow and reach its peak, as judged by the maximum volume increase in the jar (at least doubled).
Do you have to discard sourdough starter every time you feed it? ›
Do I have to discard my sourdough starter? It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.
How long does it take to make a sourdough starter from scratch? ›
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).
Should I stir my sourdough starter between feedings? ›
It is important that you stir the sourdough starter every day in the morning and in the evening. Feed the starter. Add 60 g flour and 60 g lukewarm water, stir well to combine, and let sit out for 24 hours.
How do you calculate sourdough starter? ›
it's important to know what hydration your sourdough starter is. 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.
Can you overfeed a sourdough starter? ›
It's important to note that overfeeding can also have negative effects on a sourdough starter if done excessively or too frequently. If the starter is overfed, it can become too acidic or develop an unpleasant odor which is the result of excess food rotting in the jar.
What happens if you forget to discard sourdough starter? ›
If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.
Can I leave my sourdough starter out overnight after feeding it? ›
Can I leave my starter out overnight after feeding it? Yes, if you have just fed it.
Why throw away half of sourdough starter? ›
If you don't discard, by day 5 you'll end up needing to feed your starter in excess of 300g of flour per feed (ie twice a day).
What is the best flour to feed sourdough starter? ›
All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour, which is a blend of hard and soft wheat, is a popular choice for feeding sourdough starter. It provides a good balance of protein and starch, which promotes a healthy fermentation process. Bread Flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content compared to all-purpose flour.
Essentially making a sourdough starter is not an overly difficult process, but it does require a commitment of time and patience, as well as some dedicated equipment. Sometimes there are factors which mean making sourdough starter could be difficult. Perhaps you're working long hours or go out of town regularly.
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.
Why is my sourdough starter bubbling but not doubling? ›
If your starter gets completely covered on top with bubbles but does not rise, it is healthy but may just be a wet mix. Try reducing the water in your next feeding and see if you have different results. Also, the type of flour you are using can impede the rise of your starter.
Can you stir sourdough starter with a metal spoon? ›
Things that WON'T kill your sourdough starter
METAL: Stirring your starter with a metal spoon or placing it in a metal bowl won't kill your starter. While we don't recommend making or keeping your starter in contact with reactive metals like copper or aluminum, stainless steel is harmless.
Should sourdough starter be at room temp before feeding? ›
If your starter has been refrigerated, you'll want to raise its activity to a more energetic level. You can do this by giving it a series of feedings at room temperature, anywhere from a couple over the course of a day to two feedings a day for several days, depending on how healthy it is.
What is the ratio of levain to flour? ›
% levain to flour ratio. Typically 10% to 30%, depending on how long you want the dough to ferment.
How much of my starter should I use for a sourdough loaf? ›
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.
What is 1 cup of sourdough starter? ›
To make 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter to use in a recipe, aim for at least 247g (we'll round it up to 250g) in order to have 20g left over to feed and maintain. Feeding #1: 20g starter + 20g water + 20g flour. Feeding/build #2: Discard 30g starter (half by volume).
How much sourdough starter to use in place of yeast? ›
As a general rule, 100g of sourdough starter can be used to replace one packet of yeast (a packet usually contains 5-7g of commercial yeast).
