Get started on your sourdough journey with this simple sourdough starter recipe. It will take some time and a lot of patience – but the reward is oh so delicious!
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It took me a while (a long while, really) to get a mature sourdough starter.
I went through four separate sourdough starters over a two month period. For some reason, no starter would work for me.
It was devastating to say the least.
But finally, after all the failed attempts, I made a glorious, bubbly sourdough starter.
And you can do it too.
If you too have been devastated trying to grow your first sourdough starter, or if this is your first attempt. Don’t worry. I got you.
My failures and success have taught me a thing or two and I’m here to share them with you to help you have success on your sourdough journey.
Give you starter a kick start and get to baking in no time by using dehydrated starter.
What is a sourdough starter?
A sourdough starter is a natural leavening agent consisting of fermented flour. It is uses naturally occurring yeast and bacteria in place of commercially developed yeast to help baked goods rise.
Why make sourdough?
The fermentation that the flour goes through helps improve its nutrient profile.
Sourdough bread has a lower gluten content than other breads making it much easier to digest, especially for people that are sensitive to gluten.
To read all about the nutrition and science behind sourdough, check out this article.
A thing or two before getting started
To Measure or Not to Measure Feedings
The flour, water, and starter need to be at the proper ration to start fermenting.
If you’re new to sourdough, I do recommend weighing the ingredients with a digital kitchen scale.
My experience: Some people have had great success without measuring. I, on the other hand, did not have such success.
Environment Temperature
For the yeast and bacteria to start working their magic, they like to be at a temperature between 68F-85F.
You want to keep your starter warm enough so that it will ferment, but not so hot (above 120F) that you end up killing it.
But don’t stress about it. Your starter will start to ferment if you keep it at room temperature. It may just take a little longer.
My experience: When my starter wasn’t bubbling on day 10, I thought maybe it wasn’t warm enough and I stored it as recommended in the oven with the light on. I ended up drying out my starter one time and killed it with heat another time.
Eventually I just left it on the counter and (tried) to forget about it.
Water Temperature
Use tepid water, not cold or hot water to feed your starter.
My experience: At first I was using cold water to feed my starter. Doesn’t make much sense looking back since the started needs to be at a temperature of 68-85F to ferment. Once I started using tepid water to mix in the starter, I was seeing a lot more bubbling action.
Flour Options
Fresh, high protein flours, such as rye or all-purpose flour work best. This is the flour I used and had great success with.
Time and Patience
It’s going to take time, you’re going to need a great deal of patience, but you can grow a sourdough starter.
My experience: Many recipes say the starter will be ready in a few days. Mine wasn’t doubled and bubbly until day 14. It wasn’t ready for bread making until day 17.
The Recipe That Finally Worked
Supplies You Will Need
Flour (all-purpose, rye, or bread flour)
Water
Coffee filter or tea towel
Rubber band or lid ring
Here’s what to do:
You are going to go through a process of feeding your starter over the next several days. After the second day, you will feed make a mixture of starter, flour, and water in a 1:1:1 ratio until it doubles.
Day 1
Weigh out 50g all-purpose flour and 50g tepid water with a digital kitchen scale. Mix them together thoroughly in a wide mouth mason jar. Cover with a coffee filter or tea towel secured with a ring lid or elastic band and set it aside.
Day 2
Add 50g flour and 50g tepid water to your starter. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
Day 3
Your starter may be bubbly and doubled today. It is exciting to see, but unfortunately, it’s not ready yet.
Weigh out 50g of your sourdough starter and discard the rest. Mix it with 50g flour and 50g tepid water. Put it back in the jar and cover again. Put a rubber band around the bottom of the jar to where the top of where the starter is. This way you will be able to tell when it actually starts to double. Set it aside.
Day 4-Day 10(ish)
Over the next several days you will repeat the steps taken on day 3 until your starter becomes bubbly and doubles. This could be on day 7 or even later than day 10.
Do not become discouraged if your starter isn’t doubling by day 10. Sometimes it takes longer. Just keep going.
Once your starter is doubled and bubbly
Congratulations! You made it! It’s such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. Now you will start to feed your starter twice a day. Space the feedings out about 12 hours, once in the morning and once at night. For each feeding, weigh out 50g starter and mix it with 100g flour and 100g tepid water.
You can now start saving your discard in the fridge and use it in sourdough discard recipes.
Float Test to See if It’s Mature
To see if your starter is ready for bread making, perform a float test. Fill a glass cup with water and plop a spoonful of starter on top.
If it floats – you can use it to start making bread!
If it sinks – you need to continue feeding it twice a day until it is ready.
Maintaining your starter
Once your starter is ready for bread making, you can go down back down to feeding it once a day Feed it at least 4-12 hours before you want to make a loaf of bread.
You can also store it in the fridge at this point if you choose.
When you’re ready to make bread, take it out of the fridge and feed it 12 hours before you start the bread making process.
Don’t have time to wait?
You can purchase dehydrated starter in my shop that will be ready for baking in a fraction of the time!
Show me your starter!
Share it with me on Instagram by mentioning @thehomesteadmother in your post or hashtag it #onceuponahomestead
Happy making until next time!
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