How To: Sourdough Starter
Any good sourdough loaf of bread of course begins with an active, healthy sourdough starter. A starter is essentially a culture of wild yeasts and bacteria (specifically, lactobacilli) and is used to leaven bread as opposed to commercial yeast. There are so many benefits to leavening bread in this way. Sourdough starter pre digests gluten, making it easier on the digestive system and a better option for gluten sensitive people (you can make gluten free sourdough, but I haven’t tried that yet. With these sourdough basics you will hopefully be able to give that a go after some more research). It also neutralises phytic acid which blocks mineral absorption and is an overall great way of preparing grains. I’ll begin with some background information before diving into the recipe.
Wild yeasts are single-celled fungi that feed on simple sugars. They need oxygen and give off CO2, acetic acid (vinegar) and ethanol, which help develop the sour taste in sourdough bread.
Lactobacilli are naturally occurring bacteria. They also feed on simple sugars but don’t need oxygen. They also give off CO2 (not as much), ethanol and lactic acid (this acts as a natural antibiotic preventing harmful bacteria from taking hold and helps the bread keep for longer).
Temperature is really important for your starter. If it is too warm, the culture will work too quickly and get through the ‘food’ quicker and be hungry before the next feeding time. This can make your starter super runny and not strong enough to make good sourdough bread. If it is too cold your starter will take a lot longer to get active and eat its food. Try and find a spot that is somewhere between 19°C and 21°C, a little cooler is ok but try not to keep your starter warmer than that. My kitchen usually runs between 20°C and 21°C and this works well for me. If your kitchen is really cold you can put your starter on top of the fridge or near a radiator (not too close!). If it’s too warm you can place it in a cool part of the house or nearer a shady window in between feeds. Don’t worry too much about this - you don’t need a thermometer to measure the exact temperature, just going with the feel of the environment will be fine.
Water is of course super important as 1 of the 2 ingredients we’re using. Depending on where you live the water in your taps may be chlorinated and this can prevent your starter from activating. You don’t need to use bottled or filtered water for this, but you can of course if you would like to. Alternatively leaving a jug of tap water uncovered overnight before beginning this process will allow the chlorine to evaporate and will be sufficient (you can find out what your tap water is treated with from a quick google search but if your tap water is safe to drink then you should be ok to use this trick - if you do not usually drink the tap water and would feel more comfortable using filtered or bottled water then go ahead, that’s probably a safe option).
Flour. For sourdough baking, it is better to opt for unbleached and unprocessed flours because they have loads of wild yeasts and lactobacilli. Stone ground flours are also said to have greater amounts of wild yeasts. Here in the UK you should be ok with any strong bread flour but if you’d like to buy organic or stone milled then feel free. I have used average supermarket flour and it works just fine.
Smells. Your starter will go through phases of smelling different, and sometimes unpleasant. It’s ok, your starter is fine! After 2-3 days the smell may be very vinegary or pungent, but this will subside as the starter develops. It should smell quite sour, nothing to worry about.
Feeding. So we’ve mentioned that the culture needs to feed on simple sugars, and this is why we need to feed our starter regularly to keep it healthy and active, to ensure it is strong enough to build the structure we need in our dough and make a delicious sourdough loaf. The feeding schedule below is a simple one that I find is a good starting point for your first starter or if you want a simpler way of getting your starter back to healthy.
Having said all of this, sourdough is more resilient than it may seem. It is really difficult to ‘kill’ your starter or damage it beyond repair, so even if something looks off or it doesn’t look or smell right at any given point in the process, it’s ok, we can fix it! Feel free to send me pictures of your starter or any questions and we can almost definitely save it. It is also important to note that if you’ve never baked sourdough before or worked with a starter, it may take longer for your starter to stabilise and be ready to use in your bakes. I strongly believe that the more you use sourdough, the more wild yeasts you will have in your kitchen and thus the quicker your new starter will come to life - so if our starters look a bit different that is ok! Are you ready to follow along with us as we make a brand new starter from scratch?
Ingredients:
310g Strong Flour ( I use 50% wholemeal and 50% white) DO NOT use self-raising flour
310g Water
Equipment:
Glass Jar/Bowl with Lid
Kitchen Scales (Digital are more precise)
Small Spatula
Spoon
Feeding schedule:
Day 1: Mix together 50g of flour and 50g of water in a jar or bowl (preferably glass) really well and scrape down the sides. The mixture should be nice and thick. Leave the mixture in a warm spot (see notes above) loosely covered for 24 hours.
Day 2: You may notice one or two bubbles already - probably not though. Don’t worry, you don’t need to see bubbles yet. Feed your mixture with 30g flour and 30g water. Again, leave the water uncovered overnight if you need to and use the same flour/mixture you used to begin with throughout). Mix well, scrape down the sides, loosely cover and leave again for 24 hours.
Day 3: Feed your mixture 30g flour and 30g water again mixing well. At this point you may see a lot more bubbles, or just a few, or none at all. Bubbles are a good sign, but no bubbles are NOT a bad sign so don’t worry and continue with the schedule. Trust the process.
At this point, if your mixture is nice and bubbly this does not mean it is ready to use. The bubbles may even subside but ill eventually return for good.
Day 4: Now we discard half of the mixture. This step is important. If you discard some now, it prevents more waste later on in your sourdough journey. You don’t have to throw this discard away, you can place it in a bowl in the fridge and use it in a recipe that calls for sourdough discard.
Once you’ve removed half, you will feed it 30g flour and 30g water again and leave loosely covered for 24 hours.
Day 5: There should be visible action now, different sized bubbles and growth in the size of the starter may be noticeable. You can monitor this with a rubber band or a board marker - mark the level of the starter after feeding it and check on it after a few hours to see if it has grown and see if you can catch its peak. If it’s doubling in size that is a very good sign that your starter is almost ready!
Feed with 30g flour and 30g water again and leave loosely covered for 24 hours.
Day 6: We’re discarding half of the starter again before today’s feed. 30g flour and 30g water as usual and leave as before. You may notice a different, sweeter aroma now.
Day 7: Final day! (hopefully). Feed again as before with 30g each of flour and water and cover loosely. Today we want to check on the starter after a few hours depending on the temperature. We’re looking for doubling in size, lots of bubbles all the way through the starter and thick consistency. Mark the level of the starter and check back after 1-2 hours (up to 4-5 hours if temperature is 18C or below). If it doubles in size and is bubbly as described then you can do the float test - put a small amount of starter (less than a teaspoon) in a cup of cool water and see if it floats. You can also check the starter by stirring vigorously to disperse the bubbles and waiting a few seconds to see how quickly the bubbles return. If it floats and the bubbles come back within 20 seconds then it is ready to use to bake.
If not, don’t worry! Carry on discarding half and feeding the starter (as on days 5-7) for up to 14 days and check on it again.
You can store your starter in the fridge if you’ll bake weekly or less, or on the kitchen counter if you plan on baking daily or more than twice a week - this method requires a lot more care. I store mine in the fridge and bake once or twice a week.
If you missed our live follow along making this starter you can find it on @jenanland and @nadinedahan on Instagram where I’ve also shared some more tips.
Let us know if you make it!
