How to Make Sourdough Starter
How to make a sourdough starter with just flour and water, including a day-by-day guide, how to spot the false rise, and when the starter is ready to bake.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 50 grams bread flour
- 50 grams water room temperature
- For each daily feeding: 50 grams bread flour 50 grams water
Instructions
- Stir 50 grams bread flour and 50 grams water in a clean glass jar until no dry flour remains.
- Loosely cover the jar. Leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
- The next day, discard down to about 50 grams of starter.
- Feed with 50 grams bread flour and 50 grams water. Stir, cover loosely, and leave at room temperature.
- Repeat daily until the starter doubles after feeding at least three times in a row, usually five to seven days.
- Do not use the first big rise. That is a false rise and the starter is not ready yet.
- Once the starter doubles reliably three times, is bubbly, and smells tangy or yeasty, it is ready to use.
- After the starter is established, save the discard for discard recipes.
- Refrigerate the starter and feed weekly when you are not baking regularly.
Notes
- Use bread flour and room-temperature water. Weigh everything.
- Feed the starter, not just add to it. Discard down, then add fresh flour and water.
- A 1:1:1 ratio is easiest for beginners. One part starter, one part flour, one part water.
- Do not bake with the first rise. It is a false rise.
- The starter is ready when it doubles after feeding three times in a row.
- Hooch is a hungry starter. Stir it in or pour it off and feed as usual.
- Mold or a rotten smell means restart. Sharp and hungry are fixable.
- Keep the established starter in the fridge and feed weekly.
