How to Make a Sourdough Starter from Scratch

Making your very own sourdough starter from scratch at home is simple. It requires nothing but flour, water, and a little bit of time. You will be rewarded with your very own bubbly starter to make fresh baked sourdough bread at home.

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Making a sourdough starter is the first step in having delicious sourdough bread at home. Sourdough can seem super intimidating to most, but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. While it is easiest to find a friend who has a sourdough starter that is not always an option. I know that when I first wanted to try sourdough I didn’t know anyone with a starter. The next easiest option is to purchase a dehydrated starter. However, with a little water, flour, and time you can create a sourdough starter from scratch at home!

The hardest thing about starting a sourdough starter is the wait, I’ll be honest it can feel like it is taking forever! My first starter that I made from scratch took nearly 2 weeks to get going, then after that it took a good month or two for it to get really good and active. If you have the time though it is so fun and satisfying to make your own starter!

Check out what you will need to create your own sourdough starter:

• Whole Wheat Flour – I like to kick start my starter with whole wheat flour, you can use regular all purpose flour but the whole wheat does give your starter a little extra boost.
• Unbleached All Purpose Flour – while it is tempting to grab the cheaper bleached flour, the unbleached is really preferred. The chemicals used to bleach the flour can effect your starter, so really opt for the unbleached.
• Water – some people will specify filtered, but from my research the main concern is if your water is chlorinated. Before you go out buying water for your starter, if you have chlorinated water all you need to do is fill a container and leave it uncovered on your counter. Chlorine evaporates, so this is an easy and cheap fix.
• Container – I love these, but any container will really work. Grab what you have, mason jar, Tupperware, don’t let something as silly as a container stop you from starting. I like to have 2 containers so that I can feed into a clean jar each day.

Ok! Now that you have all of your supplies, let’s get into the directions! First thing you need to do is pick a time of day that you can designate to feeding, you don’t need a ton of time just 5 minutes, but you do want to set aside the time. My tip to ensuring you don’t forget is to set an alarm on your phone for that time each day.

Seven Days to a Sourdough Starter

Day 1: in your container combine 50 g (1/3 cup) whole wheat flour and 50 g (1/4 cup) water. Lightly cover with a lid, by this I mean just set something on your jar to keep stuff out, but not sealed.

That’s it! I told you it was pretty simple. Now we wait 24 hours.

Day 2: Do nothing. That’s right, just sit back and observe. You may start to see some bubbles! This is great, however don’t feel discouraged if it dies off and seems like nothing is happening in the next few days. Also, don’t worry if you don’t see any bubbles. Every starter will behave differently. There may have been bubbles, but you just didn’t see them.

Day 3: today we will be discarding some of our mixture. Once your starter gets nice and active you can make yummy discard recipes with it, but for now we will just throw it in the garbage (please do not rinse it down the drain, dried water + flour = concrete, you do not want that in your drains). In a new jar combine about 50 g (1/4 cup) of your mixture from your sourdough starter, 50 g (1/3 cup) all purpose flour, and 50 g (1/4 cup) water. You may have noticed a small layer of brown liquid on your starter. Don’t worry, this is just hooch, it means your starter is hungry and ready to be fed. Simply pour it off and continue.

Days 4+: repeat the process of day 3. If your starter starts to get bubbly great! If it still looks like the same pasty liquid don’t fret, like I said before it takes time. I always suggest giving it time. During this time you may notice that you starter smells like acetone or stinky socks, while very unpleasant it isn’t a bad sign. Just keep going until your starter is bubbly and active, then you are set to make bread!

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY STARTER IS READ?

Your starter is ready and active if it doubles in volume. It will be nice and bubbly and no longer smells gross. It should have a pleasant yeasty smell.

If all that sounds like your starter, congratulations! You now have a sourdough starter. Many people joke that they now have another child/pet in their house and name their starter accordingly (my starter is Suzy).

HOW TO STORE A SOURDOUGH STARTER

Once your starter has achieved active status all you have to do is maintain it now. I recommend leaving it on your counter with daily feeds for at least a month, this allows your new baby starter to really get good strength built up. However, it can also be stored in the fridge.

On the counter: If storing your starter on the counter, at room temperature you will want to make sure you are feeding it daily. Don’t worry if you do forget a feed, contrary to popular belief starters aren’t that easy to kill. Just pick up where you left off and give it another feed. This is great if you plan to bake often.

In the refrigerator: If storing in the refrigerator, you will only need to feed weekly. Pull it out of the fridge, feed it, and pop it back in. This is great if you don’t plan to bake often, but still want to keep a starter. When you are ready to bake, just feed it and allow it to come to room temperature. You may need to feed it two days in a row to get a really nice and active starter for your bread.

HOW TO FEED A SOURDOUGH STARTER

If there is one thing I have learned about sourdough since starting, it’s that everyone seems to have a different process when it comes to feeding. Some people prefer to keep a large quantity so they are ready to bake at any time. The con with this is that each feeding requires a greater amount of flour. Others prefer to keep a smaller amount and build a leaven (a larger feed) when they want to bake. The con to this is planning ahead and creating your leaven prior to baking. As with everything, you can just experiment and find what works best for you. Below is the process that works best for me.

• In a clean jar, add 50 g (1/4 cup) water, 50 g (1/3 cup) flour, and 10 g (1 tbsp) of starter. Cover and set aside for later.
• If I am planning to bake, I will make a leaven. So for example if my recipe calls for 200 g of starter, I will combine 100 g of flour, 100 g water, and 20 grams of starter in a separate jar. I always keep my original starter set aside. This prevents me from accidentally using all of my starter.
• Everything that was in the old jar is now discard. As I said before you can make some delicious recipes with it, so put it in a jar in the fridge to store for use later!

TROUBLESHOOTING

Before you start trying to troubleshoot anything has it been at least 10 days of consistent feeding? If not just keep going with the regular feedings. Some starters are just slower than others. Don’t give up! If it has been 10 or more days, try the following:

• Check the warmth of your house. Sourdough does best at about 75 degrees, if your house is cooler than that it might be a little sluggish. If possible find a warmer spot in your house, for me that is my laundry room.
• Check your flour. Make sure you are using unbleached flour. If you aren’t having great results, try using a bread flour. It has a higher protein content and may help your starter become stronger.
• Check your water. Does your water contain chemicals or chlorine? If so try using filtered water.

There you have it! I hope that this inspires you to create your own sourdough starter! Let me know in the comments if you have a starter or plan to make/get one!