How to make a sourdough starter

Some readers had asked for the recipe for my sourdough starter, so here it is. It’s hardly a recipe because it requires just two ingredients, flour and water, but there is some patience and technique involved, and ensuring your sourdough starter stays at the right temperature. If you make it, you will forever have a great reason around to bake bread…and pancakes, and waffles, and pizza, and pretzels, and all those wonderful things you can do with sourdough.

George, my sourdough starter, has been around for nearly three months now and he’s quite mature with a lovely tang. I just made some pumpkin pie waffles this morning with him, adding a cup of pumpkin puree to my sourdough waffles recipe, instead of the flaxseed, and some vanilla and cinnamon. I love this sourdough waffle recipe so much, I’ve pretty much stopped making waffles with baking powder, and it’s a win-win because sourdough is so much healthier for me and my family.

But today, I started a new batch of sourdough starter so I could share with you this rather interesting — and fun — project from the beginning. If you have little ones around, you might consider involving them in the process. It’s a great lesson in how the process of making food is as much a science as it is an art. When I made George, Jay was really excited the first time little bubbles appeared, indicating that the yeast — captured from the air — was now thriving and flourishing in the pasty flour-and-water mixture. He would ask to look at the sourdough starter every day to see how it was progressing and, as you can imagine, all that bubbling and rising was rather magical to his young mind. 🙂

I will go through this process with you step by step, with photos, or you can just scroll down for the recipe. Make it today, and you might have a batch of sourdough ready to mix up into waffles or a bread by the end of this week.

1. Measure out 1 cup of whole wheat flour into a large bowl or a crock (if you live in India, you can use whole wheat atta flour). The container you use should be large enough to hold the sourdough starter as it rises and bubbles. Also make sure you use a glass or ceramic or sturdy, food-safe plastic container.

2. Measure out 3/4th cup of bottled or non-chlorinated, room-temperature water. Chlorine can inhibit the formation and growth of yeast, so it’s rather important that your water be as non-chlorinated as you can get it.

3. Now add the water to the flour and whisk together to mix well. You should not have any traces of flour.

4. Cover the sourdough starter loosely with a kitchen towel.

5. If the weather where you live is cold, place it in a warm spot, like on top of a radiator or in an oven with the pilot light on. It was rather warm here when I started George so I could leave him out on the kitchen table, but this time — with temperatures kissing the 40s — I have my new starter in the oven with the light on. Keep in mind that it may take longer for the yeast to develop in the starter in cooler weather.

6. Leave your starter alone for 24 hours. When you look at it, you might see some bubbles, or there may be none, especially if you are in cooler temperatures. Either way, mix the starter well with a whisk or fork, measure out half a cup of the starter, and discard* it. Although it might hurt you to do so, this “waste” is important so you can have a great starter in a few days’ time.

7. After discarding a portion of the starter, add half a cup of unbleached, all purpose flour and 3/4 cup of non-chlorinated water. Use warm water (not hot) if you are working in cool temperatures, as I am. Mix well and again, leave in a warm place. You will start noticing that your starter lightens in color with the addition of all purpose flour.

Sourdough starter on day 2, before feeding

Sourdough starter on day 2, after feeding with 1/2 cup of flour and 3/4 cup water. You can already see yeast bubbles forming — how exciting! This is a rather high proportion of water I added today (150 percent) but I did it because the starter was rather stiff. I will revert back to a 1:0.75 proportion of flour to water on day 3.

8. By the third day you should see some activity in your starter and also a fruity aroma. Once again, discard half a cup of starter and add half a cup of all-purpose flour and 90 milliliters of water (1/2 of 3/4th a cup).

This is the sourdough starter on day 3, before feeding. You can see the yeast is bubbling, and there is some dark fluid accumulated on top. Stir down the starter thoroughly before discarding 1/2 cup and feeding.

This is how the starter looks on day 3, after feeding with 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and 90 mils of water. You can see more bubbling and there’s a fruity aroma.

9. Continue the process for the next three days (try and do this at the same time of day– for instance, I began my starter Sunday morning, so I have to try and feed it around the same time every day, although an hour here or there won’t be amiss). Your starter should have started to thrive by now, rising after you feed it, and eventually settling down. King Arthur Flour, where I got my initial recipe, recommends discarding and feeding your starter twice after day 3, but I found that doing it just once was okay, especially since it was quite warm when I made my starter. This time, with cooler weather, I might feed the new starter twice depending on how it goes.

Here’s the sourdough starter before feeding on day 4. There’s a lot more bubbling, indicating we have some healthy yeast activity, and you can see some dark fluid on top. Mix thoroughly before discarding 1/2 cup and feeding.

This is the starter about 10 minutes after feeding on day 4. It’s not easy to see in the photo, but there are more very tiny bubbles in the starter.

Here’s the sourdough starter on day 5 before feeding– it’s very bubbly today and getting stronger by the day.

Sourdough starter after feeding on day 5. Although the starter is well on its way, I will feed it a second time later today, to help it gather strength faster in this cool weather.

Here’s the sourdough starter on day 6. I fed it once more last night because the sourdough is getting stronger now and beginning to rise after feeding, and I wanted it to eat a little better. 🙂

Here’s the sourdough starter on day 6, about two hours after feeding. You can see it has risen quite a bit and looks puffy and very healthy. I will repeat a second feeding today, and by tomorrow my sourdough should be ready to use.

10. By the seventh day, your starter, if it’s healthy and bubbling, should be ready to use. When I made George, I used the “discard” portion of the starter to make waffles, and they turned out great. If your sourdough starter is still slow in developing, increase feedings to twice a day and continue to keep it warm. It will eventually strengthen.

11. Once your sourdough starter has matured, you will need to feed it once every week. I mix the starter well, take out about 1 or 2 cups of sourdough starter to bake with (or you can just discard it), and replace it immediately in the proportion of 1 cup of flour to 3/4 cup of water. For example, if I take out 2 cups of sourdough, I replace it with 2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups of water. After feeding the starter, I leave it on the counter for a day, and then refrigerate it.

These are pictures of George, my mature sourdough starter, a day after he was last fed. You can see his is happy and bubbling and I have him in a really large crock so he doesn’t pour out.

I will update this post with photos of the progress of my sourdough starter over the coming week. Keep track of it here, and let me know how your starter’s doing, or ask if you have questions. Are you excited? I know I am!

*Some of you have written to me asking about how to avoid the waste that comes with making a sourdough starter– you do have to discard a portion of it each day for the first seven days before you can use it. I tried an experiment this week: I added the discard portion to my chapati dough when I mixed it. It actually worked great, and the chapatis were softer with the added leavening. It’s a win-win because this way you also get the benefit of the healthy sourdough bacteria on a daily basis.

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How to make a sourdough starter

A recipe for a sourdough starter made with flour and water that you can use to make bread, pizza dough, waffles, pancakes, pretzels and much more, without any added yeast.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Author Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup bottled or non-chlorinated water
• all purpose flour for feeding

Instructions

1. Measure out the whole wheat flour into a large bowl or a crock (if you live in India, you can use whole wheat atta flour). The container you use should be large enough to hold the sourdough starter as it rises and bubbles. Also make sure you use a glass or ceramic or sturdy, food-safe plastic container.

2. Measure out the bottled or non-chlorinated, room-temperature water. Chlorine can inhibit the formation and growth of yeast, so it’s rather important that your water be as non-chlorinated as you can get it.

3. Now add the water to the flour and whisk together to mix well. You should not have any traces of flour.

4. Cover the sourdough starter loosely with a kitchen towel.

5. If the weather where you live is cold, place it in a warm spot, like on top of a radiator or in an oven with the pilot light on. It was rather warm here when I started George so I could leave him out on the kitchen table, but this time — with temperatures kissing the 40s — I have my new starter in the oven with the light on. Keep in mind that it may take longer for the yeast to develop in the starter in cooler weather.

6. Leave your starter alone for 24 hours. When you look at it, you might see some bubbles, or there may be none, especially if you are in cooler temperatures. Either way, mix the starter well with a whisk or fork, measure out half a cup of the starter, and discard* it. Although it might hurt you to do so, this “waste” is important so you can have a great starter in a few days’ time

7. After discarding a portion of the starter, add half a cup of unbleached, all purpose flour and 3/4 cup of non-chlorinated water. Use warm water (not hot) if you are working in cool temperatures, as I am. Mix well and again, leave in a warm place. You will start noticing that your starter lightens in color with the addition of all purpose flour.
8. By the third day you should see some activity in your starter and also a fruity aroma. Once again, discard half a cup of starter and add half a cup of all-purpose flour and 90 milliliters of water (1/2 of 3/4th a cup).
9. Continue the process for the next three days (try and do this at the same time of day– for instance, I began my starter Sunday morning, so I have to try and feed it around the same time every day, although an hour here or there won’t be amiss). Your starter should have started to thrive by now, rising after you feed it, and eventually settling down. King Arthur Flour, where I got my initial recipe, recommends discarding and feeding your starter twice after day 3, but I found that doing it just once was okay, especially since it was quite warm when I made my starter. This time, with cooler weather, I might feed the new starter twice depending on how it goes.
10. By the seventh day, your starter, if it’s healthy and bubbling, should be ready to use. When I made George, I used the “discard” portion of the starter to make waffles, and they turned out great. If your sourdough starter is still slow in developing, increase feedings to twice a day and continue to keep it warm. It will eventually strengthen.
11. Once your sourdough starter has matured, you will need to feed it once every week. I mix the starter well, take out about 1 or 2 cups of sourdough starter to bake with (or you can just discard it), and replace it immediately in the proportion of 1 cup of flour to 3/4 cup of water. For example, if I take out 2 cups of sourdough, I replace it with 2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups of water. After feeding the starter, I leave it on the counter for a day, and then refrigerate it.

Here are some of my recent sourdough recipes:

Whole Wheat Sourdough Waffles

White Sourdough Sandwich Bread

All Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread