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A glass jar half filled with active and bubbly sourdough starter
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5 from 2 votes

Sourdough Starter

Learn how to make a sourdough starter from scratch. I will guide you step by step through the process with lots of useful tips, a photo diary, and a video. It's an easy-to-understand guide and suitable for beginners who can't wait to bake beautiful and delicious loaves of bread, pizza crust, and brioche. All you need is flour, water, and time.
Prep Time5 minutes
30 days
Total Time30 days 5 minutes
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Servings: 1 jar
Calories: 289kcal
Author: Sabine

Equipment

  • 2 Weck jars that hold 1 lb
  • Spatula
  • Water-based markers or rubber bands
  • Kitchen scale

Ingredients

  • organic strong white bread flour
  • filtered or bottled water

Instructions

  • Combine 60g (½ cup) of flour and 60g (¼ cup) of water in a weck jar and stir until no lumps remain. Scrape down the sides of the jar to keep them as clean as possible. Put on the lid with the rubber seal without sealing the jar. Then mark the glass with a water-based marker or a rubber band to remember how full the glass was. Store at room temperature 70-75°F (22-24°C) for 2-3 days.
  • Once your starter has small bubbles on top, has risen a little, peaked, and deflated again, usually around day 3, discard everything but 60g (¼ cup). Add 60 g (½ cup) flour and 60g (¼ cup) water and stir. Scrape down the sides of the jar, place the lid on top, and mark again. I usually change jars at this stage. Store at room temperature for 24 hours.
  • Feed every 24 hours in a ratio of 1:1:1 (60 g starter, 60 g flour, 60 g water). You will find that the starter grows more and more and develops a lot of bubbles every day. Once you find that your starter doubles in 12 hours, increase the feeding to twice a day and feed every 12 hours. Maintain this feeding schedule and ratio for 2-5 days. Store at room temperature.
  • It's time to gradually increase the feeding ratio to 1:5:5 every 2-3 days. Store at room temperature.
    - So after the 1:1:1 feeding ratio, increase to 1:2:2, by using 30g (2 tbsp) starter, 60g (½ cup) flour, and 60g (¼ cup) water.
    - Then increase to 1:3:3, by using 15g (1 tbsp) starter, 45g (6 tbsp) flour, and 45g (3 tbsp) water.
    - For a 1:4:4 ratio, use 15g (1 tbsp) starter, 60g (½ cup) flour, and 60g (¼ cup) water.
    - Finally feed in a 1:5:5 ratio by using 15g (1 tbsp) starter, 75g (⅔ cup) flour, and 75g (⅓ cup) water.
  • When your starter, fed at a 1:5:5 ratio, peaks after 5-6 hours at room temperature it's ready to use for bread, pizza, brioche, etc. It will take about 1 month to develop a predictable and reliable starter, strong enough to bake beautiful loaves of bread.
  • You can transfer the starter to the fridge at this point and feed it in a ratio of 1:5:5 once a week. Depending on how much and how often you bake, adjust the amount of starter to your needs. Before baking bread with it, I recommend removing it from the fridge and feeding it once or twice at room temperature to revive and wake it up.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 289kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 1.8g | Saturated Fat: 0.5g | Sodium: 513mg | Potassium: 128mg | Fiber: 2.4g | Sugar: 2.6g