easy sourdough starter

This comprehensive recipe and guide will teach you EVERYTHING you need to know about sourdough starter!

Sourdough Starter

All purpose flour

Whole Wheat Flour Flour

Water

Day 1:   Place a clean container on your scale and make a note of how much your container weighs. Then, tare so the scale reads “0”.   Add 100 grams (g) whole wheat or rye flour (or all purpose if that is all you have) and 100g water. Stir thoroughly until no dry spots remain. Cover the container loosely with a lid or clean kitchen towel/paper towel and rubber band and set in a warm (70°F - 80°F) place for 24 hours.

Day 2:   You may see some bubbles and activity in your starter, or you may not see anything happening yet. Either way, discard 100g (about 1/2 cup) so that you are left with 100g in the container (100g starter plus the weight of your specific container). Add 100g water and stir to break up the starter. Add 100g flour (whole wheat/rye preferred again) and stir thoroughly until no dry spots remain. Cover the container loosely again and set in your warm place for 24 hours.

Day 3:   Today you will start feeding your starter twice a day.  If you saw an initial surge of activity in the first couple of days, this may die down, or may continue to ramp up slowly. Regardless, discard 200g (about 1 cup) so that you are left with 100g in the container*. Add 100g water, stir to break up the starter, then and 100g flour (whole wheat/rye preferred again) and stir thoroughly until no dry spots remain. Cover the container loosely again and set in your warm place for 12 hours.   12 hours later: Repeat the feeding process described above.   *If your container is looking very crusty, feel free to add 100g of your starter to a clean container to feed it instead of using the same container. This is why having multiple containers is helpful. Just keep in mind that you don’t have to use a fresh container for every feed.

Days 4-6:   Repeat the Day 3 feeding process every 12 hours. You may see no activity for a few days, and then be surprised to find your starter showing lots of activity, or it may slowly ramp up day-to-day.   At this point, if you have been using whole wheat or rye flour, you may switch to feeding your starter a blend of whole wheat/rye and all purpose, such as 50g of whole wheat/rye and 50g of all purpose flour instead of 100g whole wheat/rye if you wish. If you are only using all purpose, keep doing what you are already doing.

Day 7:  By this point, you should hopefully see some reliable activity in your starter.  If your starter consistently rises to double or triple its height within 4-8 hours of feeding it, it is ready to bake with. If not, continue to feed on the 12-hour schedule until it does. This could take up to 14 days in some cases, especially if you are using only all-purpose flour or your starter is in a colder environment.  To tell if your starter is doubling/tripling, use a rubber band on the outside of the container to mark where the top of the starter is after feeding. Over the next 4-8 hours, check in periodically to monitor the growth. The starter will rise, creating a slight doming at the top, and you will see bubbles throughout, which will be different sizes/shapes depending on what flour you are feeding and your environment. After the starter reaches its peak, it will fall back down, leaving streaks on the side of the container.  Once your starter behaves as described above, you can successfully bake with it!

How to make your own Sourdough Starter <strong>(see the step-by-step video in post)</strong> using simple ingredients with no special equipment, in 5-8 days, that can be used in<a href="https://www.feastingathome.com/sourdough-bread/"> sourdough bread</a>, pizza dough, <a href="https://www.feastingathome.com/sour-dough-waffles-maple-glazed-peaches/">waffles</a>, <a href="https://www.feastingathome.com/blackberry-sourdough-scones-with-lemony-glaze/">scones,</a> pancakes, and rolls- instead of using yeast. Sourdough Starter is a wild yeast, made from flour and water and the wild yeast in the flour itself and from the air around us. UPDATED 4/16/2020  {Original recipe taught to me by a friend who adapted it from <a href="https://breadtopia.com">Breadtopia</a> and <a href="https://www.kingarthurflour.com/">King Arthur Flour</a>}

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Simple Sourdough Starter

Organic White Bread Flour (5-10 lb bag)

Filtered Water

Day 1: Starting in the morning or at night,

 using a wide-mouth 4-cup mason jar or Crock or Glass Measuring Cup mix 1 cup whole grain flour (120 grams) with 1/2 cup (120 grams) filtered water using a fork making sure you&#8217;ve incorporated all the dry flour.  For your first measuring &#8211; it is a good idea to weigh the flour, using a kitchen scale so you get an idea of how thick it should feel. It should be like a thick paste. Thick like peanut butter. If you need to add a little more water to incorporate the flour, that is OK, but be precise with the flour. Place the lid on top (using the Weck jar is really handy here) or a damp towel to keep moisture in, or plastic wrap- and let sit at room temperature (70-80 degrees) on the kitchen counter for 24-48 hours, or until you see some bubbling. If you are not sure how warm it is, use a kitchen thermometer and check it a few hours later. See notes for TEMPERATURE.

Day 2

After the first 24 hours, you may or may not see a bit of bubbling. I prefer to let this rest until I see a tiny bit of activity (bubbles) and sometimes this takes 36 or up to 48 hours.  So start &#8220;day 2&#8221;, when you see a little bit of bubbing. Discard all but 1/2 cup (136 grams) of the starter. (See notes for discard).  Add to the remainder, 1 cup of white bread flour, (120 grams), spooned and leveled,  and 1/2 cup filtered water (120 grams), mixing well with a fork. Place the lid on loosely again and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature (70-80F)  for another 24 hours.

Day 3

By the third day, you should definitely see some bubbling- and if not, let it go a bit longer. Depending on how warm your house is and how active your starter, you may need to begin feeding more often, or even move to two feedings a day roughly 12 hours apart, like in the morning and at night. In a nutshell, you want to feed the starter only after it has peaked (metabolized all the flour from the last feeding) and has started sinking down or gets liquidy- this is when it is hungry! This might be 12 hours, it might be 14, it might be 18, or 24, depending on the temp in your house. In very warm climates it may only be 8 hours.  It is better to underfeed rather than overfeed here. For each feeding, like before, discard all but 1/2 cup of the STARTER (keeping roughly  ½-cup of starter in the jar -4 ounces or 136 grams) Add 1 cup Bread Flour  (spooned and leveled) and 1/2 cup water to the 1/2 cup starter and let this rest at room temperature for 12-24 hours or until the starter looks &#8220;hungry&#8221; again before repeating.

Day 4

Feed 1-2 times,  discarding all but 1/2 cup of starter EACH TIME. Feed 1 cup bread flour, 1/2 cup water.  Look for the hunger signs. Hopefully, you&#8217;ll begin to see some rising and falling. It&#8217;s helpful to put the starter in a clean jar and mark the beginning level (with sharpie, string or rubber band) so you can easily see this. ***If for some reason your starter looks like it is still rising at the time of second feeding (at night) and there is no evidence it has fallen or no slide marks, it is still &#8220;eating&#8221; so  skip this feeding and feed first thing in the morning. AGAIN, Feeding it when it is  &#8220;not hungry&#8221; will basically dilute all the growing yeast and make it lethargic. Better to starve than overfeed. 

Day 5

Feed again, 1-2 times, roughly 12 hours apart, or when hungry,  discarding all but a 1/2 cup the starter EACH TIME. 1 cup bread flour, 1/2 cup lukewarm water. The starter should look active, bubbling, rising, sliding down, hopefully, close to doubling in size. (If not, repeat this day and read troubleshooting section.) 

DAY 6: 

 Give it one last feeding. Discard all but a 1/3 cup. Add 1 cup bread flour (120 grams) and 1/2 cup water, and place it in a clean jar so you can see the action clearly.  You can use a sharpie or place a rubber band around the jar to mark the beginning level. The starter should hopefully double in volume within 4-6 hours of feeding. Let the starter rest at room temperature for 8 hours; it should be active, with bubbles throughout or breaking the surface. Then DO THE FLOAT TEST: To test the starter, place a teaspoon of starter (just from the top, don&#8217;t stir it down) in a glass full of water, it should hopefully float. If it does, you can make bread. Tonight!

At this point, if your starter does not double in size or pass the float test, don&#8217;t give up! Often it just takes longer, sometimes up to two weeks if cold.  Continue feeding one-two times a day ( only when hungry) for a few more days, until you see a visible rise and fall. Read the troubleshooting section. If you need to take a break, put it in the fridge and try it again up to a week later. Don&#8217;t toss it- if there are bubbles, it is still alive.

SMELL

Starter should smell slightly sweet and tangy, and not off or &#8220;bad&#8221;.  To me, it smells like a wet horse;)  If it really smells unpleasant, you may have used an unclean jar, or somehow introduced other bad bacteria. I would start over.

NO ACTION

If your starter was doing great, then fizzled out, try using a little whole grain flour mixed with the bread flour into the feedings and really monitor amounts, making sure you are feeding the  1/2 cup starter 120 grams of flour. Check the temp (using a thermometer) and give it a little extra time to &#8220;digest&#8221; the flour. Sometimes it takes longer than you think. It is OK to skip a feeding at night if it looks like it is still peaking or rising. Don&#8217;t feel pressure to always follow the schedule- always watch your starter and feed it when it looks &#8220;hungry&#8221;.

TOO MUCH ACTION: 

if your starter overflows from the jar, this is a good sign,(not bad) it is alive and active. This often happens in warm climates. You&#8217;ll need to feed it more often or find a cooler spot. Even if it floats on day 2-3, please keep feeding it the full 6 days before using it to make bread. It will add more flavor and complexity.

CONSISTENCY

Thick or Thin? If you have been careful about measuring feedings, but are not seeing rising or falling, another way to tell what stage of your starter is in is to look at the consistency. If the starter seems really thick, it is still &#8220;digesting&#8221;. If it seems loose or runny or liquidy, (to the point where you can pour it out of the jar) it has most likely digested all the flour and is now hungry. It loosens up as it metabolizes the flour. So even if you don&#8217;t see rising or falling, look for consistency to give you clues.

DO NOT overfeed

For example, maybe, feeding 2 x day at 12-hour intervals is too often. You want to feed after the starter has peaked, then deflated a little or is runny (see photo above- you&#8217;ll see some slide marks on the jar) and this tells you that it is hungry. If you feed the starter before it has had a chance to metabolize (or eat) all the flour and then you discard part, and feed it again, you are actually diluting all that amazing yeast. Get it? So it&#8217;s all about watching your starter in your home. There are lots of variables here. Just be patient, pay attention and watch. This is a living thing- it doesn&#8217;t care about time schedules and recipes or what it &#8220;should&#8221; do. It will &#8220;eat&#8221; when it is &#8220;hungry&#8221; and sometimes it likes to eat slowly.

It may take longer than 6 days in colder environments

Use a kitchen thermometer and take its temp. Is it under 65F? Find a place where it can be warm.  Or use lukewarm water when mixing. Place it  in the oven with the light on overnight. (Not in direct sunlight) or above the fridge, or on the stovetop. Sometimes if cold,  it takes 10-12 days. Be patient, keep going. If it is doing absolutely nothing, leave it out on the counter for 24-48 hours and see what happens. If you see bubbles, it is alive and can be coaxed. If you run out of flour or need a break, don&#8217;t just toss it, put it in the fridge and see if you can get it going a few days or up to a week or two later.

ACIDITY

If you still can&#8217;t get that starter going, some people recommend subbing pineapple juice for the water for one feeding- raising the acidity level. My good friend just tried this and it got hers going.

LIQUID

If you see any liquid at the top of your starter, it means your starter is hungry. So, yes it&#8217;s still alive which is a good thing! You can stir the liquid in, or pour the liquid out, either way, but feed it! This may be a sign that you may need to feed it more often than you are.

MOLD

if you see any discoloring or mold on the surface, the starter was probably contaminated. If it is only on the surface, you could salvage it. Scrape it off, save 1/2 cup of the underneath starter, and keep going. Feed, smell, use your best judgment.

REFRIGERATE &amp; FEED AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK

Pick a scheduled day and try to stick with it, always reserving 1/2 cup and feeding it 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. Discard the remaining, or give it away, or keep the discard in a separate container to use in waffles, pancakes, sourdough buns, banana bread, biscuits, etc. I usually don&#8217;t feed the discard unless giving away.

If you forget to feed it one or two weeks in a row, it is most likely OK, just feed it 1-2 x day for 1-2 days in a row to revive it (keeping it out on the counter) until bubbly and active.  I&#8217;ve left my starter for a month on vacation (in the fridge) without feeding and simply revived it by feeding it 3 days in a row, 2 x day. It&#8217;s actually kind of hard to kill. You can also freeze it for longer storage.

If you find yourself wanting to bake more often than once a week, you can keep it out and feed it 1-2 times daily. Or if baking every few days, you can pull it out of the fridge, feed it 4-8 hours before using, leaving it out, use what you need while it is peaking, then put it back in the fridge that evening. Do the same thing a few days later when ready to use it again. So this would be feeding 2-3 times a week, best if baking 2-3 times a week.

MAINTENANCE:

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/nTAZduC6.mp4

A video on How to make your own Sourdough Starter from scratch using simple ingredients with no special equipment, in 5-7 days, that can be used in crusty sourdough bread, pizza dough, waffles, pancakes, and biscuits– instead of using yeast. 

How to make Sourdough Starter video 

How to make your own Sourdough Starter (see the step-by-step video in post) using simple ingredients with no special equipment, in 5-8 days, that can be used in sourdough bread, baguettes, pizza dough, waffles, scones, pancakes, and rolls- instead of using yeast. Sourdough Starter is a wild yeast, made from flour and water and the wild yeast in the flour itself and from the air around us. UPDATED 4/16/2020  {Original recipe taught to me by a friend who adapted it from Breadtopia and King Arthur Flour}

&nbsp;

120 grams whole grain flour (whole wheat flour, rye flour, or

Organic White Bread Flour (5-10 lb bag

Feed again, 1-2 times, roughly 12 hours apart, or when hungry,  discarding all but a 1/2 cup the starter EACH TIME. 1 cup bread flour, 1/2 cup lukewarm water. The starter should look active, bubbling, rising, sliding down, hopefully, close to doubling in size. (If not, repeat this day and read the troubleshooting section.) 

 Give it one last feeding. Discard all but a 1/3 cup. Add 1 cup flour ( 120 grams) and 1/2 cup water, and place it in a clean jar so you can see the action clearly.  You can use a sharpie or place a rubber band around the jar to mark the beginning level. The starter should hopefully double in volume within 4-6 hours of feeding.  When it peaks, DO THE FLOAT TEST: To test the starter, place a teaspoon of starter (just from the top, while it is peaking, don&#8217;t stir it down) in a glass full of water, it should hopefully float. If it does, you can make bread. Tonight! Let the starter keep resting at room temperature or a few more hours allowing it to fully metabolize the flour, perhaps sinking a little before making your dough. You want to make dough with slightly hungry starter.

At this point, if your starter does not double in size don&#8217;t give up! Often it just takes longer, sometimes up to two weeks, especially if it&#8217;s cold.  Continue feeding one-two times a day (only when hungry) for a few more days, until you see a visible rise and fall. Read the troubleshooting section. If you need to take a break, just put it in the fridge and try it again up to a week later. Don&#8217;t toss it- if there are bubbles, it is still alive.

This batch of starter will make two loaves of bread with enough left over to feed for the following week.

Thick or Thin? If you have been careful about measuring feedings, but are not seeing rising or falling, another way to tell what stage of your starter is in is to look at the consistency. If the starter seems really thick, it is still &#8220;digesting&#8221;. If it seems loose or runny or liquidy, (to the point where you can pour it out of the jar) it has digested all the flour and is now &#8220;hungry&#8221;. It loosens up as it metabolizes the flour. So even if you don&#8217;t see rising or falling, look for consistency to give you clues.

FLOAT TEST: 

If your starter is consistently rising and falling and it is has been over 8 days, but still doesn&#8217;t pass the float test, try baking a loaf of bread anyway.  Remember, use hungry starter when mixing up the dough.

Hello Sylvia, Thank you for such detailed instructions and recipes to use the discard starter. I will definitely try one of the recipes!

I am in a conundrum...my starter is on day 2 and I misunderstood the second (first cup of strong bread flour)feeds timming🙈. I let my starter rise and feed it after it started to fall a little instead of feeding it just when it started bubbling.

Did I ruin it? Should I start afreash? The starter has a sweet and sour fragranace which feels okay.

Please help!

Thanks for sharing your love for cooking. Its very inspiring 🙏

Hi Sylvia
I’ve been following your recipe.  My problem is that on Day 3 and Day 4 my starter just kept rising right out of the jar (large mason jar).  When I put a thermometer in it to test the temperature, it burst and dropped. I fed it, both times (twice on Day 3). Today is Day 4 and I’m not sure whether to feed it or let it continue to rise right out of the jar. Help!

Thanks, Sylvia!
When I put a fork in it it was like bursting a bubble.I’ve had to do this 2 times a day for the last 2 days. I’m going to give it the float test today.

Hi Sylvia, Thank you for taking the time to provide all the great directions and videos. I made my first loaf of sourdough this past weekend and it was absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing your sourdough starter knowledge with us! i did cheat a bit on making the bread using the dough cycle of my bread machine, let it rise after the cycle was complete and left the dough in the bread machine for another 3 hours then transferred to a bowl covered with wrap and kept in the fridge to proof overnight for about 14 hours. I baked it in a cast iron dutch oven, covered for 25 minutes and uncovered for 20 minutes as the top was getting quite dark so pulled out a bit early but it turned beautifully.
Let me know if you would like the detailed bread machine recipe measurements and i will post it here for your followers. Thanks again.

I’m on day 6 and hopefully going to be able to bake tonight. Once I’ve fed the starter this morning and if it passes the float test, I’ll take the amount needed for the bread recipe. Do you just put the starter straight in the fridge after that or do you need to feed it again? 

Thanks !

When you say feed the sourdough starter cold, does that mean adding the flour, water and saved starter, mixing and putting straight back in the fridge? 

Thanks! 
Sarah

I finished making my first loaf of bread last night.  It is gorgeous and tastes awesome! The bubbles inside were quite big. (1/4 to 2 inches) Is that normal?  I added just a few caraway seeds on the top. (mmm). My slits on the top were not deep enough and they closed when baked. It seemed ok though. My other question is oven temperature. I have a convection oven and when set at 500 degrees it automatically defaults to 475 degrees. Should I leave it at 475 or make sure it stays at 500 convection? I just want to say, that your instructions were really detailed and easy to follow. The videos were so helpful. Thank you so much, Sylvia!!!

Mistakenly used a third of a cup on day 2 instead of half a cup when feeding my starter, and now it’s struggling to rise in the jar. I was going to mix in more whole wheat flour during my the next feeding. Is that the right thought? I’m on day 4. Saw great rising on day 2 and minimal, but was it was liquidy and bubbly on day 3. Love the recipe, but looking for advice, thanks!

Great piece, thanks. I'm an experienced SD baker but enjoyed your perspectives. A little tip for people having trouble keeping their pet SD starter bubbly and happy:

Crunch up and moisten 2 to 4 plain Finn Crisp crackers or a wedge or round of Finnish rye crispbread and add that to your starter glop. Maybe it's just my main starter--whose name is Aimo Johannes--having been started with whey from a mesophilic yogurt culture originated from my father's family's home farm in Finnish Sweden...making Aimo Johannes and I relations now and it the long past. Or maybe it's that those crackers really are something special. But it really jump starts the bubbling and tang.

I also feed Aimo Johannes a tablespoon of the hard red wheat bran that I sift out of my home milled organic HRW flour. Lots of good bugs in the soil and on the plants at a healthy, well run organic grain farm! I don't do this every time, maybe every 4th or so. 

I use "discard" starter as a thickener. Or I add various flours and rolling it out thinly then baking it as crispbread. I also use it as a thinner when, e.g., blender-grinding cooked beans for a pate or bean soup. I keep discard in a quart jar in the fridge as my go-to wet ingredient for any and all flour-based recipes that I'm not using Aimo Johannes to leaven. But watch that jar carefully and don't keep refilling it--start a new jar as you use the previous.

Easy Sourdough Starter makes fluffy and crusty breads and sourdough baked goods. Use white all-purpose flour for Italian style breads. Wheat and rye flours makes more traditional sourdough breads.

Easy Sourdough Starter

white all-purpose flour

filtered water

In a  medium sized glass bowl mix together 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour. Stir well and cover. Let sit at room temperature.See Note #1 and Note #2 below.

Day 1

To yesterday’s mixture add 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water. Stir well and cover. Let sit at room temperature.

Throw away half of the Starter. To the remaining Starter add 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water. Stir well and cover. Let sit at room temperature.See Note #3 below.

Throw away half of the starter. Add 150 grams of flour and 150 grams of water to the bowl and stir well. Cover and let sit at room temperature. See Note #4 below.

Similar to the previous days, throw away half of the Starter and add 150 grams of flour and 150 grams of water. Stir well, cover and let sit at room temperature. See Note #5 below.

Throw away half of the starter and add 200 grams of flour and 200 grams of water. Stir well, cover and let sit at room temperature. See Note #6 below.

Day 6

On day 7 the Starter should at the least look like photo B above if not like photo C. If it has a similar appearance to photo C, it is ready to use. If it looks like photo B, let it sit at room temperature for one additional day.

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Top 4 easy sourdough starter recipes from across the web

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