Simple Sourdough Starter Recipe

How to make a Sourdough Starter?

Starting your Sourdough Starter is the beginning of an exciting adventure with delicious healthy homemade bread, pizza dough, flapjacks and so much more the list is endless. A Sourdough Starter is made from flour, water and the bacteria in the air around us. Instead of buying dry yeast, you will be making your own living yeast. I have found that bread and pizza dough made with a sourdough starter is easier for me to digest and the taste and texture is better.

What you will need.

• 500g whole flour (I used rye flour to start with and then moved over to white bread flour).
• 1 litre glass jar.
• Filtered water.

Day 1

Use a clean bowl to mix 25g water and 25g flour, cover it with a kitchen towel and leave it for 12 hours at room temperature. My kitchen's temperature averages between 20-23°C.

Day 2

Feed your starter with 25g flour and 25g water. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

Day 3

Discard 50g of the starter(there are a few recipes to try with your starter discard). In your glass jar mix 50g flour and 50g water to the remaining starter, cover and leave overnight.

Day 4

Discard 75g of the starter, feed your remaining starter 50g flour and 50g water. Cover and leave overnight.

Day 5

Your starter should start developing small bubbles and have a pleasantly sour smell. Discard 100g of the starter, feed the remaining starter 75g flour and 75g water. Cover and leave overnight.

Day 6

The starter should appear full of bubbles with a slightly sour smell. Discard 125g of the starter, feed the remaining starter 100g flour and 100g water. Cover and leave overnight.

Day 7

Today you can start making your bread, your starter should be very active and full of bubbles. You want to use your starter when it reached its peak, this will help your bread to rise. If you are unsure if your starter is ready just add a teaspoon of starter to a bowl with cold water if it floats your starter is ready. Make sure when you use your starter you keep some starter to feed for your next sourdough bread. If your starter is not active yet just keep discarding and feeding for a few extra days.

Maintaining your sourdough starter.

• When kept at room temperature you will need to feed your starter every day.I feed my starter 1:1:1 - If the weight of the starter is 100g, I will feed 100g flour and 100g water. I like adding rye flour with my white bread flour when I feed my starter.
• Having to feed your starter every day can become quite expensive. Therefore, you can store your starter in the fridge for up to 10 days and taken out when needed.
• Take the starter out of the fridge the day before you plan to bake and feed it the night before. The next morning the starter should be active and full of bubbles and ready to bake with.

Congratulations in making your first starter - you can now give it a name and enjoy baking together. Feel free to send me your questions.