Homemade Sourdough Starter

    It’s been a while….   I’d love to say that I was off travelling the world, or publishing a bestselling cookbook (oh, how I wish that was true for real!), all these months. My children have grown bigger, some seasons have come and gone, and the only bits & pieces that I’ve shared of my kitchen adventures have been through the blog’s Instagram account.   

How come? Because that’s all I could manage. I had one final duty as a daughter: caring for my ill father & making sure his goodbye was as peaceful as possible. Like everything else I’ve ever done, all of me went into achieving that last loving act for him.  

So, here we are. It’s been several months since our loss, and I’m back in the kitchen again. My father was a complicated soul, but there was never any doubt that he loved his family. When I felt the urge to finally make something to share with my readers, I felt it appropriate to start with something that my dad enjoyed so much… good, crusty bread.   

The man would pounce on a fresh loaf like it was manna from heaven! The heels were a big favorite, smattered with as much butter as they could hold. You were in trouble in my house if you ate the heels of bread before dad got to them!   I began with sourdough. This type of bread has been on my to-do list for years, but I’ve always been too intimidated to try. The most important bit – and what we’re talking about today – is the very basis of the bread: the sourdough starter. Flour, water, and time. Heat and care. Over a two week span, not only did my little baby starter come alive, but it bubbled. It foamed. With small tweaks, such as changing the types of flour used, aging the starter, grabbing it when it was just at peak foaminess, or right after the fall… I made bread. LOTS of bread. This was truly a little ‘breathing’ experiment sitting in the Pyrex container in my fridge.   

Once you have a strong starter, the sky’s the limit. Chewy sourdough bread, soft cinnamon rolls, crispy crackers, and fluffy waffles. My kids have gotten sick of all of my new variations, but I keep on plugging away! With the tender care that a starter needs in the beginning, and then the very act of making bread, I was paying homage to my father. Slow kneading, shaping, and watching the bread grow from a blobby mess to a beautiful loaf was therapeutic. It fed me, in more ways than just my stomach.  

NOTE: There are several wonderful sources to check as you start your sourdough adventure.    –King Arthur Flour’s website is full of tips & recipes that were all I needed to get going!    -The blog, The Clever Carrot, is another resource that was incredibly helpful. Her advice & recipes are clear and beautifully detailed, also the basic sourdough bread recipe was and is my go to for a quick and easy loaf.   –The Tartine Bread Book has taken a permanent space on my counter (versus the bookshelf) these past few weeks. It’s more of a professional take on bread baking and invaluable for techniques for the home baker. I’m turning out loaves that look professionally done, from my little Bosc oven.  

I highly advise that you buy high quality unchlorinated spring water, unbleached AP flour, and wheat flour for making your starter. I prefer King Arthur brand. A covered glass container is excellent for growing and storage. If your home is drafty, a heating blanket or heating pad can help keep your little starter at a constant temperature. I have also used a warm oven stone (between 72F-80F) in the oven, to help grow the starter.  

Sourdough Starter

modified from King Arthur Flour

  To Start Your Starter   1 cup whole wheat flour ½ cup of room temperature filtered spring water 1 medium glass container with fitted heavy plastic lid (I like using Pyrex)   To “Feed” Your Starter   1 cup of all-purpose unbleached flour ½ cup spring water  

    To begin, mix the whole wheat flour & spring water together in a glass container, until the flour is incorporated. It will look like a thick paste. Set the bowl, loosely covered, on the counter at room temperature (about 70F), for 24 hours.   

    If you have a drafty house your starter may need a little help staying at temperature. A heating pad or electric blanket (set to medium) is a great little cheat. Just place the starter bowl on top and let it nestle in. I have also done this using my oven with an iron oven ‘stone’. Just warm your oven to about 80F, and place the starter on a rack after you’ve switched the oven off. Keep an eye on the temperature using an oven thermometer – try to keep it consistently between 70-80 degrees.   After 24 hours, you may see some slight bubbling – or nothing at all (don’t worry, the bacteria and yeasts are in there!). Scoop out half the starter and throw it away. Add 1 cup of AP unbleached flour, and ½ cup of room temperature spring water to the bowl. Stir thoroughly and cover, place back on the counter/heating pad/whatever you’ve been using.   48 hours later, you’ll probably start to see some changes to the goop. The starter will have a slightly fruity aroma (like young wine), and there will be some bubbling and expansion. You’re now going to start feeding the young starter twicea day, 12 hours apart.   Scoop out half of the starter (about 4 ounces), and discard. Add 1 cup of AP unbleached flour and ½ cup room temperature spring water. Stir well, cover, and let sit in a warm spot. 12 hours later, repeat the procedure.    This is the point when variations in temperature or humidity can affect your starter growth. Just keep scooping/feeding/stirring/warming your starter – don’t give up if it looks more like a flour paste you might have eaten at craft time in kindergarden rather than beautiful natural leavening. My own batch took TWO WEEKS to get going, but it’s worth it. Trust me. As you wait for your newborn baby starter to find it’s legs, think of names for the flour paste, it helps. We named ours “Paul Riser”.   Day 5, 6, 7, etc., keep feeding and watching. Once you get rivulets & foamy bubbles, you’re almost there! If your starter suddenly bursts to life and blubs out of the container, you’ve hit the jackpot – The starter will smell sweet and a little acidic.  

    Discard all but 4 ounces of starter and give it one last feed / rest. You’ve now got a strong starter that can be stored in the fridge, and at this point you can change to feeding it 1 time per week.    When you want to use it for a recipe, scoop 4 ounces of starter into a plastic container with a  lid, feed ½ cup AP flour and ¼ cup water, and let rest for about 3-4 hours, until foamy.    At the same time, the main starter (or “Mother”), should also be fed 1 cup AP flour and ½ cup spring water and let to rest until foamy. Then, you can store in the fridge once again.   I would love to hear about your starter and baking projects in my comments section. Think of a witty name for your sourdough starter? Please share! Happy Baking!  

Print Recipe

Sourdough Starter

Ingredients

To Start Your Starter

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup of room temperature filtered spring water
• 1 medium glass container with fitted heavy plastic lid I like using Pyrex

To “Feed” Your Starter

• 1 cup of all-purpose unbleached flour
• ½ cup spring water

Instructions

• To begin, mix the whole wheat flour & spring water together in a glass container, until the flour is incorporated. It will look like a thick paste. Set the bowl, loosely covered, on the counter at room temperature (about 70F), for 24 hours.
• If you have a drafty house your starter may need a little help staying at temperature. A heating pad or electric blanket (set to medium) is a great little cheat. Just place the starter bowl on top and let it nestle in. I have also done this using my oven with an iron oven ‘stone’. Just warm your oven to about 80F, and place the starter on a rack after you’ve switched the oven off. Keep an eye on the temperature using an oven thermometer – try to keep it consistently between 70-80 degrees.
• After 24 hours, you may see some slight bubbling – or nothing at all (don’t worry, the bacteria and yeasts are in there!). Scoop out half the starter and throw it away. Add 1 cup of AP unbleached flour, and ½ cup of room temperature spring water to the bowl. Stir thoroughly and cover, place back on the counter/heating pad/whatever you’ve been using.
• 48 hours later, you’ll probably start to see some changes to the goop. The starter will have a slightly fruity aroma (like young wine), and there will be some bubbling and expansion. You’re now going to start feeding the young starter twicea day, 12 hours apart.
• Scoop out half of the starter (about 4 ounces), and discard. Add 1 cup of AP unbleached flour and ½ cup room temperature spring water. Stir well, cover, and let sit in a warm spot. 12 hours later, repeat the procedure.
• This is the point when variations in temperature or humidity can affect your starter growth. Just keep scooping/feeding/stirring/warming your starter – don’t give up if it looks more like a flour paste you might have eaten at craft time in kindergarden rather than beautiful natural leavening. My own batch took TWO WEEKS to get going, but it’s worth it. Trust me. As you wait for your newborn baby starter to find it’s legs, think of names for the flour paste, it helps. We named ours “Paul Riser”.
• Day 5, 6, 7, etc., keep feeding and watching. Once you get rivulets & foamy bubbles, you’re almost there! If your starter suddenly bursts to life and blubs out of the container, you’ve hit the jackpot – The starter will smell sweet and a little acidic.
• Discard all but 4 ounces of starter and give it one last feed / rest. You’ve now got a strong starter that can be stored in the fridge, and at this point you can change to feeding it 1 time per week.
• When you want to use it for a recipe, scoop 4 ounces of starter into a plastic container with a lid, feed ½ cup AP flour and ¼ cup water, and let rest for about 3-4 hours, until foamy.
• At the same time, the main starter (or “Mother”), should also be fed 1 cup AP flour and ½ cup spring water and let to rest until foamy. Then, you can store in the fridge once again.

Notes

There are several wonderful sources to check as you start your sourdough adventure.

-King Arthur Flour’s website is full of tips & recipes that were all I needed to get going!

-The blog, The Clever Carrot, is another resource that was incredibly helpful. Her advice & recipes are clear and beautifully detailed, also the basic sourdough bread recipe was and is my go to for a quick and easy loaf.

-The Tartine Bread Book has taken a permanent space on my counter (versus the bookshelf) these past few weeks. It’s more of a professional take on bread baking and invaluable for techniques for the home baker. I’m turning out loaves that look professionally done, from my little Bosc oven.

I highly advise that you buy high quality unchlorinated spring water, unbleached AP flour, and wheat flour for making your starter. I prefer King Arthur brand. A covered glass container is excellent for growing and storage. If your home is drafty, a heating blanket or heating pad can help keep your little starter at a constant temperature. I have also used a warm oven stone (between 72F-80F) in the oven, to help grow the starter.