Making sourdough bread requires a bit more time and planning than many breads, predominantly because you need a sourdough starter to make sourdough bread. This starter is usually made with water, yeast, sugar, and flour and develops for about a week before it can be used in bread. Then, only a portion of the starter is used, and you feed the starter to replenish it, so you always have starter on hand, your starter continually "living" and developing over time. You can buy sourdough starter, but there are plenty of recipes out there for making your own. Here's the recipe I use, which has been the most successful for me thus far.
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Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar or honey*
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a large glass or ceramic bowl, stir honey or sugar into warm water until dissolved. Stir in yeast.
- Slowly add flour to mixture, whisking to combine, and cover with a towel or dishcloth. Do use a towel rather than plastic wrap so the wild yeast in your kitchen can "catch onto" the starter, but be sure to use a towel that you don't mind getting dirty. Leave in a warm place to develop. If you don't have a warm place, it should be fine, as my kitchen was cool when I made my starter.
- Let your starter sit out for 2-5 days, stirring once per day to reincorporate the liquid that will settle on top. Once your starter has stopped bubbling and has developed a sour aroma, stir it once again and place in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Notes
*For a vegan starter, use sugar instead of honey.
Recipe Source: Annie's Eats, Originally From: King Arthur Flour
Need some recipes to try with your sourdough starter?
Sonja
Thanks for the instructions. I have one question: when you take the one cup of starter after getting it out of the fridge, do you have to activate it before using it for baking or are you using the one cup starter right away in recipes? Thank you
alexandra
It can depend on the recipe, but in many cases you can just use the one cup right away. :)
Liza vK
I tried a starter recipe from another website and it became a moldy mess. So I tried your recipe. Today is the 4th day. I used a cup of the starter to make bread and it turned out great! I fed the rest of the starter and after 12 hours, it's alive and bubbly and in my fridge now, ready for a week rest. I admit I was a bit doubtful because for 4 days, I didn't see much bubbles, just watery and separated batter. I figured as long as it snells sour and not moldy, it should be fine. And it was!! Thank you!
alexandra
Yay! So happy to hear you were successful! :)
Lily
Hey,
So I started my starter today and set it on top of the fridge to hang out till I stirred it tomorrow, but I want to check on it and it had completely bubbled over all over the place! A good cup of it bubbled out. Is it ruined or can it be salvaged?
alexandra
I would just use what you have left and continue to feed as the recipe instructs; it should be fine! Might want to switch it to a larger container though. ;)
Amelia
Hey,
I was just wondering how much, preferably in grams, this starter would make.
I am super excited to try it out as I love sourdough and I was just wondering how much I could get out of this recipe.
Thanks
alexandra
I'm guessing it would make about 700 grams based on the amount of flour and water in the recipe.
John
Thank you so much for all your explanation !!
christine
can i make this with gluten free flour? any change to the ratio?
alexandra
I'm really not sure; I don't have any experience making gluten-free yeast breads so I wouldn't want to suggest that I know more than I do. I would suggest visiting the King Arthur website via the link below the recipe and asking the question there. They would certainly have more knowledge on the topic. :)
steve c.
Hi.
Last night I followed ur starter recipe and now its day 2. Its still pretty runny. Do I just let it sit for 2 -5 days stirring it every day .or do I add the feed for it? The one cup flour with one half cup waterr every day? Will that thicken it up?
alexandra
You'll want to just stir it for the first 2-5 days, and then feed it once a week.
Pat
Can I use whole wheat instead of all purpose flour for the starter? If so, then for the bread do I use whole wheat flour?
alexandra
I would say that, yes, you can use whole wheat flour for the starter. However, I'd stick to white flour for the bread, to help keep a similar texture in the final loaf. (100% whole wheat loaves tend to be more solid and dense.)
Francesca
I just did your starter. Today is day 4. it seems like something being fermented. I am waiting till tomorrow to put it in a jar in the fridge ro use half of it to make my sourdough bread. I live in Malaysia and fell in love with sourdough bread while i was living in Vancouver.
My questions is there is a scum like layer on top of the liquid. Mine has not risen like the others.
It this ok?
Thank you
alexandra
Can you explain to me what you mean by the scum-like layer? What does it look like?
Franceca
It is a layer like a layer of oil over water except in this case it was slightly brown and curd like in appearance. Once I stirred it, it slowly incorporated with the rest of the mixture. . But on day 5, it was no longer there.
Anyway, I made the artisan bread with the original unfed starter and it turned out great. Only, I forgot to put the salt!!
Now I am looking forward to making the sourdough bread. Thank you for the recipe. I shared it on Facebook.
Francesca
alexandra
It sounds like your starter is doing just fine. ;) Sometimes it will look odd like that, but as long as you don't see mold, weird colors - like pink tones, or an "off" smell, you should be okay. (The starter will of course have a smell of its own naturally which is perfectly fine.)
Latona
Once you have your starter fully started and in the fridge, do you need to drain off the liquid before feeding it?
alexandra
No, you can just stir in the liquid and then feed as normal. :)
Pat
I have made the starter and not sure how much of the starter dough I should use to make a 700gm loaf? Most of the recipes I look at use a dried sourdough starter so difficult to estimate the amount in liquid form. Hope that makes sense!?
alexandra
Hi Pat, I wish I could help you but every recipe I've worked with uses a starter similar to this one, and I don't have experience using dried starters. I would think you could use an equal amount of this starter and then reduce the liquid in the recipe as needed, but that's just me trying to make an educated guess. :) You might want to try the King Arthur Flour baker's hotline for more help. Since this recipe is adapted from them, they should be able to give you a bit more information on using it to make different breads.
Nancy Farmer
How large is a "large" container, needed to start with? Is it a quart, gallon? Will a glass jar work or does it need to be more open at the top? I can't wait to try it. I have several friends that use a starter but the bread flavor is bland. I'm looking for a good "yeast" taste in the bread. Thank you
alexandra
I would use something larger than a jar. For making the starter, I would just use the largest bowl you have. For storing the starter, I would suggest maybe a 1.5 quart container. Let me know if you have more questions!
David F
Haven't tried doing a sourdough starter, but it's on my list of things to try. This week, I'm trying the "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" method (from the library). My first loaf turned out well, and hopefully the dough will get more like sourdough as it rests in the fridge. We'll see...
alexandra
You should give the starter a try too! It's a neat thing to do and churns out some pretty good bread. :)
Melissa in Colorado
After my starter sat out for 5 days I stored it in the refrigerator for in a 1/2 gallon mason jar. When I opened the jar this morning, the mason jar lid flew off when I unscrewed the band. Any idea what might have happened and/or how to keep that from happening again?
alexandra
Well that's a new one! Was it completely full when you took it out of the fridge?
Tami
CO2 build up. That's all that was. Be nice to your starter and just leave the lid unscrewed next time so it can fart when it needs to. You'd explode, too, if you were all plugged up and couldn't fart. *wink*
alexandra
Haha thanks for the tip Tami!
jinx
I have a sourdough starter, I would like to give some to my daughter so If I give her a cup of starter what would she then do with it?
alexandra
She should be able to feed it with 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour, just as you would with yours, and use it from there!