This post shows how to start a sourdough starter from scratch. It also answers all questions on maintaining a sourdough starter.
A healthy and active starter is the heart of a good sourdough loaf. This post will show you how to set up a starter from scratch. It will also answer questions on maintaining a sourdough starter.
What is a sourdough starter?
It’s a pre-ferment made up of flour and water. A way to cultivate wild yeasts and healthy bacteria. Both the yeast and the bacteria are present in the flour and the air around us. This mix of yeasts and bacteria provide not only the rise in the bread but also sourdough’s signature tang.
Making a sourdough starter is relatively simple. Water and flour are combined and regularly added to for a number of days. This continues until it has formed an active, bubbly collection of wild yeasts and friendly bacteria (lactobacilli.)
You can use a gluten flour of your choice. I usually stick to plain unbleached flour for my starter. Sometimes I’ll add in rye or wholemeal to speed things up. Those sorts of flour seem to contain more yeasts and make things ferment a bit faster. I have not yet tried this with any gluten-free flours.
Starting a sourdough starter (at 100% hydration).
Before we get on to maintaining a sourdough starter, let’s make one first.
I make a sourdough starter at 100% hydration. All this means is that I always add the same weight of flour as water when I feed my starter.
Starting a starter can be different for everyone. It depends on the temperature of the room, humidity, yeasts in the air and flour. This can all change how quickly or slowly your starter grows and becomes active. Here is a basic guide on getting started.
Keep your starter in a warm space such as a hot water cupboard, especially if it’s winter and your kitchen is cold. An ideal temperature is between around 21-25 degrees Celsius. If you don’t have one you can set up your own little heated spot. Bear in mind that you don’t want a spot that is too hot either!
In a chiller bag add in a sealed jar of hot water, along with your starter. Close the bag to keep the heat in. This works well to create a warm space in the winter time.
Day 1: combine 50 grams flour and 50 grams water in a glass container and stir very well. Leave in a warm place, out of direct sunlight, covered with a cloth.
Day 2- Feed your starter 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. This means, adding in a fresh 50g of flour and 50g of water and mixing it really well with yesterday’s mix.
Day 3: Pour 50g of the starter into a bowl and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. (A ratio of 1:1:1.) Mix it well. Discard the rest. Tip this freshly fed starter into a clean jar and use a rubber band to mark where the starter comes up to. Making sure the new jar is clean and marking it with a rubber band will show clearly if the starter has risen or fallen.
Day 4: Pour 50g of the starter into a bowl and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water, (A ratio of 1:1:1.). Mix it well. Discard the rest. Tip this freshly fed starter into a clean jar and use a rubber band to mark where the starter comes up to.*
*By day 4 your starter should be bubbling and have a slightly sour smell. It’s not ready to bake bread with but it should have enough acid to be used in discard recipes like pancakes and cookies.
Day 5-10: Each day continue with the same process. Pour 50g of the starter into a bowl and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water, (A ratio of 1:1:1.). Mix it well. Discard the rest. Tip this freshly fed starter into a clean jar and use a rubber band to mark where the starter comes up to.
If your starter is doubling easily by day 6 or 7, you can start feeding it 1:1:1 twice daily.
By day 10 it may be ready to use. Test your starter’s activeness, as shown below.
Starter Activeness Test
To test how active your starter is and if it’s ready to bake with, you’ll need your starter to double within 6-8 hours. You will also feed your starter at a higher ratio of flour and water to check if the yeast colony in your starter is large enough to inoculate this extra flour in under 8 hours.
Take 1 part starter and feed it 2 parts flour and 2 parts water. Mix it well in a jar or glass.If you tie a rubber band around your glass jar to mark where the starter came up to before it rose, you’ll be able to see how much it has risen later on.
Pop the starter in a warm place, out of direct sunlight. In winter, use a hot water cupboard, a freezer bag with a jar of hot water in there or the oven with just the oven light on.
If it doesn’t double within 8 hours it will need a few days longer. Repeat the steps from day 3 and 4 with the starter and try the test again in a few days time.
Sourdough Starter F.A.Qs
My starter was frothy and bubbly on days 2 & 3 but now on days 4 & 5 it’s not rising.
Don’t fret! Chances are it was the lactobacillus bacteria in your starter forming those bubbles, and not the yeasts. Bacteria also create bubbles while they are converting sugars to lactic and acetic acid, but it’s the yeasts in the starter that will give rise to your bread. The yeast colony takes a little longer to establish themselves. Be patient and keep feeding and refreshing your starter
My starter has split and now has water forming on the top.
This is a sign that your starter is hungry! Your starter might be fermenting a little too fast and the yeasts have run out of food. This can happen if room your starter is in is too hot.
If this keeps happening you can start feeding your starter at a ratio of 1:2:2. This means measuring how much starter you have and adding double the weight of water and new flour. Measure out a separate amount in a new jar. For example, 30 grams starter + 60 g water + 60 g flour.
I forgot to feed my starter for ages and now it’s dead.
Doubtful. It’s pretty hard to kill a starter! Unless it’s super contaminated with harmful bacteria or mould, chances are you’ll be able to resurrect it. Just start up again with regular feedings and discards.
My starter used to double in 6 hours and now it’s taking much longer.
Has the temperature changed? If it’s colder your starter will take longer to double. Move it to a warmer space such as a hot water cupboard.
Will my starter grow mould or get bad bacteria in it?
If you keep up with regular discarding and feeding, in a fresh jar each time, your lactobacillus colony will thrive. As they do, the amount of lactic acid they produce will inhibit mould growth and harmful bacteria.
A contaminated sourdough starter is pretty rare. If you do see mould growing on your starter or it develops a pink, red or orange tinge, discard it and start again.
It’s day 5, I want to bake with my starter and I’ve fed it 1:2:2 but it hasn’t doubled in 8 hours.
Your starter isn’t ready yet. It’s not colonised enough and there aren’t enough yeasts yet inoculate the newly added flour in under 8 hours. Keep on discarding and feeding for a few more days and then try again.
Starters are so forgiving. Just look for the changes happening and adapt accordingly.
Once your starter is active, it is ready to be baked with. However, it doesn’t end there. After you have made your loaf, you don’t want to be having to start a fresh starter every single time you want to bake. Instead, you want to maintain your existing starter, feed it and keep it alive for the next time you bake.
Now let’s talk about maintaining a sourdough starter. First, take a little bit of the old starter and add some fresh flour and water. How much you take and how much you add differs for each baker but I’ll run through how much I take and why.
Maintaining a sourdough starter
Once you have made your bread dough, take the leftover starter and feed it again 1:1:1 or 1:2:2 before placing it in a sealed jar in the fridge. Starter will last in the fridge for weeks and giving it this extra feed before refrigerating it will give it some slow release food over this time.
Once you’re planning to bake again, here’s what to do next.
Take your starter from the refrigerator and feed, in a clean jar at the ratio of 1:2:2. Discard the rest.
Mix it together to create a thick paste and leave it to sit, covered with a tea towel. Again, you want it to at least double within 6-8 hours before you bake with it.
Once you have used what you need for your bread, feed the remaining starter 1:1:1 or 1:2:2 and place it back in the fridge in a sealed jar. You want to feed it before placing it in the fridge to keep that seed starter amount small and the acid content low. It makes for a much easier starter to work with.
Young starter vs Mature starter
The longer the time between the feeding of your starter, or the bigger your seed starter amount, the more acid that accumulates in your starter. A starter fed and used within 6 hours will have less acid than if it was fed and used 12 hours later. A starter fed 1:1:1 has a higher amount of seed starter than one fed at 1:2:2 and will have more acid.
Using a starter with a low acid content allows your dough to be a lot more stretchable and easy to work with. A starter with a high acid content can make it very runny and tricky to manage. It can turn your dough into a wet mess.
The world of sourdough is an exciting place and everyone has such a different take on their bread and a different recipe. One thing I’m sure everyone will agree on is a healthy active starter is a key ingredient.
Happy baking!
Sourdough Starter Recipe
Ingredients
- Flour
- Water
Instructions
- Day 1: combine 50 grams flour and 50 grams water in a glass container and stir very well. Leave in a warm place, out of direct sunlight, covered with a cloth.
- Day 2- Feed your starter 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. This means, adding in a fresh 50g of flour and 50g of water and mixing it really well with yesterday's mix.
- Day 3: Pour 50g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. (A ratio of 1:1:1.) Discard the rest.
- Day 4: Pour 50g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. Discard the rest.
- By day 3 and 4, your starter should be bubbling and have a slightly sour smell.
- Day 5-10: each day pour 50g of the starter into a fresh jar and feed it 50 grams flour and 50 grams water. Discard the rest.
- If your starter is doubling easily by day 6 or 7, you can start feeding it 1:1:1 twice daily.
- By day 10 it might be ready to use, though it could be earlier. Test it using the starter activeness test as written below.
Thank you for the directions. I’ve watched several “Bake With Jack” video clips and he has one called “The Scrapings Method”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj6YpNCUYYQ&t=8s
that sounds promising to avoid throwing any away.
Cool 🙂 I myself rarely throw starter away as we use the discard in so many recipes!
I am I the process of starting my starter. I have had lots of people ask for a starter when my starter is ready. Do I give the discard away as a new starter or is there another process for doing this?
Heya, I would wait to give it to others until it’s at least doubling within 5-6 hours. Otherwise they’ll have to also feed and discard for a few days until it’s ready.
Once it’s doubling easily, the next time you discard, you could take that discard and feed it and divide that up to give away 😊
Excellent instructions but please tell me two things:
1. whilst maintaining the starter, when I feed it and put it in the fridge, do I first let it rise and then put it in the fridge or just feed it and immediately put it in fridge?
2. On your You Tube video for ‘Easy No Knead Sourdough’ you don’t cover the dough at all whilst doing the 30 minute interval folding? Is that correct?
Thank you
Hey you can feed it and pop it straight back in the fridge. On my video I don’t show it but I actually place a plate over that pie dish to cover the dough. If I see it drying out I’ll place a damp tea towel over instead.
Sometimes i forgot to cover it completely though and it’s still fine!
About the activation test… Are you supposed to DISCARD ALL but 60-65 grams of the starter that has been fermenting for at least 5 days and add the 60 grams from that starter to a clean jar with 130 grams flour and 130 grams water?
In other words, does the “activation test starter” with 1:2:2 ratio become the new starter if it doubles within the 6-8 period of time? And if it does not double in size within the 6-8 hour period, do you then continue feeding the activation test jar the 1:1:1 ratio until it is ready, or do you discard that jar entirely and continue on with steps 3 & 4 from your sourdough starter recipe with the original?
This is the only point I am not exactly clear on, and would really appreciate your
advise.
Thank you in advance,
Melissa
Hey Melissa, you can actually do either but I find it easier to use the ‘activation starter test’ as the new starter and if it doesn’t double, go back to feeding that test 1:1:1 until it’s ready 😊
Thanks so much Elien… I am so grateful for your amazing explanation on this.
Do you use the ‘float test’ as well after your ‘activation test’ because mine actually tripled, but when I did the float test in water most of it stayed on top, but little strands fell to the bottom after 4 minutes so I took your suggestion to go back to steps 3 and 4… still in the process…😀Definately a challenge…
I don’t find the float test that reliable! I much rather judge it on when it doubles after a 1:2:2 feeding (it’s not enough for it to to double after a 1:1:1 feed though). If you try the 1:2:2 feed and it doubles in time it’s good to go!
I have been making your sourdough for the last few months and love it…just one thing though, I had been feeding the leftover starter after the activation test with 1:2:2 and putting it in the fridge for the next loaf but it looks as though I should only be using 1:1:1…if this correct, would this be why my bread is quite holey…more like ciabatta than sourdough (but it’s still really nice, holes and all)
Thanks
Bron
Hey! The only difference the ratios make are the speed in which the starter doubles. Eg, if I feed mine 1:1:1 then it will double within 3-4 hours, whilst a 1:2:2 takes 6-8 hours.
If you feed your starter 1:1:1 and use it after 8 hours it will most likely have already peaked and fallen, and it’s passed it’s prime.
So yeah you can use whatever ratio works best with your schedule (I use a 1:3:3 when feeding my starter overnight as that takes about 10-12 hours to double).
I’m unsure that how much you’re feeding your starter has much to do with your holes bread. Big sporadic holes can be a sign of either not enough structure being built, or being underproofed. You can add a few extra folds in, or do a little slap and fold kneading before starting coil folds to add extra structure and make sure you let your bread bulk after all the folds for long enough, it needs to be 50% bigger and puffier before being shaped. A long bulk ferment will give a tighter crumb. 🙂
Hi, I’m about to make my starter and wanted to check that chlorinated tap water is OK (or do you use bottled water)? Also can you use a half white/half rye combination? I’ve seen this in other starter recipes.
Hey I use chlorinated tap water with no problems ☺️. You can also use half white half rye if you like. I personally like an all white flour starter because white is cheaper. Especially while it’s establishing and you’re discarding. But it’s totally a personal preference!
I am curious if I absolutely have to discard of any starter? What if I just wanted to feed it again without discarding it?
Hey so if you don’t discard your starter you’re going to have to feed it a lot more to keep all those yeasts and bacteria happy. Every time you feed it more are created and the more there are the more they’ll eat.
It’s better to take a small amount each time and feed it fresh water and flour so that the organisms in there are happy and well fed.
If they go hungry they create a lot of acid and this makes a hard to work with starter.
However if you don’t want to discard it, once your starter is on day 3 or so you can use it in discard recipes.
Hope that makes sense!
I have started a white and a whole meal starter (day 3) my white is starting to bubble and rise up the jar, the brown isn’t, is that normal?
Heya yup that’s totally normal, at day 3 the bacteria and yeasts are slowly still working their way up to colonising the flour. The fact that one starter is showing activity just means more bacteria were present on that initial flour. Give it time and the wholemeal starter will catch up ☺️
Hello There,
FIRSTLY: Thank you for your wonderful recipe and instructions, like others I’ve recently been battling to find yeast (and flour), so thought now would be the perfect time to start that sourdough I’ve always wanted to try. Additionally I really appreciate a recipe from New Zealand!!!!!!
SECONDLY: Is discarding half the starter only for size and feeding purposes? In other words could I just keep feeding a compounding starter and end up with a huge starter without discarding? Or could I start small, or really small, and avoid discarding as I continue feeding? In short: to avoid discarding could I start a starter with say (for example) 12.5 g and then feed 25g, then feed 50g and so on and so on?
Thank you for your time, keep well and stay safe,
Kia Kaha.
Hey! That’s awesome you’re giving sourdough a go!
I wouldn’t start with compounding the starter as it will quickly become too big, even if starting really small.
However, you can absolutely start with really small amounts! Your suggested amounts would work very well, it’s just about staying consistent.:)
Good luck and have fun!
I love this article. I’ve been trying to find yeast in the shops but not having any luck. I’m definitely going to try this. You say when making your starter to use 50 g, can it be more? ie, 100g or one cup etc. Thanks Betina
It can be more but you’re doing to be discarding a fair bit so that’s why most people would prefer to keep the amount small.
If you do change the amounts, just keep the consistent with weight, 100g as opposed to 1 cup, because 1 cup flour is going to weight differently to 1 cup starter
I’ve been feeding my starter for 10 days & it has a few holes in top & smells sour but hasn’t increased in size at all in 8hrs after a 1:2:2 feed. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. It looks nothing like your picture on the tab for this post that has nice bubbles all the way through… should I discard & start again?
Hey, the 10 days is just a guide and some starters take longer than others.
I wouldn’t do the 1:2:2 test until my starter is doubling easily within 4-5 hours when being fed at 1:1:1.
I would wait 24 hours now and go back to discarding and feeding it 1:1:1 and wait for it to double. Once it doubles within 4-5 hours, you can switch to 12 hourly feeds of 1:1:1, and once that doubles within 4-5 hours it should be good to undergo the 1:2:2 test.
Do check that your temp for your starter is not too hot or too cold, between 21-25 degrees Celsius is good. Too hot will also slow a starter, as well as too cold.
But apart from that patience is key.
The pictured starter on my photo is what it will look like when properly active, when it can easily double, if not triple a 1:2:2 feed.
It’ll get there!
Thanks for the recipe and I have just started my Starter but 50gms flour and 50gms water made quite a gluggy mix not liquidy at all. Is that right? What consistency would you say it is?
Yup like a thick muffin batter ☺️. As the starter gets going, acid will be produced which will start making it runnier
If my starter has doubled in size within 5 hours of the feed on day 3 do I need to be feeding it less?
Nope just keep feeding it ☺️