How to make sourdough starter from scratch

What Is a Sourdough Starter?

A sourdough starter is how we cultivate the wild yeast in a form that we can use for baking. Since wild yeast are present in all flour, the easiest way to make a starter is simply by combining flour and water and letting it sit for several days. You don't need any fancy ingredients to "capture" the wild yeast or get it going - it's already there in the flour.

After a day or two, bubbles will start to form in the starter, indicating that the wild yeast is starting to become active and multiply. To keep the yeast happy, we feed the starter with fresh flour and water over the next several days, until the starter is bubbly and billowy. Once it reaches that frothy, billowy stage, the starter is ready to be used.

I prefer wholemeal flour for my sourdough starter. The type of grain you use depends only on the type of bread you want to bake. The most common is rye sourdough. It's possible to use spelt or wheat. 

 

Let's begin

I made my sourdough starter years ago. 

I made it from whole grain rye flour at a temperature of about 26-28 °C.

Day 1
For the starter, combine 200 g of the flour with 200 ml of lukewarm water in a non-metallic container - a glass jar is perfect. Leave it covered with a kitchen towel, and store somewhere warm overnight.

Day 2
The following day, "feed it" by discarding half and adding a further 100 g of flour and 100 ml of lukewarm water.

Day 3 - 7
Repeat this feeding process each day until you see bubbles throughout the mixture (this is where a glass jar comes in handy). It will take a few days, possibly more, for the mixture to pick up the natural wild yeasts and really start living. Don't lose hope - it will happen!

Your sourdough starter should smell a little like wine. A light vinegar note is also fine.

I put my sourdough starter in the fridge, with the glass lid loosely lying on top. It must be refreshed weekly.

 

(Edit: 2019-07-16: The following part was rewritten for a better understanding):

How to refresh the sourdough starter?

As I wrote above, the sourdough must be refreshed at least once a week. There are different methods. I would like to introduce my simple method.

I bake sourdough bread once or twice a week. For my recipe I need 80 g sourdough starter from which I make the sourdough for baking. In addition, I need some of the sourdough starter for refreshing. You always take some of the sourdough starter to make the fresh sourdough starter. For this you calculate between 20 and 35 percent on the basis of the flour quantity of the new sourdough starter. I've had good experiences with 33 percent.

Since I always have to assume a loss and want to have enough reserve to produce more fresh sourdough starters if I have to bake twice as much, I would like to have 140 g sourdough starter for the next baking day. This is the basis for my example.

Ingredients:

60 g wholemeal rye flour
60 g water (50 °C)
20 g sourdough starter (from the last baking day, right out of the fridge)

Preparation:

1. Pour the water into a clean jar, add the flour and stir well.
2. Add the sourdough starter and stir well.
3. Let the jar rest for 12-16 hours at room temperature with the lid on loosely.
4. Put the jar with the refreshed sourdough starter in the refrigerator for safekeeping.

Regardless if you bake or not, the above steps must be performed once a week to keep the sourdough starter alive.

You should adjust the quantity to your needs. 

 

When you have your rye sourdough starter, you can also turn it into spelt or wheat sourdough starter. You just need to refresh it a few times with flour of the desired grain type.

 

Wheat Sourdough Bread