Create Your Own Starter From Scratch

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Jeni
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Create Your Own Sourdough Starter From Scratch

I promise you can do this!! Don't over think it!
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Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 50 grams All Purpose Flour (unbleached)
  • 50 grams Filtered Water (room temp/slightly warm)

Equipment

  • 1 scale
  • 2 Identical glass jars w/ metal rim rings (16oz mason jars work great)
  • Coffee filters
  • 1 rubber band
  • 1 pen/marker
  • 1 spatula (or something to stir)

Method
 

  1. Combine 50 grams of unbleached all purpose flour and 50 grams slightly warm filtered water in a glass jar. Mix well. *You can incorporate wheat or rye flour at any time during the process to help strengthen your starter, 10 of the 50 grams would be plenty*
  2. Cover with coffee filter & seal onto jar.
  3. Write the date and time on your filter. Place a rubber band around jar, level with flour and water mixture. This will allow you to identify any activity in your jar easily.
  4. Allow to rest untouched in a warm environment for 24 hours.
  5. After 24 hours, place a clean, unused, identical jar on the scale and press the tare button to zero it out. Now place your jar WITH flour and water mixture inside on the scale. This ensures that the scale is only reading the starter weight, not the jar.
    Remove & throw away ("discard") down to 50 grams of the flour and water mixture.
    This remaining 50 grams of mixture will now be referred to as "Starter."
    In the future, after your starter is fully developed, you will be able to use this discard in recipes. It is not yet safe to do so, it must be thrown away.
  6. Add 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water to the jar. This is a 1:1:1 ratio that we are using. 1 part Starter, 1 Part Flour, 1 Part Water. Adjust your rubber band to be level with your starter. Write the date and time on your filter.
  7. Allow to rest untouched in a warm environment for 24 hours. You will repeat this process for 7-10 days. You may see a surge of activity early on, very exciting!! Do not be discouraged if it doesn't continue the following days. Just continue the process.
    If you notice a stinky cheese smell early on, this is normal! The "bad" bacteria will try to take over causing a foul smell. Ignore it and carry on.
  8. Your starter is ready to use when it is consistently doubling in size with this ratio roughly 3-5 hours after feeding.
    A healthy starter should smell slightly sour and sweet. It should not smell rotten. If it smells like acetone, it just needs larger and less hydrated feeds for a day or 2.
    It will look and feel different depending on its environment and feeding ratios. As long as it's not moldy, you're good!!! I have added more useful tips and trouble shooting below.

Notes

If you notice a layer of fluid on top, this is called “hooch.” It is not dangerous, it just means your starter is hungry! Mix it in or pour it off and feed your starter as usual.
If you are not planning to bake for a while and would like to skip feedings, you can seal your starter and store it in the fridge for several weeks unfed. If you are seeing hooch develop, give it a feeding. Please note that your starter may behave a bit “sluggish” when you first pull it out. Strengthen with a little wheat flour, a larger feed and slightly less water in your feeding ratio.
Active does not mean that it is bubbling constantly. You should see bubbles formed on the side of the glass and if you set it down you may see some of them pop on top while settling. Sometimes videos online can be misleading, do not assume your starter isn’t happy because it isn’t actively “bubbling.”
Your first loaves will probably not be perfect. It’s ok!! Your starter will continue to strengthen and mature over time. It is still safe to use in its early days but may not offer *as* much rise. Just embrace the stages! YOU LITERALLY BROUGHT FLOUR AND WATER TO LIFE!
I love my sourdough jars from amazon. Mason jars are great but can be hard to clean.
Do everything you can to avoid getting this stuff in your sink. It is cement for your drains.
I rarely use a 1:1:1 ratio now that my starter is developed. Larger feeds will strengthen your starter, allow for a longer “peak time” to bake with and give more flexibility with scheduling your bake. My most used ratio is 1:5:4. My starter is happier with slightly less water. I usually feed before bed and mix my loaf in the morning. The larger the feed, the longer it takes the wild yeast to work through it.
If you’re having a hard time controlling the environment, you can purchase inexpensive collapsible proofer on Amazon. I love mine & use it often for my starter and prepared doughs.
Contamination is the biggest threat to your starter. When you are not feeding it or using it, keep it covered!