Ah, summer… corn on the cob, lazy reading in the hammock, and… sourdough starter, of course!
I’ve been taking advantage of this warm weather to try raising some starters from scratch. I had done it before in a week-long class (in fact, that’s the starter I’ve been using for months), but we were able to keep our cultures at a constant 80 degrees F, and we added extra malt to jump-start the process. I wanted to see how it worked with just flour and water, in the warm but fluctuating room temperatures of my non-air-conditioned house in these beautiful early summer weeks in northern California.
Success! Raising a starter seems to be something that is perceived as mysterious, complicated, or hard. But in my experience, it’s not; it just requires attention and patience.
I did this a couple of times, once with rye and once with whole wheat flour. Both worked, but the rye worked better, so that’s the one I’m summarizing. (Note: this ends up as a white starter. The rye is just in the beginning, to get things going.)
Ready to try it?
Sourdough Starter from Scratch
Ingredients:
- White flour (bread or all-purpose), preferably one that contains malted barley flour. Most white flours do, but some do not, especially if they are organic. Check the label.
- Rye flour.
- Water. I use bottled (not distilled) water because I don’t want the chlorine in tap water, and I do want the minerals that are removed by my water softener. If your tap water is not softened, you could let some sit out for a few hours to allow the chlorine to dissipate. All the water should be at about 85F; the yeast you want to nurture likes warmish water. I heat a small amount of water in the microwave and mix it with room temperature water, checking it with an instant-read thermometer. If you don’t have one, the water should feel about neutral to the touch.
Equipment:
- A 1-quart or larger container with a lid, preferably transparent and with straight vertical sides (this makes it easier to gauge the activity of the culture).
- A kitchen scale. If you don’t have one, get one. In the meantime, I’ll give the approximate volume measurements. But just this once; really, weigh your ingredients! (I never said I wasn’t opinionated.)
- An instant-read thermometer is useful for checking water temperature.
- A rubber spatula or plastic dough scraper.
- Transparent tape.
- A way to heat water.
- A warm(ish) place, preferably around 80F. The room I used fluctuated from low 70’s to mid 80’s. A room thermometer is helpful.
General process:
- The stuff you’re growing is a “culture” before it is mature and stable enough to bake with, at which point it becomes a “starter.”
- The volume measurements I’ve given do not corresponding exactly to the weight measurements, but the proportions are the same. Don’t mix weight and volume measurements.
- You will initially leave the culture alone for 24 hours, after which you will “feed” it at 12-hour intervals; choose your starting time accordingly. I arbitrarily assume you’re starting in the morning.
- Feeding involves removing and discarding a portion of the culture, and adding water and flour to what remains: first mix the culture and water together thoroughly, then add the flour and mix until thoroughly blended.
- Before you begin, it’s helpful to mark the weight of the container on the bottom with a Sharpie, or note it elsewhere. Then when it’s time to discard some of the culture, you can just keep taking some out and weighing the container until you know that the remaining culture is the right amount. I do not wash my container between every feeding.
- Contrary to a somewhat popular belief, it is OK to use a stainless steel spoon for mixing.
- After mixing, use a spatula or dough scraper to squeegee the sides of the container so they’re nice and clean. This helps you see how much the culture has risen, and keeps things tidy.
- When you’re done mixing, smooth the top of the culture flat as much as possible. Place a piece of tape running straight up the outside of the container, and mark the level of the culture. This is how you will know how much it has risen.
- Replace the container lid when you’re done mixing. If it’s a screw on lid or mason-jar type, you may want to leave it a little loose to give accumulated gas an escape route. If it is a plastic snap-on lid, you can snap it tight; the lid will pop off if the pressure inside gets too high.
Day 1 AM:
- Make sure your container is clean, well-rinsed, and dry.
- Mix 100 g water, 50 g rye flour, and 50 g white flour (or 1/2 c. water and 3/8 c. of each flour.)
- Leave the culture in its warm spot for 24 hours.
Day 2 AM:
- Hopefully you will see signs of life. Has the culture risen a little? Are there any bubbles in it, even one or two? (These are sometimes best seen by picking it up and looking at it through the bottom of the container.)
- It is possible that you will see a large rise (50% or more) at this point. Don’t be fooled; this does not mean you’ve birthed a miracle baby. In the initial stages of a culture, a type of bacteria called leuconostoc may predominate; it produces a lot of gas and causes the rapid rise. This bacteria is not desirable, but not harmful either, and it will eventually die out as the beneficial critters settle in and the culture becomes more acidic. You may also notice that the culture has a rather unpleasant odor; don’t worry, this too shall pass.
- (If you see absolutely no sign of life whatsoever, I suggest leaving it alone for another 12 hours before proceeding. If there is still nothing, why not forge ahead anyway and see what happens?)
- Discard all but 75 g of the culture. Feed this with 75 g water, 25 g rye flour, and 50 g white flour (1/3 c. starter, 1/3 c. water, 5 teaspoons rye flour, and 1/3 c. white flour).
- Set it back in its warm spot for 12 hours.
Day 2 PM:
- You may see signs of activity, but the culture may be either more or less lively than what you saw this morning. Anything from a single bubble to a 100% rise is good.
- Again, feed 75 g of culture with 75 g water, 25 g rye flour, and 50 g white flour, and return it to the warm spot.
Day 3 AM:
- Your culture may appear dead, but it’s probably not. Don’t worry, just go ahead and feed as before.
Day 3 PM and every 12 hours thereafter:
- Continue to feed as you’ve been doing. At some point things should pick up steam, and you will notice that the culture gets a little more vigorous with each feeding.
- When the culture at least doubles itself in 12 hours and is looking nice and bubbly, start feeding with only white flour (75 g culture / 75 g water / 75 g flour). This happened for me around the end of Day 4.
- After about 5 – 7 days, hopefully you will observe that the culture can double itself in 8 hours or less, smells pleasantly sour, and is full of bubbles. Congratulations, you have raised a 100% hydration starter that’s ready to bake with! If you’re looking for a recipe, how about this Norwich Sourdough?
- At this point you can also start decreasing the amount of culture in relation to the feeding flour and water, and use room-temperature instead of 85-degree water. You have been mixing 1:1:1 culture:water:flour at each feeding. Now try 1:2:2 and see if the starter can still double in 8 hours or less.
I’ll say more about the care and feeding of my starter in a near-future post.
Hi Susan!
I love your tutorial! I just started a rye culture a few days ago, based on The River Cottage Bread Handbook’s version (1 cup flour/1 cup water), and while I’m watching with fascination the process it’s going through, I was concerned about the smell that was coming off the culture in the initial stages- it smelled like sewage. But as I read here, and a few other places, it’s to be expected as the good bacteria takes over and seems to be going away as I feed it fresh cold water and cold flour. It’s a comfort to read that here, believe me, I thought I raised “George” incorrectly.
One question, however: While you feed it twice daily, you only divide it once per day? I’m a little confused on that point as it’s the 3rd day for my culture and I have divided it twice. Thanks so much, and I really appreciate the tutorial
KitchenGeisha, each time you feed you need to discard a portion of the starter. For mine, I discarded all but 75 grams each time I fed it.
Thanks, Susan! I appreciate the help!
As much as I hate to do it, I think I’ll have to start feeding him whole wheat flour as I’m running out of rye. Next tine I’ll start with smaller amounts of flour and water, 1 cup of each is just too much.
Thanks again for the help!
What a helpful page. Thank you.
From a biologist’s point of view, the yeast starter about which you post is one of the most helpful things a human can do for his or her body. The genetic diversity of those critters that grow wild on rye kernels is thousands of times the genetic diversity of grocery store yeast.
Science is learning more and more about how important our Intestinal microflora are. Our century old germophobia has hurt the cause of health.
Eat em up!
Jerry
Hi!
I just started your starter yesterday and have followed in with the day 2 instructions, just wanted to ask if you carry on throwing away all but 75g after the first day whilst feeding the culture?
Thanks for the article, it’s very interesting
Grace
oops sorry just noticed you answered this above
Thanks for such a wonderful website, Susan! I tried my hand at starting a sourdough culture this weekend. I’m a bit worried that I have the undesirable bacteria (rather than wild yeast), so was hoping to hear your thoughts. Here are my results so far:
Day 1: Followed your directions exactly. It is quite warm here, the culture sat on our warm porch for the first 24 hours.
Day 2 AM: The culture had quite a few bubbles and had risen maybe 10%.
Here I am now 5 hours later and the culture has taken off all of a sudden. It has almost doubled in size! Given that your tutorial suggests that it should take upwards of a week to double in less than 8 hours, does this suggest that my results might not be from the desirable yeast? I am wondering if I should add only white flour at my next feeding, or if I should stick with the plan. Thanks for your help!
Nicole, it does sounds like your culture at this point is dominated by the undesirable bacteria, but if you keep feeding as outlined above, the good guys should prevail within another day or two.
I successfully “bread” my own culture from flour and water only and have been baking with it now for 5 months. Everything I know about sourdough has all been learned and researched on the internet in that period. I live in Scotland and the weather is not conducive to “sourdough” ( well so I’ve read) Some loaves are brilliant some loafs are just good. Some have great ovenspring some have little ovenspring . I came across your site/blog today and think I am “in love” your breads look amazing and your recipes and instructions seem clear. uncomplicated and well explained. Where were you 5 months ago ? Most of the time when reading sourdough instructions I don’t really understand the terminology and the science bit. I hope to learn much more from your site. If i could ask you a couple of questions…..What and when is a starter Mature and after “feeding” when is the best time to use your stater to make a preferment, Ive been using my discarded starter to make my preferment is that wrong ? I am going to try your Norwich Sourdough recipe soon. thanks for sharing your amazing gift with us xx
Hi Susan. I am going to start the process tonight. Just one important detail I haven’t understood: 1 quart container=1 quart of what unit? so nice you are using grams!
I couldn’t find rye flour today but I found buckwheat flour… So I’m trying your technique by replacing rye with buckwheat and see what happens…
I am thoroughly convinced in this said post. I’m currently searching for ways in which I could improve my knowledge in this said topic you have posted here. It does help me a great deal knowing that you’ve shared this information here freely. I adore the way the people here interact and shared their opinions too. I would love to track your future posts pertaining to the said subject we are able to read.
Well I think my first attempt failed…. I’m at Day 6, the culture smells pleasantly sour but it still doesn’t rise or double in size… it just stays there with a little bubbles…
Any tips? I think my flour lacks maltose or something…
Dave, what temperature is the space where you’re keeping the starter? If it’s cooler than around 80F, it may take longer to get going. I’d say keep feeding twice a day and see what happens.
After unsuccessful attempts at starters using other methods, I think I finally have a successful starter thanks to this method! After about 4 days I feared it wasn’t working. There were a few bubbles but it wasn’t even close to doubling. Then 2 days ago I was away and had to skip a feeding. Somehow that was the best thing to happen and, every time I’ve fed it since, it doubles and is full of bubbles with a nice smell.
It was actually more than 30 degrees celcius, I put it in a room that’s always hot… maybe it was too hot….
Since it wasn’t moving for a few days and started smelling like acetone I decided to start over and keep this one on top of the fridge.
It’s alive! It’s Day 4 PM here and it’s doubled in size… I called it “Marc Levure Jr.” 😛
Tonight is its first white flour only feeding time, I found some “bianca farina” imported from italy at my grocery store, it really gave it life!
Top of the fridge is the ticket! Who doesn’t have a fridge?
Kelley and Dave — that’s good news!
Trying the starter for the first time right now… dough doesn’t seem to be rising yet…. Will update…
Thanks for sharing these photos, I know now that my starter is still off by a day or two, as the bubbles are not as active as the ones you have. Bummer, was looking forward to some fresh bread for lunch tomorrow.
I have an old starter,kept in refrig for months, it was fed with sugar , water and instant potatoe flakes. I want to make bread again but don’t know how to revive the starter, I would really appreciate any help with this. Thanks
I have been surfing online greater than three hours nowadays, but I by no means found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty value sufficient for me. In my view, if all webmasters and bloggers made just right content as you probably did, the web will be a lot more helpful than ever before.
I just wanted to chime in about the feeding frequency. While I did feed twice a day in the first two months, I backed down to once a day and still get great results. My breads rise as they should, and I’ve found that sourness really seems most affected by the treatment of the dough (sponge, fermentation, etc). It does get a little…aromatic by the end of the day, but I stopped worrying after the sixth or so delicious loaf. I also can’t seem to kill my two cultures. Life got hectic and I tossed them in the refrigerator for two months, no feedings whatsoever. In fact the ap flour culture was half taken by mold. After scraping off the badness and two feedings it was just as active as ever. I think these starters are a little tougher than most suspect.
My eyes to making bread have been opened. I tried making panettone but is was a disaster. I never knew anything about starters or what 50% hydration or 100% hydration was. Thank you for all the education.
Hi Susan! Wondering if you have any advice for me…I’m about to give up! I’ve tried the starter twice now, using a local whole-grain wheat as the base (because I wanted totally local yeast). I gave up the first time (couldn’t get it past the icky phase, although I may have abandoned it too soon). This second one rises like a champ, accepting even the doubled amounts of white flour & water…but although it tastes pleasantly sour as a starter, its bread is not. After 3 weeks, I finally baked one loaf that rose well, if a little oddly (from the bottom), so I know it’s got something going on…but there’s no sourness at all, and the texture is more like a normal yeasted bread. The only thing I can think is that it’s winter here, and the house is regularly in the 60s…I can’t keep it reliably warmer. Any ideas? Besides waiting for summer? 🙂
Emily, for a more sour bread, try maintaining your starter at 50% hydration (feeding once or twice per day). You will need to adjust your bread formula to account for the lower hydration of the starter.
Thanks Susan–by lower hydration I’m guessing you mean, add 2 parts flour to 1 part water (instead of the strict 1-1)? I’ll give it a try!
Hi Susan,
I’m looking for natural yeast that isn’t sour, the kind that French bakeries use for croissants. Have you gotten yeast that doesn’t taste sour at all?
Hey! I just started my starter yesterday and things seem to be going swimmingly. I was just wondering, at what point do you move it to the fridge? Or does this particular starter have a permanent home on my counter? Thanks!
Rachel, you don’t need to keep the starter in the fridge unless you use it infrequently. Here’s a post that may be helpful: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/09/29/maintain-starter/
Hi Susan I think you missed my post…
Have you gotten natural leaven that isn’t sour, like the kind used for making french loaves and crossaints?
Thanks Susan! That was helpful. I just have one more question. I’m on day 7 with my starter and it still hasn’t doubled. It went through the foul smell phase and now it smells slightly sour and floury. Then again my house stays around 70-73F range. I’m just wondering, how long CAN it take to get it going? Is there a certain point where I should just dump it and wait for summer time? Thanks!
So if wheat flour already contains yeast, and the wheat could come from anywhere, is there any way to bake sourdough that’s truly “local”? As in, with a culture (and so flavor) that’s unique to my neck of the woods?
I guess I could plant some wheat myself, but that seems a bit extreme.
Is is possible to make a starter in colder environments? My house is usually around 65F degrees, never 80. Am I out of luck?
Thanks
I am on day 15 of my starter and it only rises a bit evn though it is spongy. Do I need to feed it twice a day if it is not going to rise much? Sometimes I forget. How long do I keep this up before starting over with pineapple juice?
Sandie, I think you’ll have better luck if you can keep it warm. How about in the oven with the light turned on?
Mimi, have you followed the procedure outlined here? Are you keeping your starter warm and at a 1:1 ratio of flour and water? I have not had good luck with the pineapple juice method, although I know others have.
Dear Susan, I’m trying to raise the starter with half wholewheat (that’s what I have) and half white flour using your method. The first one I tried, I started getting some tiny black spots so I thought I would try again, but it’s doing the same thing (see photo in the link below). Does that mean I’m getting bad mold?
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=81293F88249BB914#cid=81293F88249BB914&id=81293F88249BB914!978
Thank You!!
This is exactly what happened to mine, twice now! it is only the surface though so I’m not sure if its bad bacteria or not but i threw away that part and used the bottom, untouched part to feed and continue. Do you think its still ok? What could these black dots be? Thanks
Hi again Susan
I am trying to keep it warm and use warm water. I had good sponginess for a while though it was not doubling in size. I traveled for 3 days and put it in the refrigerator. I do not think it is alive but I fed it again tonight and will see what happens. Thanks for answering. I guess I will keep going, I only have day time temps in my house of 65 degrees. Will this work better in the summer?
I begin with the starter 6 days ago but nothing move, in today feed I add half spoone white sugar.
What r u thinking about this?
I’d must check with you here. Which is not something I often do! I get pleasure from studying a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to remark!
I have a pretty silly question – I’ve read several bread books now, and a few web articles, and while I think I understand the starter/feeding thing, I’m unclear on the warm place & fridge references. For which steps do you want cool and/or fridge, and for which do you want warm and/or oven with just pilot light (which, for me, isn’t that warm – it’s about 70 F in there, I think)? Thanks so much – I’m really excited about this but not great at it yet!
I’ve followed your instructions to the T but now my starter just shows no sign of life unless I stir it. I continue to feed it, but every morning I see that the water rises on top and there is plain batter underneath. Why is that? Is it time to let it go and start from the beginning?
What was your outcome? I am having same problem. Water comes to top.
Starting my wild yeast in a mason jar and on day 3 all is well. Followed the directions exactly how it is written and will be leaving for 5 days after the 6th day of starting. The yeast will go in the fridge before I leave and were hoping to resurrect my wild yeast when I get back. Thank you everyone who has contributed to the forums. It has helped the process through all the twist and turns I have had to make. Happy baking.
Hello, thanks so much for posting this. I received a starter of wild yeast from an old woman who said that when she received it from her neighbor in 1968, the yeast was 50 years old! While feeding, I accidentally contaminated it with baking soda which spilled from the cabinet… I’m wondering if you know what this would do to the yeast starter and if it is salvageable?
if it doesnt kill it, it should be fine
Interesting site. I have been making sour dough starter this week, though I probably used it for baking too soon. My rye bread rose but not much, it was very tastey however.
I had several interesting things happen when making my starter. First it was very slow to start ( the house was in the 60’s – later I put it in the oven and turned on the light and that worked fine. Along about the third day the starter was doubling about every two or three hours. And when I smelled it, the alcohol smell nearly knocked me over. On the fourth day I decided to bake. At this time I froze some of the starter and put two quarts in the fridge. So, I’m learning a lot and having lots of fun.
My bread rose nicely ( I used 1 cup of gluten ) but the taste was pretty mundane and the texture wasn’t munchy enough for me. It had a nice light brown crust and rose to 3.” Next time I will cut the starter in half and use only 4 tsps of glutten per cup of rye and no white flour. That should give me the munchy bread I like.
I have some blue bird flour from our local mill here in Colorado, it’s a good white flour and nothing but the wheat, no additives or anything.
My question is this: can we make a starter just using plain white flour or do we always need to have the rye in the beginning? I was wondering why we had to start with the rye (which I don’t currently have) and then could switch to plain white. I will have to hunt up the rye but might try both varieties.
Glad to find your site and to read all the comments. Amazing that we now have five years of comments here. Time goes by quickly! Thanks for such a cool website –
Thank you so much for this tutorial..i followed it day by day and now have a wonderfully active starter (at least I am pretty sure I do)..I am going to try baking with it tomorrow or Friday!!! I am going to use your Norwich sourdough bread recipe a try.
Thank you again~~I will let you know how the baking goes!
:)Doreen
Can I use freshly milled barley flour to begin my starter or a combination of and wheat and barley flours? I am asking because rye flour is not available in my area.
I am having trouble with my starter — it rises pretty good (though doesn’t really double) as long as I am adding rye flour, but once I start leaving that out and just using white, it stays flat and gets watery. I have tried using more flour, more water, leaving on the porch in 90+ degree temps, but no luck. Anyone have any advice? I have not been using a scale to measure but am thinking of getting one.
Hello — I have a starter that is active and have baked with it for a few weeks but I have a knowledge gap between creating a starter and baking because if one discards all but 75g and adds 75g water and 75g flour thats only 225g but most recipes here call for more than that, nearer 350-400g so I have been making my starter up to the amount needed the day before in the same proportions is this what I am supposed to do or am I missing a step somewhere? Thank you
Thanks for the awesome post! I followed your directions exactly, but my starter isn’t really rising at all. I’m on day ten. There are lots of bubbles, and it’s really stretchy with gluten, but I don’t know where my problem lies. I’m feeding every 12 hours with the measurements posted and it’s in a warm, draft-free space on my counter. Can I bake with this yet, or should I wait? Thanks for any advice!
Semi-instant Emergency Kitchen Scale.
Take two identical measuring cups, at least one of which is calibrated in milliliters. Take a wooden ruler and balance it on a pencil. Place each of the two measuring cups at opposite ends of the ruler. 1ml of water weighs one gram.
Hey Susan,
Got a quick question. Im looking to start baking at the restaurant I currently work at. Using your recipe, I’ve nurtured a great starter now at day 5. Question is, if im going to be doing mass quantity, I need more starter. Intervals of 1:2:2 feeding is not going to cut it… So, do I just triple your exact measurments? Or is there something that I need to do to further in order to house a large supply of culture.
-Will
To ejm from way back in 2007…
” I began with rye flour, water and a tiny bit of honey”
I tried this too but only this year when I discovered how wonderful sourdough really is to eat, and make. The BIG mistake was adding the honey. Not only does honey kill bacteria and yeasts, it also imparts a really awful smell to the whole starter mixture. I tried to improve the starter for over two weeks but with no luck. I had to discard it and start over again after thoroughly cleaning the container.
Also, I don’t know if this is useful, but I bash and knead the dough until it can not take any more. Then I put it into a plastic container with lid (so it won’t dry out) until it has at least doubled in size, generally overnight. Then I bash it back down again, and this time I get really good bubbles in the final bake. I wait a really long time with the loaf in the loaf tin, until it rises up over the edges before putting it in the oven. It might be anything up to three hours, but the loaf out of the oven is to die for. The temperature right now is 16 celsius (61F). Perfect.
I’ve been collecting yeast for 3-4 days now. I started on the night of the 30th or sometime during the 1st of october (can’t remember which!) and have been using organic unbleached all purpose flour. I’ve been feeding it daily since the 2nd, and it was showing a lot of activity, a lot of bubbling and rising ( i didn’t measure how much), it had an interesting spongy, springy and stretchy/sticky consistency and was definitely smelling, though not that great! Reminded me of a stinky baby… But I could tell I was collecting yeast — thought that might be the leuconostoc you mentioned. Then yesterday evening, I fed it, adding 50 g of the starter, 35 g organic unbleached all purpose flour, 15 g organic whole rye flour, and 50 grams warm water, and since then, the smell has developed a lot, smelling much better and sourer, but I’m not seeing any bubbling, no rising (i measured), and the consistency is much different, without any of the spongy springiness it had before. Today I fed it again, but didn’t add any of the whole rye, only 50 g all purpose flour (1:1:1 ratio). I assume things are fine, but I just want some reassurance! Is my culture taking a nose-dive or is it on its way to bubbling and frothing and sponginess like i hope it is?
Never mind — it’s looking great!
I have tried a few different starter recipes. I always seem to get my starter to double on day two, then on day 3, nothing. It’s back to not growing at all. I had the same result with your method. Do you know a reason why? I will keep going with day 2 instructions till I get something, but it is disappointing after such a quick start.
I am very confused about the liquids: Do you mean 75 ml of water or do you actually want the water to be weighted to 75 grams? These are two different things and not equivalent. We normally measure liquids by volume, not weight but could you please clarify? Thanks!
Maria, I usually weigh my water, but if you prefer to measure by volume, 1 gram is (closely enough for our purposes, anyway) equivalent to 1 mL.
Susan, thank you for posting this great info & pictures. Today is day 5. Everyday, first thing, I check the starter and then again before bed feed it and watch its progress. Around day 3 there was a nasty hooch smell, and yesterday I noticed a faintly grayish liquid on the surface, so I came back to your page and checked to see if this was a source of concern. Apparently not. This morning the starter smelled slightly sour and had a frothiness consistent with yeast activity. It didn’t quite manage the 100% rise, but I expect we are on to something here.
What a fun process this has been! Am thinking of having my 6th grade students replicate this for a science activity. (I will try to convince the cafeteria staff to let us bake bread in the kitchen, not an easy task….) Yeast starting is also relevant to 6th grade history learning standards for ancient civilizations. This must be how people began to make leavened breads. I would have loved doing something like this in school…. Very cool and fun. Thanks again for your detailed instructions.
Hi- thank you so much for this information. I love to bake, but never have used a starter. I started mine yesterday afternoon. After the first 24 hour feeding, mine has grown more than double. I think this might be unusual, so I wanted to check with you before carrying on with the room temp water and all white flour. It doubled in about 2 hours. The temperature is about 80. My house is kept quite cool, 63 degrees, so I have it near a pot of simmering water. I would really like to know your opinion on this since I haven’t any experience. Thanks!
Barbara – wonderful! I hope your students enjoy the activity.
Wendi – it’s not unusual at all: see above under “Day 2 AM.”
Awesome blog! Congruts!!!!
I havent even started and I already have a problem 🙂
I mixed 100g water with 100g flour but mixture is not runny as it looks on your photo. It has consistency of dough.
So should I add more water?
I have resolved problem how to keep constant temp btw by using one of those plates to keep baby food warm. Never used it for anything but finally found a use 🙂 it keeps mixture on temperature 29C which is supposed to be ideal for growing culture.
Thx
PS I intend to try make all of your breads!!!!
I have a sourdough that was given to me from my mother-in-law about 15 years ago who has since passed on. She told me she orginally got it from a neighbor in the 1950’s. She used it mostly for pancakes and her kids were raised on it. It’s about the consistency of pancake batter and I feed it with equal amounts of flour and water. Mom-in-law would used flour and milk sometimes too.
My question is this however, The starter is still alive, I keep in the fridge and feed it every 1-2 weeks (this is how mom-in-law instructed), but it doesn’t seem to have much “lift.” I set it on the counter for 12 hours before feeding it, and then overnight after feeding before using. I make the pancakes with most of it and re-refrigerate the unused portion. It does get bubbly while sitting overnight on the counter and make fantastic pancakes & waffles – but when I’ve tried to make bread with it the success of rising is minimal at best. It has a wonderful sour smell, but my gut tells me to too acidic for bread making – bread doughs actually soften while fermenting – I think the acidic levels may be breaking down gluten. Is there a way to fix this or is this indicative of something?
Thanks
Wow, it’s looking very testy & healthy. I read the whole recipe & found that it is not tough. I am going to try it soon.
I’m on Day 2 A.M. and decided to dump the 5 teaspoons of rye flour onto my scale to see if it totalled 25 grams and it was off by a long shot…it took me 13 teaspoons to get the scale to show 25 grams. This is concerning to me as I weighed the initial sponge ingredients rather than use your measurements. It’s possible my scale is off – I’m certainly no pro but am now wondering what to do… do I follow my scale (which seems to be in working order) and add 13 teaspoons of rye flour, or do I go with your measurements?
Also, 50 grams of white flour is supposed to be 1/3 cup but for me, 1/3 cup on the scale registered as 35 grams.
It’s my first attempt at making a sourdough starter and I was wondering if on Day 3 PM, how much white flour do you feed it with and how much of the culture do you discard?
Thanks!!
I’m so happy to have come across your how-to…and equally glad I read through all of the comments before I started my trial. Oh boy! Last night my starter seemed ready (finally, no more vomit smell!!!), but I fed it on schedule and waited for this morning to be sure and…voila!…I have sour dough starter! Yippeee! LOL Oh, and this morning was the first time I tried your trick of shaking the water with the remaining starter before adding the flour. Oh my gosh! It’s only six hours later and the starter is going crazy & doubled+ already. I’m trying my hand at your roasted garlic loaf for my first sour dough bread. I’m so excited! My family loves garlic and cheese and bread, so how could I go wrong with this? 😉 Again, thank you for your wonderful tutorial!
Hi…I live our site I finally have the recipes I’ve been looking for. Could you tell me when the starter is ready to bake after taking it out of the refrigerator?
I just fed my starter for the seventh day… and still absolutely no activity. Just a slightly acidic smell. I’m using bottled spring water, King Arthur bread flour, a digital scale, and temperature controlled container coasting 24 hours a day at 80 degrees. This will be the 4th time in the last year I have tried to draw a starter and gotten nothing.
Get this; I have drawn starters successfully 3 other times.
I am so frustrated I could scream.
Hi Susan
I want to start with this and right now I have some brown flour or “ruchmehl” in german. Could I use this one? If not, would you explain me why? Thank you very much! 🙂
Hi Susan,
Just wondering, does the malt break down some starches for the yeasts to feed on? I’ve had no problems making a 100% rye starter, but one with A/P or bread flour never seems to show much life when I try it…
Susan, on Day 2 AM, you mentioned discard before feeding. Do I also discard at each feeding?
Thanks!
Whisks & Chopsticks: yes, you discard all but 75 grams of culture at each feeding.
Hi Susan,
I have my starter in the fridge now and am feeding it 1 oz of flour and and 1oz of water every few days. My question is, if a recipe calls for “228 g of mature starter” is that right our of the container?? I read somewhere else that I have to add more flour and water and let it sit for another day before using. I’m new at the starter thing so I have no idea…
Thanks!!!
Sandie, I think I should change my recipes to say “active” rather than “mature” starter. When the starter is refrigerated, it becomes less active because some of the yeast die. I usually take mine out of the fridge and give it at least a couple of feedings at 12-hour intervals to let it perk up before using it.
Hi Susan. Your blog is great! Thanks for keeping it going so that people like me can still discover it. I decided to start a sourdough starter with the intention of tackling panettone. The starter was going well, exactly on time with your schedule. On day 3, it came out of the leuconostoc phase and stayed idle until the beginning of day 5. It then doubled in size in 8 hours so I switched to 100% white flour. Two feedings now with all white flour and it is no longer rising. There are bubbles, just no rise. Should I have weened it off rye flour? Also, what do I do with the starter? Will it recover if I keep feeding it all white flour?
Ted, you could keep going with the all-white flour, or once again add a bit of rye. It will probably start perking up before too long!
Susan, your recipe really works. I used it to make my first starter a year ago, and since then I’ve been baking my favorite 100% rye bread using the same starter. Since I usually put it in the refrigerator for a week, it’s become weak lately. I think it smells a little bit differently, not that nice sour as the beginning though it still raises my bread. But the bread can get molded in a week or so which didn’t happen at the beginning of my using the starter. And I have just started raising another starter to compare the outputs. I keep my starter 100% rye, but when I want to make pizza, I take a bit of the rye starter and add AP flour with water getting the great white dough starter in a few hours. So it can be fed by any flour as soon as I noticed. Thank you very much for your priceless share.
Eugene
Susan, I am using organic rye flour and strong bread white flour also cooled boiled water. I am weighing the ingredients but the mixture is stiff. Is that the way it should be?
Emanuel
Emanuel, right after feeding it is about the consistency of very wet paste. If you use a greater proportion of rye flour, it will be thicker, because the rye absorbs more water.
Hi Susan,
You have an amazing website! I’ve tried a few times to get a starter going, but without much success. This time, following your guide, it’s really taken off.
I’m at day 6, and my culture seems almost a bit too vigorous. It took about two hours to double. 6 hours in, it had tripled. Should I be feeding it more often if this happens?
Thank you!
Ben