Sourdough Starter

As the name suggests, a sourdough starter is the key to making your own sourdough. By simply combining flour and water, the yeast in the grain is activated. As you feed the mixture with fresh flour and water, the yeast develops into a beautiful, foamy, fragrant starter. It’s both a magical and simple process, the perfect introduction to baking. The bad news—if you want to call it that—is that it takes time to make your starter, patience being perhaps the most important skill a baker has to cultivate. The good news: a starter takes little oversight and lasts nearly forever—they’ve been known to work even when well over one hundred years old.

If your local water is chlorinated—like ours is in New York City—just leave it out on the counter for an hour so that all the chlorine dissipates. You may also use distilled water, especially if you live in an area with particularly hard water.

Note: Baking is a precision game and for that reason, the recipe below uses weight measurements rather than volume.

Day 1: Starting the Starter

50 grams organic spelt flour

50 grams cool tap water

Mix above ingredients by hand in a small bowl, scrape down the side, and cover with plastic wrap and leave overnight at room temperature.

Days 2 to 7: Refreshing the Starter (Stage 1)

Sourdough starter is alive, and just like all living things, needs “feeding,” which you will do by refreshing it daily in this stage (taking a small amount of your bubbling starter mixture and mixing in a proportionate amount of flour and water). Refreshing the starter provides a food source that will keep the wild yeast alive and multiplying. In this stage, every day that the starter shows activity, you need to refresh it. As long as the starter smells reminiscent of a food (cheese, yogurt, bread, slightly alcoholic) it is safe to continue. Sometimes your starter will develop a thin brownish or graying liquid on top. This liquid is just a fermentation by-product; it should be drained and discarded, and will not have a negative effect on your starter.

If there is no activity on day 2, let the starter sit for another day at room temperature. By day 3 or 4, you should begin to see signs of activity in your starter: at first your starter will begin to bubble, then it will begin to rise, and finally as it reaches its peak and is ready to refresh, “soapy” bubbles begin to collect in the center of the starter and the center starts to dip. This means the starter has exhausted its food supply and needs to be refreshed with new flour and water.

Whether or not your starter is showing activity by day 4, you should refresh it according to this stage 1 recipe below. The remainder of the starter will be discarded. Be sure to monitor the smell of your starter, if your starter begins to smell like something you would NOT eat (paint thinner, rotting garbage), the microbiotic activity in the starter has tipped in the favor of harmful bacteria, and you should discard it and begin again.

Stage 1 Refresher:

50 grams sourdough starter mixture*

50 grams organic spelt flour

50 grams water

Mix these ingredients by hand in a small bowl, scrape down the sides, cover with plastic wrap, and leave overnight at room temperature. Continue to refresh daily with above recipe through day 7.

Days 8 to 13: Refreshing the Starter (Stage 2)

As you did in days 2 to 7, check the starter each day for activity. Once you notice your starter is bubbling and rising regularly between refreshings, it means some natural yeast has cultivated and the starter needs a different recipe to grow for its use in baking. This is stage 2, and you will follow this recipe for days 8 to 13.

You’ve gotten to know your starter pretty well by now, and are probably able to anticipate the time it needs between refreshings (bubbling and rising are the indicators). The timing of this will depend on many factors (climate, humidity, etc.) so follow the lead of your particular starter.

In stage 2, the starter begins to become more active, so it will need refreshing more frequently. If you don’t want to wake in the middle of the night to complete multiple refreshings, you can refrigerate your starter to retard it; to do this, put it in the refrigerator after half the time it normally takes for it to reach its peak height or activity so that you still only have to refresh it once daily. For example, if your starter is ready to refresh after 12 hours at room temperature, refrigerate it after only 6 hours at room temperature, then leave it in the fridge for 18 hours (or up to 24 hours if more convenient). Then refresh it the next day.

Stage 2 Refresher:

50 grams sourdough starter mixture*

50 grams water

25 grams all-purpose flour

25 grams whole wheat flour

During days 8 to 13, refresh your active starter every day (it could be more often if you live in a warmer climate). Mix the above ingredients by hand in a small bowl, scrape down the sides, and cover with plastic wrap or a plate as a lid. Leave overnight at room temperature, or refrigerate as needed to slow the process (see above).

Day 14: Finalizing the Starter

By day 14, your sourdough starter should be bubbling and active and rising consistently between refreshings. If not, continue to refresh the starter using the recipe and techniques in stage 2 until you notice these patterns developing. Once your starter has reached this predictable pattern, you’re ready for this step.

100 grams water

50 grams sourdough starter mixture*

50 grams all-purpose flour

50 grams whole wheat flour

Mix the above ingredients by hand in a small bowl, scrape down the sides, and cover with plastic wrap or a plate as a lid. Leave at room temperature until the starter has risen to its peak, and has begun to slightly depress in its center, the way it does when it is ready for refreshing. When this occurs, transfer the starter to the fridge.

The next day, day 15, the starter will be ready to bake bread. To use, follow the specific recipe instructions for the sourdough bread you want to bake.

Be sure to retain the remaining amount of starter for future use. This is to continue the life of your sourdough starter without having to begin again from day 1. For as long as you keep the starter, it will now need refreshing once a week using the recipe from stage 2.