How to Make Your Starter
The directions for this starter will create a 150 to 175 percent hydration starter. Hydration indicates the texture and viscosity of the starter and can be controlled by the ratio of flour to water used to make and maintain the starter. Aim for the thickness, pourability, look, and feel of a pancake batter. All of the bread recipes in this book use this hydration level.
EQUIPMENT
1 wide-mouth, one-pint jar with a metal band and lid
8-by-8-inch square of cheesecloth
1 wide-mouth, one-pint jar with a metal hinge and rubber gasket (optional)
Piece of masking tape and pen (optional)
EQUIPMENT NOTE: Make sure that jars are clean, though not recently washed with detergent or bleach (both kill microorganisms).
INGREDIENTS
1.25 ounces (¼ cup) unbleached white flour
1.25 ounces (¼ cup) whole grain flour (wheat, rye, or a combination)
½ cup lukewarm water
½ small plum or 1 grape with bloom (see Ingredient Note)
Another 1 to 2 cups of both flours for feeding
INGREDIENT NOTE: Organic flour and unchlorinated or filtered water are preferred. Both chlorine and pesticides have the capability of killing microorganisms.
DAY 1
Combine both flours and water in the screw-top jar. Stir the mixture vigorously. The consistency should be similar to pancake batter. Adjust either water or flour if it isn’t.
NOTE: The bloom is the chalky white film on the skin, which contains natural yeasts.
Drop the plum or grape into the flour and water mixture and leave it there. The bloom on the fruit will attract the wild yeast living in your home.
Cover the jar opening with cheesecloth. If it is late summer and fruit flies are around, use a piece of muslin or a dish towel, which has a tighter weave. The cloth will keep dust and flies out, but allow wild yeast in. Secure the cloth with the metal band part of the jar lid. Screw it on over the cloth. Set the lid aside.
This is important: Seek out a warm place in your home, an area that stays at 70 to 80 degrees F, to let the starter brew. In the summertime, this could simply be your kitchen counter. In the winter, maybe on top of your refrigerator, or near a radiator or a closet that has a heating duct in it, or in an insulated lunch tote with a warm dish towel. Without the warmth, it will not grow. Pay attention to what the jar is sitting on. A cold granite counter will not keep it warm, so you may need to set the jar on a thick piece of cloth. See Keeping Your Starter Warm (this page).
DAY 2
Stir, but don’t feed.
By skipping a day of feeding, you allow the budding population of bacteria and yeast to proliferate without having to digest a new feeding. Remove the cloth and vigorously stir, several times, while giving positive feedback: “Looking good!”
DAY 3
Stir and feed.
Stir first. Are there tiny bubbles on the surface? Oh, glee! Does the starter feel lighter or a little frothy when you stir it? This tells you that the microbes are active. If the mixture seems active, remove the fruit. Then add 3 to 4 teaspoons of whole grain flour plus an equal amount of lukewarm water and stir vigorously.
Keep the starter the consistency of pancake batter. Adjust the flour or water if needed. Replace the cheesecloth cover.
If you do not find bubbles forming after day 3 or 4, your starter newbie may not be warm enough. Find a warmer location or wrap the jar in a wool sweater or scarf. Wait another day or two before feeding, keeping the starter warm.
DAYS 4 THROUGH 7
Feed and stir each day.
When you check the starter each day, before feeding, notice if the starter is “eating and eliminating.” Elimination will appear as a thin layer of clear liquid on the top of the batter. This liquid, and subsequent bubbles when stirred, are indications that the bacteria and yeast have moved in. The liquid can be stirred back into the mixture—it’s what gives the starter its sour flavor. If the starter is getting too sour for you, the liquid can be poured off. Some people refer to the elimination liquid as “hooch.”
To feed, add 3 to 4 teaspoons of whole grain or white flour (or a combination) plus an equal amount of lukewarm water and stir vigorously. Replace the cheesecloth cover.
If during days 4 through 7 you begin to build over 1 cup of starter, rather than continuing to create more starter volume, discard about one-third of the starter before feeding it as described above. Discarding some of the starter will actually make it stronger, as you are thinning out the bacterial population. If you continue to build up the volume, there may be too much food and not enough bacterial growth to consume the food. The starter may suddenly seem less active. Like when you serve a large turkey and there are only two people at the table to eat it. They may try to eat it all, but will likely feel overfull and lethargic.
Keeping a separate jar of flour near the starter for daily feeding is handy.
DAYS 8 THROUGH 14
Feed and stir every other day.
Skip the feeding on day 8 and begin again on day 9. Feed the same amount of flour and water as described in days 4 through 7. Also, follow the same instructions for discarding one-third of a starter that is getting large. Continue keeping the starter at 70 to 80 degrees F. Begin tasting the starter before you feed it, checking for sourness. After 14 days (2 weeks), the starter should be mature and ready to use in baking.
DAY 14
Ready to bake!
Once the environment of wild yeast and bacteria in your starter is established, meaning each time you feed, it there is visible activity (bubbles) and the taste is sour, you’re ready to bake.
If you are not planning to bake right away, the starter can be moved to the refrigerator. Consider moving your starter to a jar with a metal hinged lid and a vulcanized rubber gasket. The gasket acts as an airlock, allowing CO2 to be released at a certain pressure, but not allowing oxygen to come in. This is exactly what you want if you are an occasional baker and need to refrigerate the starter between bakes.
If your plan is to begin baking every day, you may want to transfer the mix to a one-quart wide-mouth jar so you can build up the volume you will need for frequent baking. More on how to maintain the starter for different frequencies of baking is on this page.
Consider naming your starter to ensure that your connection goes beyond just you and a jar of flour and water. When I teach sourdough starter classes, I always bring a Sharpie and a roll of masking tape so that bakers leave with a named starter. I suggest that students name the starter after someone they know and love or some name/word that has meaning for them. Starters with names may be less likely to suffer from neglect.
KNEAD TO KNOW
Is a 100-Year-Old Sourdough Starter Kept in a Wooden Bowl in Norway That Required an Exorbitant Shipping Price Better Than One You Make Yourself?
Nope. I discovered there is such a thing as “starter elitism.” But as you have probably already surmised, the bacteria and wild yeasts in starters eat, eliminate, reproduce, and eventually die (wild yeasts have long life spans). So the idea that an ancient starter is somehow the same as it was one hundred years ago just isn’t true. And if your starter lives with you, it will adapt and change to the environment in your home, spawning microorganisms from the flours you buy and yeasts from your air. On the other hand, a starter passed down to you from your grandmama has some serious love involved that a newbie might not have. That’s for reals.
Keeping Your Starter Warm
The happy zone for starter growth is between 75 and 85 degrees F. Room temperature tends to be around 70 degrees F or cooler, so you will need ways to keep the ambient temperature of your starter in the happy zone for best results. (For more on this, see Temperature Happy Zones for Bread Making, this page.) Equally important is keeping the starter in a place that you regularly walk by, lest you forget to feed it!
If it is summertime and the temperature in your kitchen falls in the 75-to-80-degree range around the clock, you can successfully bring your starter to life on the counter. Nevertheless, be sure to keep your starter jar resting on a dish towel or hot pad, particularly if the counter is made of granite or quartz (chilly!).
In cooler weather, additional care must be taken to find the right incubating area for your starter. To avoid chilling and killing your starter, you’ll need to test the temperature in the area you plan to keep it. A low-tech way to measure room temperature: Fill a jar with water, place it in the possible incubation area, let it sit for 6 to 8 hours, and then take the temperature. Is it in the happy zone? A high-tech way: If you live with an engineer (I do) or like to nerd out with gadgets, an infrared thermometer (they are expensive!) pointed at the area where you plan to grow your starter will confirm if the area is warm enough.
Here are some additional “keep warm” strategies:
• Place the starter jar in a wool hat or wrapped up in a wool scarf.
• Keep your budding starter on a heating pad set to low.
• Purchase a seedling mat from a garden supply store. A 10-by-20-inch pad runs about $17. Place the starter on the plugged-in mat.
• Got a small insulated cooler? (The size made for a six-pack works well.) Warm it up with a jar of hot water and nestle the starter next to it. You’ll need to replenish the hot water when you feed the starter each day.
Of course, there are occasions when your home is so warm that you need to grow your starter in a cooler area. If the temperature in your house has zoomed to more than 85 degrees F, try these “keep cool” strategies:
• Check out the temperature in the basement, if your house has one, to see if it falls within the happy zone.
• Keep the starter in a small cooler with a jar of cold water.
• If you have granite or quartz counters, place it on the coolest part of the counter. A slab of marble works too!
• Low cupboards can be cooler by 5 or more degrees than counters. Test the temperature and if it falls in the zone, grow your starter there.
Maintaining the Starter
Starters fed and used every few days become more virile, meaning they form lots of bubbles when refreshed, and have almost a frothy look and feel. Though baking a few times a week is not a possibility for most, never fear. There are ways to keep your starter fit and healthy with fairly minimal attention.
FOR WEEKLY BAKERS
If you are baking once or twice a week, keep the starter on the counter and feed it 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of water every few days. After you have used some starter for baking, feed it once or twice a day to build it back up. CAUTION: If the weather is hot, leaving the starter on the counter may cause it to become too acidic (and eventually putrefy). Taste it. If it’s getting way too tangy, move it to a cooler place.
If you bake every 7 to 10 days, you can keep the starter in the refrigerator between bakes. Remove the starter the day before you plan to bake and bring it to room temperature to get the yeast active again. Then refresh the starter with 3 to 4 teaspoons of flour and a similar amount of lukewarm water, keeping the starter the consistency of pancake batter. After removing enough starter for your bake, feed it again, stir, and allow a few hours for the microbes to digest and bubble before returning it to the refrigerator.
FOR BIMONTHLY OR MONTHLY BAKERS
If you plan to use the starter only occasionally, store it in the refrigerator. However, you must take it out, bring it to room temperature, feed it, and stir it once a week to keep it alive. You might be able to stretch it to 10 days, maybe 14, without feeding it, but you risk that the starter may die. When you remove it from the fridge and feed it, remember to not let the volume build up too much. Discard one-third to one-half before feeding it if the starter has built up to over 1 cup. Allow a few hours for the microbes to digest and bubble before returning the starter to the refrigerator.
KNEAD TO KNOW
Is My Starter Still Alive? It Seems Dead.
Refreshed starters should show some bubbly activity. If that doesn’t happen, the starter is probably still okay. One reason that there may be little to no activity is that the volume of the starter has built up, but the microbes haven’t (because of refrigeration). So feeding it doesn’t engender any bubbles because there aren’t enough active microbes to eat all of the food given to the starter. Wait a day or two at room temperature with no feeding, but lots of stirring.
If your starter shows very little activity (none or few bubbles on the surface) after it has been brought to room temperature, fed, and you’ve tended to it for 3 or 4 days, try this: Discard all but about ¼ cup of the starter and start re-feeding it a tablespoon of flour and water each day to bring it back to life. Keep it at 75 to 80 degrees F until it becomes lively again. It should only take a few days.
GOING ON AN EXTENDED VACATION / FREEZING YOUR STARTER
You have two choices. The first one is to ask a friend to babysit your starter and feed it once every 7 to 10 days while you are gone. The second option is to freeze your starter. Here’s how:
½ cup sourdough starter
3 tablespoons unbleached white flour, divided
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
In a small bowl, combine the starter with 2 tablespoons of the white flour and all of the whole wheat flour. Using your hands, form it into a ball. Place the ball on a counter floured with the remaining tablespoon of white flour and knead the dough for a minute or two. Reshape it into a ball. Place the dough ball in an airtight container. Label the container with the date and slip it into the freezer.
The storage time should be kept within 2 to 8 weeks. As time goes past this point, the microorganisms become less viable.
To restore: Completely thaw the dough ball. Place the thawed ball in a one-pint jar and add ¼ to ½ cup warm water, stirring to return the starter to normal consistency. When I have revived a previously frozen starter, I see activity/bubbles right away! Begin feeding it, and continue to feed it daily until it begins to look and smell like its old self.
Regulating the Sourness in Sourdough Starters
Sourdough starters contain a combination of wild yeasts and bacteria, which create a combination of acetic acid and lactic acid. The acetic acid is what gives the starter its sour (vinegary) flavor. As you live with your starter, you will notice that the taste may shift. Hotter weather and more time outside the refrigerator will change the taste. Opposite effects come from cold environs. You want your starter to have a sour taste that is just the right tanginess for you. Which means: taste your starter regularly! Adjust (if necessary) as follows:
MY STARTER IS TOO SOUR!
To make the starter less sour, the acetic acid needs to be decreased. Here are some things you can do to accomplish this:
• Feed the starter unbleached white flour exclusively for a while. The pentosans (polysaccharides present in the fiber of plants) in whole grain increase acetic acid. Rye is particularly high in pentosans, so no rye or whole wheat.
• Feed the starter more frequently.
• Remove the “hooch” (the thin layer of clear liquid that forms on the top of the starter; see this page).
• Don’t stir the resting starter as often. Acetic acid likes O2; stirring oxygenates.
• Keep the starter at a cooler temperature.
MY STARTER ISN’T SOUR ENOUGH!
To make the starter more sour, the acetic acid needs to be increased. Here are some things you can do to accomplish this:
• Feed the starter whole grain flours exclusively for a while. The pentosans (polysaccharides present in the fiber of plants) in whole grain increase acetic acid. Rye is particularly high in pentosans, so include rye flour in the feedings.
• Feed the starter less frequently.
• Stir in the “hooch” (the thin layer of clear liquid that forms on the top of the starter; see this page).
• Stir the resting starter often. Acetic acid likes O2; stirring oxygenates.
• Keep the starter at a warmer temperature.
KNEAD TO KNOW
What About the Buildup of Crusty Stuff on the Sides of the Starter Jar?
After 10 days or more (depending on how often you feed your starter), your jar may begin to get a gray buildup on the sides. This is normal and okay. However, as it thickens, it’s fine to take a small paring knife and shave the crust off. Discard this stuff. Don’t let it fall back into the mix.
Sometimes, the buildup gets really thick and kind of moldy looking. The starter is still okay. When this happens, transfer your starter to a clean bowl or jar. Then thoroughly wash the crusty starter jar with hot water (no soap or bleach!). Make sure all of the crustiness is cleaned from the jar, lid, and rubber gasket (if there is one). Dry the jar, add the reserved starter, feed it, stir, and replace the lid or cover.