In order to make any kind of Sourdough Bread the most important part is the starter. Making it and keeping it active is vital.
Making the starter is a seven day process. It can take longer depending on your environment, but seven days is about the minimum.
Once you complete this guide, you will have an active starter that you can use for years (if you feed it regularly).
Equipment:
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a jar (or container, 24oz or 700ml) with a loosely fitting lid.
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a food scale
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a rubber spatula (to stir)
Tips:
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Weight your empty jar. You will need to know it’s weight as you feed the stated in the upcoming days.
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Use room temperature water so your starter is warm and active.
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If you forget to feed your starter, it shouldn’t be an issue, just continue with the regular feeding and it will come back to normal.
This recipe keeps for 7 days
Ingredients (1 servings)
Day 1
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 150 g Water (room temperature)
Day 2
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 100 g Water (room temperature)
Day 3
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 100 g Water (room temperature)
Day 4
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 100 g Water (room temperature)
Day 5
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 100 g Water (room temperature)
Day 6
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 100 g Water (room temperature)
Day 7
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 100 g Water (room temperature)
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Instructions
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Day 1
In your jar (or container), combine together the ingredients under day 1 and stir until all the flour is saturated. Cover with the loosely fitting lid and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. -
Day 2
At this point your starter will smell mostly like wet flour. Don’t worry, it will develop a more exotic aroma in the coming days. Just keep following along and trust the process.
To prevent your starter from growing bigger and bigger, starting with day 2, we are going to discard part of it each day.
In day 2, we need to combine 75g (3.5oz) starter with 100g (3.5oz) water and 100g (3.5oz) flour. If you weighted your jar before day 1 you only need to discard part of the starter (weight the jar with starter in it and discard part of the mixture until you are left with the weight of the jar + 75g (2.65oz)), then add the flour, water and stir to combine until the flour is saturated. Loosely cover the jar and let it sit for 24 hours. -
Day 3 and 4
Repeat the same process you did in day 2. Discard all but 75g (2.65oz) of starter, add 100g (3.5oz) flour and 100g (3.5oz) water. Stir to combine and loosely cover for another 24 hours. -
Day 5 and 6
By now, your starter should get more active and start to develop a more citrusy aroma. You should see at lest some small bubbles in the jar.
Now, as the starter is beginning to strengthen we are going to decrease the amount of starter we use for feeding to 50g (1.8oz).
Mix together 50g (1.8oz) of starter with 100g (3.5oz) water and 100g (3.5oz) flour. The as always, stir to combine and let it rest under a loosely covered jar for 24 hours. -
Day 7 and beyond.
At this point your starter should be finally ready to use. If it’s not, don’t worry and keep feeding it.
From now, we are going to keep just 25g (0.9oz) of starter each day and feed it with the usual 100g (3.5oz) water and 100g (3.5oz) flour. This ratio will never change for the entire life of the starter.
Not sure your starter is ready? Take the float test! Just take a small amount of starter and drop it in a bowl of water. If it floats, it’s ready! - Once your starter is ready, and you plan to bake more than once a week, keep feeding it with the 25-100-100 ratio daily.
If you bake once a week or less, feed the starter only once per week and store the starter in the fridge between feedings. If you do it this way, let it come to room temperature before and after each feeding.
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Nutrition
One serving contains 2590 calories, 106 grams of protein, 19 grams of fat, and 498 grams of carbohydrates.
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