How to start your homemade sourdough
Servings
Ingredients
Cups
- -whole wheat flour 50 (g)
- -water 50 (g)
- -all-purpose flour 25 (g)
- -water 25 (g)
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Steps
- All the water used for the sourdough starter should be lukewarm, like a warm bath—not too hot, not too cold. But don’t stress about measuring the temperature exactly, trust yourself—you know what lukewarm water feels like.
- On the first day, in a glass jar (mine holds 500 mL), simply mix the flour and lukewarm water until there are no lumps of flour left. Place the lid on top of the jar without closing it, and leave it at room temperature until the next day.
- The next day, and every day for the following 7 days, we will refresh the sourdough starter. To do this, we’ll remove about half of it (50 g, but I just eyeball it). This part is called the discard, and I’ll give you ideas on how to use it at the end! Then, we’ll add 25 g of flour (it can be white or whole wheat) and 25 g of lukewarm water to our starter. Mix, place the lid on without closing it, and leave it at room temperature until the next day.
- Keep refreshing your sourdough starter for the full 7 days like this. You’ll notice that, at first, it might be unpredictable: some days it will triple in volume, while on others, it will barely rise. During this 7-day period, what we’re aiming for is stability. We want it to rise in the same way each day, about 2.5 to 3 times its original height.
- Once your sourdough starter is stable, you can start using it for your breads, brioches, baguettes, etc. Keep refreshing it daily, or store it in the fridge when you’re not using it. The same starter can stay active for life if you take care of it (never leave it in the fridge for more than a month without refreshing).
- USING THE DISCARD: The portion that we remove when refreshing the sourdough starter can be used in cooking. You can add it to all your cakes, muffins, pancakes, waffles, doughs, patties, etc., without changing your recipe!
NotesThe choice of flour and water is very important: we want the microorganisms to proliferate, so we’ll choose untreated flour (you can use whole wheat flour, or half white flour, half rye flour, for example—just avoid overly bleached and treated flours for day one). Water can ruin everything too: if your city’s water is chlorinated, the chlorine could kill the microorganisms. You can leave a pitcher of water on your counter for 24 hours so the chlorine evaporates, or you can use bottled mineral water. Personally, I have a well, so I just use tap water.
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How to start your homemade sourdough
Ingredients
- -whole wheat flour 50 (g)
- -water 50 (g)
- -all-purpose flour 25 (g)
- -water 25 (g)
Steps
Steps
- All the water used for the sourdough starter should be lukewarm, like a warm bath—not too hot, not too cold. But don’t stress about measuring the temperature exactly, trust yourself—you know what lukewarm water feels like.
- On the first day, in a glass jar (mine holds 500 mL), simply mix the flour and lukewarm water until there are no lumps of flour left. Place the lid on top of the jar without closing it, and leave it at room temperature until the next day.
- The next day, and every day for the following 7 days, we will refresh the sourdough starter. To do this, we’ll remove about half of it (50 g, but I just eyeball it). This part is called the discard, and I’ll give you ideas on how to use it at the end! Then, we’ll add 25 g of flour (it can be white or whole wheat) and 25 g of lukewarm water to our starter. Mix, place the lid on without closing it, and leave it at room temperature until the next day.
- Keep refreshing your sourdough starter for the full 7 days like this. You’ll notice that, at first, it might be unpredictable: some days it will triple in volume, while on others, it will barely rise. During this 7-day period, what we’re aiming for is stability. We want it to rise in the same way each day, about 2.5 to 3 times its original height.
- Once your sourdough starter is stable, you can start using it for your breads, brioches, baguettes, etc. Keep refreshing it daily, or store it in the fridge when you’re not using it. The same starter can stay active for life if you take care of it (never leave it in the fridge for more than a month without refreshing).
- USING THE DISCARD: The portion that we remove when refreshing the sourdough starter can be used in cooking. You can add it to all your cakes, muffins, pancakes, waffles, doughs, patties, etc., without changing your recipe!
NotesThe choice of flour and water is very important: we want the microorganisms to proliferate, so we’ll choose untreated flour (you can use whole wheat flour, or half white flour, half rye flour, for example—just avoid overly bleached and treated flours for day one). Water can ruin everything too: if your city’s water is chlorinated, the chlorine could kill the microorganisms. You can leave a pitcher of water on your counter for 24 hours so the chlorine evaporates, or you can use bottled mineral water. Personally, I have a well, so I just use tap water.