Simple Sourdough Starter: How To For an Excited Beginner!

I’m going to teach you how to make a sourdough starter for a beginner in this simple step by step tutorial. You just need water, flour, and a little time. Soon you will have a happy bubbly sourdough starter, ready for you to bake delicious food with!

Delicious hot crusty Sourdough bread has dominated the American home kitchen for centuries. It’s making a huge comeback in recent years, with more and more families turning back to the old traditions and being self-sustaining. 

How does a person get this tasty bread in their kitchen? With a sourdough starter! Then you can make your amazing bread too! So jump on the bandwagon, it’ll be great! 

Here we’ll show you everything you need to know about making your own sourdough starter from scratch for the first time. For a beginner, it can seem overwhelming in a good way. So let me break it down into super simple step-by-step instructions for you. Once you learn how to care for your starter, before you know it you will be enjoying those daily feedings. Then, you will be on to baking a sourdough loaf of bread, yummy sourdough discard brownies and so much more!

What is a Sourdough Starter?

It is a fermented paste made of flour, water and wild caught yeast. Most breads are made with store bought commercial yeast that are grown from a lab. These wild yeasts eat the nutrients in the flour and water and produce bubbles. We use these bubbles to make delicious fluffy bread.

How Long Does it Take to Make a Sourdough Starter?

To make a simple sourdough starter from scratch it usually takes about 7 days. You won’t be baking with it today… but soon. You are going to start the fermentation process with whole wheat. After a few days, you can continue to feed it regular all-purpose flour.

How to Tell When the Sourdough Starter is Ready to Use?

When the starter is full of bubbles, both on the sides and bursting through the top. When it has doubled in size.

Sourdough Starter Basic Concepts

    Hydration Level:

    Starter Batch Size:

    What is feeding?

    Feeding Ratio:

    Feeding Schedule:

    Discard:

    Types of Flours:

        Whole Wheat Flour

        Unbleached All-Purpose Flour:

        Unbleached Bread Flour

        Rye Flour

Note: you can switch flours

    Liquid

    Temperature

Ensure a Successful Sourdough Starter

First Week:

Feed at Height of Activity

Consistency is Key

Temperature

Flour: organic whole grain

Water: lukewarm nonchlorinated

Hydration: starters usually are 100%

Baking with it: feed it 4-8hrs before making dough for bread

Discard: is essential for a healthy starter.

How to Know Your Starter Is Ready

Maintenance and More

    Feeding

        Daily

        Refrigerate & feed weekly

    Signs of Hungry Starter

Long Term Storage

• Slide marks
• Layer of hooch at the top
• Thin enough to pour, not thick and scoopable

Basic Sourdough Feeding Schedule

Sourdough Starter Recipe For a Beginner

Equipment:

• Quart jar
• Digital kitchen scale (its super helpful but not a must)

Ingredients:

To start (day 1-2):

• 1 c (113g) whole wheat flour
• ½ c (113g) water

To feed (day 3-7):

• 1 c (113g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ c (113g) water

Note About Flour: Use whole wheat flour for the first 2 days, then switch to unbleached all-purpose flour for the healthiest sourdough starter.

Instructions:

Before you get started making your own starter, decide what time works best for you to feed your sourdough starter. It does best when it is being fed constantly and not altogether forgotten. Maybe feed it in the morning while your coffee is brewing.

Day 1: 

The first step is to mix 1 cup flour with ½ c warm water thoroughly in a non-reactive container. A stainless steel bowl, glass jar, crock, or plastic bowl will work for this. It needs to be large enough for the starter to grow and not overflow. We like to have it about 3 times the size of the fed starter. In this case just the flour and water. A quart jar should be perfect.

For best results, scrape down the sides so they don’t dry out before you cover. You will want to use either a towel and a large rubber band or an actual sourdough starter cover to allow airflow. Plastic wrap will work, but just not the best. Just don’t shut the lid and completely seal off the container. Mark the container with a permanent marker on a glass jar or rubber band if it isn’t wipeable, at the current height of the starter. Then, set it in a warm location to culture.

Note about location:
Cold room temperature can cause the starter to grow too slowly. If your room is less than 68 we suggest finding a warm spot to keep your starter. You could put it above the fridge, in a cabinet above the stove, or even in the oven with the light turned on (oven off obviously), for example. These are all good locations.

Day 2:

Do nothing today! The starter doesn’t need to be fed only on this day. But you can check for activity if you want. There should be noticeable bubbles starting on the sides at the very least. And possibly on the top if it’s extra happy already. These show us that the natural yeast is getting active, which is the whole point!

Note about brown liquid:
Today you might notice a clearish brown liquid collecting or pooling. Usually, this is on the top, sometimes it will pool lower down. This is called “Hooch” and it’s a totally normal part of the process. Today just leave it alone, but after your sourdough starter is established, it is a good idea to just pour it off. 

Day 3, 4, 5, 6:

By today you should have an active starter. You should start seeing a little bit of activity, bubbling, fruity smell, and possibly puffed up a bit. This is where you will want to start feeding it twice a day, morning and evening.

Weigh out 113g of new starter, this is a heaping ½ c, into a new clean jar. Discard any leftover starter. Add 1 c or 113 g flour and ½ c or 113 g water to the starter. Then stir it thoroughly and recover. Set back in the warm location you were using, and let rest for about 12 hrs.

NOTE: 
Sometimes it takes longer than 7 days for a sourdough starter to be thriving, packed with growing microbes, and ready to use. If the room is cooler, bleached flour is used, or chlorinated water, the microbes can be a little sluggish to develop. Just check to make sure you are doing everything right.  Then be patient enough to feed it for up to another week. It’s totally normal!

The starter is ready to use once it has doubled in size. Give it one more feeding and let it rest for 6 – 8 hrs before using it in your recipe.

Note: use a rubber band, piece of tape, or permanent marker to mark the height of the fed sourdough starter,  before setting it back in its warm home. This will help you watch for when it doubles in size.

Most recipes don’t use more than 1 cup of starter (227g). If you need more than that, feed your starter a few times without discarding it.

Transfer the ½ cup starter to its permanent home; a mason jar, crock, or whatever container you were planning on using. Feed it with the normal amount of 1 c flour (113g) and ½ c water (113g). Then stir it thoroughly and recover. Set back in the warm location you were using, and let rest for 24 hours.

That’s it!! You should have an incredible thriving sourdough starter for a beginner sourdough enthusiast!

Here are Some of the Easiest Sourdough Recipes for a Beginner:

• Sourdough Discard Brownie
• Sourdough Lemon Brownies
• Sourdough Discard Pancake Recipe
• Sourdough Bread Recipe
• Sourdough Pancakes
• Sourdough Chinese Orange Chicken
• Sourdough Tortillas
• Sourdough Waffles
• Sourdough Crackers
• Sourdough English Muffins
• Sourdough Pizza

How to Store a Sourdough Starter

1. Daily Use: This is if you are planning on baking every single day or pretty frequently. You simply store the starter in a warm place like on the kitchen counter if the room is somewhere around 68-72 degrees. Otherwise on top of a fridge or cabinet above the stove if the house is cooler than 68. 
2. Weekly Use: This is if you are planning on using your starter only once a week. You can keep your starter in the fridge to slow the growth down. Feed it weekly still, and put it right back in the fridge. It’s sorta like a pause or vacation. Then when you want to use it, simply pull it out of the fridge the day before. Next, you need to feed it and leave it in a warm location, like on the counter.
3. Long-Term Use: This is if you need to go on vacation or you just aren’t planning on baking with your sourdough starter for a while. For more than a month, you will want to dry it. This way it will stay good to use later. It will take a little waking up but you won’t have to start all over from the beginning again.

Tips for Having a Successful Starter

• Consistently Feedings
• A Warm Environment
• Unbleached Flour
• Chlorine Free Water

Troubleshooting:

• Smell: 
• No Action
• Don’t overfeed
• Cold environment
• Acidity: pineapple water
• Hooch: hungry
• Mold: 
• Float Test: 

That’s it!! You should have an incredible thriving sourdough starter for a beginner sourdough enthusiast! 

Sources for High-Quality Flour

If you are going to go to all the work to make homemade sourdough bread from scratch, you really should make sure you start with a really good quality flour. Ancient grains are far better for you than modern GMO ones. Organic is absolutely worth the extra cost. Here are a few of my favorite places to purchase a big 50# bag of flour that will last you a good while:

Balarina Farms

Azure Standards

Bob’s Red Mill

King Arthur Baking

FAQs

QUESTIONS:

Should I Use Bottled Water With My Sourdough Starter?

If your tap water has a strong chemical smell or is heavily treated, then yes you will want to use bottled, spring, or filtered water. If it doesn’t then you should be fine to use it. Make sure not to use hot water, it needs to be a warm cup of water, which is about 240 grams of water.

Should I Use Whole Wheat Flour For My Starter? 

Yes, you should use whole-grain flour to start your sourdough starter. The type of flour does influence the starter, so it’s best to start the sourdough starter with whole wheat flour. If you don’t have any, then go ahead and use all-purpose flour. The environment whole wheat flour provides, feeds, and supports the wild yeast which makes sourdough better than any other flour. When you use other flours you might notice a difference in how fast the starter grows, it may be thicker or thinner or even bake a little differently. Just keep an eye on it and make notes as you learn what does and doesn’t work for your environment.

Why So I Need to Discard Half My Sourdough Starter? 

It seems wasteful. Otherwise, you will soon end up with a massive amount because you need to continuously feed it to keep it alive and it will just keep growing. It helps to keep the pH balance by removing some and adding fresh flour. Also, the microbes in the starter won’t starve because they are getting outcompeted by each other. You don’t have to throw it away necessarily, you could give some to a friend, sell it, or bake with the starter. There are tons of sourdough starter recipes! 

What if I Forget to Feed My Starter? 

It’s not the end of the world if you forget to feed your sourdough starter for a long time. Established starters are pretty hardy. The microbes will be hungry! So get a clean container and feed them the normal amount every 12 hrs for a few feedings. They should double in 12 hours at least when it’s happy again.

Why Isn’t My Sourdough Starter Rising?

If your sourdough starter isn’t rising, ensure the location is warm enough. The ideal temperature is about 70*. If you just made your starter, don’t expect it to rise in the first couple of days though. 

My Sourdough Starter is Overflowing, What Do I Do? 

That is a great sign of a healthy active sourdough starter. Next time you probably need a bigger container, unless you just let it grow way too long. So for now, take the lid off, scrap a portion of the starter into a new container, crock, or jar, and clean up the mess. Then continue with regular feedings with the above easy steps as usual. Make sure to use the remaining starter in a yummy recipe! 

If you want to go down a rabbit hole on your sourdough journey and all things sourdough, then go to King Arthur Baking. It has everything about sourdough including the whole process, lactic acid bacteria, pineapple juice, best tips for a strong starter, carbon dioxide science, and all about the necessary hydration starter needs to have.

What Kind of Container Should I Keep My Sourdough Starter in?

A sourdough starter should be kept in a class or ceramic jar or container. A canning jar or a weck jar makes a great container!

What is The Easiest Sourdough Bread Recipe?

The easiest sourdough bread recipe is a no-knead one baked in a Dutch Oven.

Have you ever tried starting a sourdough starter from scratch? We’d love for you to share your experience below!

Some photos by Photo by Marta Dzedyshko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/slices-of-bread-on-wooden-board-7693949/