Making sourdough starters

Posted on 17. Jan, 2011 by virtuousbread in Bread and conversation

Further to the previous blog begging you all not to get freaked out by sourdough, I have had lots of requests for simple instructions about how to make and keep a sourdough starter.

I have three sourdough starters on the go at any one time: white wheat, whole wheat, and rye.

I don't have a spelt starter because a) I find it tricksy: at any given moment if I turn your back it just jumps up and pours itself all over the counter and the floor. Maybe it's just me, but I cannot be doing with such an independent creature in the kitchen and b) I find it makes bread that is rather bitter unless I add sugar or honey or some other thing to add sweetness and I don't necessarily want to do that all the time. Feel free to disagree and let us know.

General rules for making a sourdough starter

1. Once you have mixed flour and water together (see quantities below) for four days, your starter should be frothy and/or bubbly. If it is not, just tuck it up and leave it for another 24 hours. After that if nothing at all is happening you can add a few grains of yeast to it and leave it for 24 hours but you should not have to do this. If nothing is happening naturally you have been using too much disinfectant and need to let your house get a bit more (normally) dirty!

2. To store your starter once it is frothy and bubbly, you put it in the fridge in a plastic container with an air tight lid or a kilner jar (the kind with the rubber sea). Do not use a regular jam jar because it may explode in a dangerous shower of glass shards. You will need a lot of space in your container especially for the first few days - the starter may continue to froth up. The worst that will happen in a kilner jar or a plastic tub is that it will leak through the seal and form a thick pool in your fridge!

3. You do not need to feed your starter slavishly every day. I once found some of the 1857 in the back of the fridge that had been there for about 5 years. I refreshed it and made bread. Good as new. Remember, sourdough was used by people who did not have access to commercial yeast - cowboys rolled it up in their bed rolls, pioneering women transported it in the back of covered waggons, families living on the steppes of Russia managed to keep theirs alive in spite of harsh siberian winters. You can freeze it, you can dry it, you can ignore it - it will always come back.

When it comes to using it, you have a choice:

a) If you are going to bake every day or every other day you may want to feed your starter every day. That way it is in a permanent state of being "refreshed" and you can usually cut out the step that says "The day before you want to make bread, refresh your sourdough". To feed your starter every day simply put it in a big container with a lid and put in as much as you took out. Sound odd? Not at all. Your starter will have the consistency of thick cream. When you make bread you take starter out of the pot to make the bread. Add flour and water to the starter - maintining the thick cream consistency. If you change flours you will have to change quantities because flours are all different. If your starter gets a little thin, add a bit more flour. If it gets a little thick, add more water. Use tepid water if you can - sourdough likes warm water. If you have not fed it in 4-5 days you will need to go through the refreshment cycle again. Just follow the instructions of the recipe you are using.

b) Refresh the starter when you need it. If you do this always refresh more than you need so you have some to put back in the fridge for the next time you want to bake. To refresh the dough, follow the recipe instructions as there are lots of ways to refresh dough and different bread calls for different refreshment techniques.

White wheat sourdough starter

Day 1

Mix 50 g white wheat flour and 50 g warm water together. Cover and put somewhere warm (airing cupboard, on a heated floor, sunny place) for 24 hours.

Day 2

Add 50 g white wheat flour and 50 g warm water to the Day 1. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Day 3

Add 50 g white wheat flour and 50 g warm water to the Day 2. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Day 4

Add 50 g white wheat flour and 50 g warm water to the Day 3. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Voila. You have a viable white wheat starter.

Whole wheat sourdough starter

Day 1

Mix 25 g whole wheat flour and 50 g warm water together. Cover and put somewhere warm (airing cupboard, on a heated floor, sunny place) for 24 hours.

Day 2

Add 25 g whole wheat flour and 50 g warm water to the Day 1. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Day 3

Add 25 g whole wheat flour and 50 g warm waterto the Day 2. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Day 4

Add 25 g whole wheat flour and 50 g warm water to the Day 3. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Voila. You have a viable whole wheat starter.

Rye sourdough starter

Day 1

Mix 25 g whole rye flour and 50 g warm water together. Cover and put somewhere warm (airing cupboard, on a heated floor, sunny place) for 24 hours.

Day 2

Add 25 g whole rye flour and 50 g warm water to the Day 1. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Day 3

Add 25 g whole rye flour and 50 g warm waterto the Day 2. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Day 4

Add 25 g whole rye flour and 50 g warm water to the Day 3. Mix. Cover and put somewhere warm.

Voila. You have a viable rye starter.

And now you can bake.

As a final final note, a lot of bread that is called "sourdough" has yeast added to it. That's fine, it's still sourdough bread, it is not "pure" sourdough bread. If you are concerned, ask the baker.

For recipes you can look here or here for recipes using a white wheat starter and here for rye one.

Sadly, I had to cancel the sourdough share save scheme that I started 6 months ago because too many people broke the chain and I spent my time running around after them and sending out dough. I hope this post shows you that it is easy and although you don't have the magic of having a dough that comes from 1857, you do have your very own dough.

14 Responses to “Making sourdough starters”

Sally

17. Jan, 2011

Too late - I read some of those instructions that say feed every day. I didn't for over a week in the fridge - so down the drain it went. How sad - I'll know for next time.
Carl

27. Jan, 2011

Is white wheat the same as strong white bread flour ?
OK I am a man but if you don't ask you don't lean.
virtuousbread

28. Jan, 2011

Hi Carl, that did just make me chuckle!

White wheat flour comes in different "strengths". The "strength" refers to the "hardness" or "gluten content". The stronger the flour the stronger the bread. Soft flour is great for cake (soft) and some bread and hard flour is good for other bread. Sadly there is no global or even european standard labelling although you can find comparison tables in Andrew Whitley's book Bread Matters. In general, when making bread you should use the strongest flour you can get which is usually labelled strong or extra strong bread flour. Then again, you may have to trade off between local and strong: In the UK we don't have a lot of really stong flour and a lot of the bread flour that is sold is supplemented with flour from abroad (Canada, US, Turkey, Russia, Khazakstan...) - countries with wide open prairie spaces that produce wonderful, hard flour. So you may have a principle issue with where your food comes from? If you are keen to make bread NOW and you only have regular plain flour - just do it! If, however, you are not so impatient and you can get to a shop, you may want to buy strong bread flour.

There is a further level of detail and that is how the flour is milled. For some info on that type "stone milling" into the search bar on the web site.

You raise an excellent question, though, and that will make me go back and be more clear in some of the recipes I am giving. Jane
Carl

28. Jan, 2011

Thank you that as help a great deal, I do live in England and the store and supermarkets have a good range of bread flours, is there any that is better than others ? I also see it may be wise to buy in bulk as the price of grain is going up and up; if I do how long would the flour last ? I know there is a sell by date and I also know you don't always go by that.
Carl.
virtuousbread

28. Jan, 2011

Hey! There is a fantastic resource on the Traditional Corn Millers' Guild website (TCMG.org.uk) that helps you find wind or water mills near you. If you click here: http://www.brockwell-bake.org.uk/map.php you will find the map and see if there is a mill near you. I buy from Michael Stoate outside Shaftesbury - great flour and bonus that he dlivers in London anyway and so will stop by my house and deliver for free. Flour is heavy - the only downside - so carriage can be expensive. Ask the miller about "use by" dates. The oil in wheat germ does go rancid after a while and I have never had flour long enough to test that. the miller will know.
Alison

28. Jan, 2011

When making a sourdough starter what container do I use?
when you say cover it, with what?
Can I leave it on the back of the Aga to grow?
virtuousbread

29. Jan, 2011

Great question - and I will change it on the page. You can make it in a plastic box with a tight fitting lid or a bowl with clingfilm on it that you secure with an elastic. You want an air tight container so the sourdough does not dry out. Please don't use a regular glass jar because it may shatter! You can, however, use a kilner jar (the kind with the clip and the rubber seal. When you store it in the fridge, you can store it in the same kind of container you used to make it.

As re the aga, I think the back of the aga is too warm. Just pop it on the counter top near the aga or on the floor around the aga but not directly on the aga. I confess I have not tried it on the aga but I do find the aga too warm to proof dough - although somewhere near it is perfect!
Alison

29. Jan, 2011

Thank you for your advice, I just wasn't sure if I covered it tightly as it was growing, I thought it might need the air/bacteria to grow! I guess theres enough air/bacteria in the container for it to feed on.
I love sour dough and have been trying to make it for years, and finally I 've found your instructions which are the clearest yet, thank you. I want to make a white spelt starter (like a challenge!), should I use the same ratio flour to water as a white wheat starter?
WENDY STACEY

18. Apr, 2011

My son cannot take gluten and would very much like to make some good bread himself: can you tell me whether the sourdough process works with any of the gluten-free flour products?

With thanks.
virtuousbread

19. Apr, 2011

Hi Wendy, is your son a coeliac or gluten intolerant? If coeliac, I am not an expert but there are a lot of experts participating in a forum http://www.sourdough.com so I know someone there will be able to help. If he is intolerant, he will be able to tolerate a true sourdough bread even with gluten because the gluten is so broken down by the long fermentation period. The longer the better - some of mine are on the go for 48 hours, for example, which makes them very easy to digest. Good luck with this and do contact me again if you have any questions. Kind regards, Jane
Sarah Taylor

17. Jul, 2011

Hi Jane, Sarah T here from school days! Found you on FB and wandered over to your blog. Fantastic!

I have always wanted to make my own sourdough. Based on your discussion of hard flours, would typical Canadian All Purpose do?

Cheers,
Sarah
virtuousbread

18. Jul, 2011

Hi Sarah,

Canadian all purpose will be fine. However if you can find bread flour or hard flour that is even better. We have some of the world's hardest wheat in Manitoba! Alas, not used to make bread by Canadians in the main and much of it exported to, for example, the UK!

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Making sourdough starters