Easy Sourdough Starter Recipe (7 Day Process)

5 from 2 votes

Easy Sourdough Starter Recipe (7 Day Process)

This uncomplicated 7-day tutorial shows you how to make sourdough starter from scratch in just minutes of hands-on time a day, plus how to store and use on day 8.

Prep Time10

Daily hands-on time 5 min. x 7 days35

Total Time45

Course: Breads

Cuisine: American

Servings: cup

Calories: 114kcal

Author: Jami Boys

Equipment

quart glass jars or equivalent glass bowl
muslin cloth or loose fitting jar lid

Ingredients

1 cup flour* (whole wheat is my preference)
1 cup water
plus more flour and water for the full 7 days

Instructions

Day 1

Gather 1 quart jar or 4-quart glass bowl (not metal or plastic, sourdough is acid-based), 1/2 cup whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup rye flour (you can use all whole wheat - 1 cup total - but I read that rye flour makes the best sourdough starter, so I added half), and 1 cup warm water (just warm tap water temperature) - using warm water is key, I've found, as the wild yeast responds better to warm water. NOTE: I've always used good well water - if your water isn't good or has additives like chlorine, boil the water or let it sit out uncovered for 24 hours before using. Try not to use filtered water because we do want some of the minerals found in good water.
If you're weighing your ingredients, use equal amounts of water and flour, like 100 grams.
Put the flour into the jar or bowl and stir in the water. Cover the top of the container with muslin (or cheesecloth) or loose fitting lid.
Keep in a warm place - you'll want a kitchen temperature of 70 to 75 degrees or a place to put it that's similar.

Day 2

(Note: We'll be adding less flour now to reduce the waste.) After 24 hours, the starter may have separated some. You can pour off the dark liquid that is on the top or mix it in - this is called the "hooch" and is perfectly normal.
Pour the starter in to a fresh, clean jar or bowl (transferring it to a new jar or bowl each day allows the sides to remain clean which is important to reduce the rare chance of mold).
Do not discard anything today. Add 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of warm water, stirring well and scraping down the sides. Replace the cloth and return the jar to it's warm spot. (Note: your starter probably doesn't smell very soury yet and that's okay.)

Day 3

Pour any liquid off (or mix it in) and discard half of the mixture (your first discard).
Put the remaining starter into a new clean jar or bowl and add 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup warm water. Place it back in it's warm spot, covered with the cloth or loose lid.

Day 4

Repeat steps from day 3.
Your starter may have risen some by now, have a slightly sour smell, and have little bubbles as well as the hooch after waiting 24 hours from day 3 (but again, don't worry if yours looks different - just keep moving forward..).

Day 5

Repeat steps from days 3 (and 4), discarding half, moving to a clean jar, and adding the 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water.
You may not like the smell of your starter by this stage, but don't think it's bad - it's just working. There'll be a number of different smells as you go through the process. There may be be a lot of liquid with stuff on the top - again, normal.

Day 6

You should see bubbles in your starter today and maybe liquid depending on how much water you added yesterday.
Discard half, move the starter to a clean jar, and this time add slightly less water - 1/2 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of water. I've learned that keeping the starter a bit dryer (less water than flour) helps it to rise and grow better and can result in slightly less sour finished bread. However - you can keep feeding at the 1:1 ration if you'd like.
Note: This less amount of water to flour ratio can be used once your starter is bubbly and active - if it's sluggish, keep to the equal amounts of water and flour.

Day 7

Repeat day 6.
By this time, you should see consistent signs of life: bubbling and growing double in size between each feeding. If not, you may want to discard most of the mixture and feed equal amounts of water and flour OR start the process over again, checking your equipment and environment.

Day 8 - Active Starter

Your starter should have bubbles and have grown in its container! At this point it's considered an 'active' starter. In addition to baking with your new starter, there are two things you should do depending on if you want to store some starter, or keep feeding to continue baking more regularly:
If you want to store some of your starter: Place at least 1/4 cup of the starter in a glass jar, place a lid on the jar - but don't seal tightly - and place in the refrigerator. This is now the starter you will feed and use each time you want to make something.
If you want to keep growing your starter and bake more often: Remove 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the starter and feed it as you've been doing. HOWEVER, if you need a larger amount for a specific recipe, you don't need to discard between feedings. Just feed the flour and water ratios needed (if you have 1 cup of starter, feed with 1 cup of flour and 3/4 cup water, matching the starter to flour with slightly less water) each feeding until you reach the amount you need for the recipe, while still having a bit left to feed for your starter.
Use the rest of your starter - the discard - to make something that doesn't need a lot of rise, like waffles, crackers, or fritters. Note: you will not usually be able to rise a loaf of bread with a starter for at least 4 weeks - see the timeline in the post for ideas of what to make during those weeks (there are a lot of options!).

Notes

*You can use any type of flour you want - even gluten free flour! Adding some whole wheat or rye flour tends to help get a new starter going, but many starters have been made with all purpose flour.

Changing flours in starter: I haven't had success using an all purpose flour to feed my whole wheat starter, so my suggestion is to stick with whatever flour you start with and if you want different types of starters, use separate jars (however, I have had people tell me that they've successfully fed their starter with whatever flour they have, so experiment if you want to!).

Nutrition