Making a sourdough starter from scratch is super easy, it just takes a little time.
As you guys probably know by now, I’m a *tiny* bit obsessed with all things sourdough. And for good reason: not only is sourdough healthier than regular baked goods, it tastes better. I’ve made everything from bread to biscuits to waffles to Dutch babies with sourdough. Turns out they’re like an enhanced version of the original recipes. If you’d like to experience some really beautiful flavors, I encourage you to get into baking with sourdough!
But beyond scrumptious flavors, sourdough has some amazing health benefits over regular baked goods. The fermentation process breaks down phytic acid (a plant toxin), starches, and gluten, making the flour easier to digest.
Have I convinced you to try sourdough baking for yourself?
How to Make a Sourdough Starter From Scratch
What is a sourdough starter?
A sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water that contains beneficial bacteria and yeast. You use it in place of active dry or instant yeast to leaven baked goods.
How do you make a sourdough starter from scratch?
There’s absolutely no doubt that the easiest way to start your sourdough journey is to bum some starter off of a friend. This is how I started cooking with sourdough.
But if you’re not lucky enough to have an avid sourdough baker as a friend, you can always make a sourdough starter from scratch. It’s pretty easy to do. You simply mix together equal portions of flour and water, let it sit in a warm spot, and feed daily.
Once your starter is nice and strong, you can use it to bake bread, pancakes, biscuits, etc. It typically takes about a week of regular feeding before you can use your starter.
Here’s the starter that I made from scratch. The rubber band shows the height of the starter before it rose. It’s nice and bubbly, which shows that the bacteria and yeast are active.
If you’d like to get the full tutorial and recipe for how to make a sourdough starter from scratch, make sure to check out my post on The Pioneer Woman’s blog HERE.
Here is a loaf of bread that I made from my starter that was only a little over a week old. It turned out to be delicious!
What can you make with a sourdough starter?
There are endless possibilities for what to make with your sourdough starter. You can find a recipe for just about anything that has a conventionally-raised counterpart.
Here are some of my favorite sourdough recipes so far:
- Sourdough Dutch Baby – deliciously yeasty!
- Sourdough Pie Crust – so flaky!
- Overnight Sourdough Waffles – crispy and yeasty and oh-so good.
- Sourdough Banana Bread – my dad was a big fan of this one (as were the rest of us).
- Sourdough Shortcake Recipe – a lovely spring dessert!
- Artisan Sourdough Bread – AKA the best bread I’ve ever made.
- Sourdough Sandwich Bread – for those times when you don’t want the butter leaking through your toast.
- The Best Sourdough Pancakes – seriously the best pancakes I’ve ever made!
- Sourdough French Bread – this is a soft version, perfect for serving alongside pasta!
I’m going to be sharing more sourdough recipes in the future here on Buttered Side Up, so make sure to grab my recipe for sourdough starter from scratch, get your starter going, and start experimenting with sourdough! You won’t want to miss out on my soft sourdough sandwich bread (recipe coming soon), and pillowy sourdough biscuits.
xoxo
Erica
I just wanted to say this may be the nudge I need to finally start sourdough…. thanks for the encouragement!
Hooray! Welcome to the wonderful world of sourdough. đâ¤â¨
Hi Erica, I made your sourdough starter last Saturday. I have been feeding it every day and it was right in line with your example starter. Then…I think it got to warm sitting on top of the fridge, and it went through a slump of not expanding or getting bubbles. During the slump it was very watery. I moved it to different location in the Kitchen, and it was less watery but not expanding. This morning I gave it twice as much food as normal and it took off. Like tripled in size lots of bubbles and it passed the float test. Also it smells nice like I think it should. Do you think it is ready to bake? I am totally thrilled to bake with sourdough. Thx for a awesome and comprehensive recipe.
Hey Kristen,
That’s awesome! Way to go to troubleshoot and try something different to get your starter back on track. I think that if it’s doubling every 8-12 hours after feeding, smells pleasant, and passes the float test, you’re good try your first bake!
Hi Erica, how do you feed sour dough and how much of it do you use of it when baking a loaf or 2 of bread, sorry, I’ve never used or made it before, my sister-inlaw invited me*
Hey, Rosemary! I keep my starter at 100% hydration, which means that I feed it equal weights (not volumes) of water and flour. Some people recommend that you use a 1 to 1 to 1 ration (equal weights of starter, flour, and water). But I tend to bend the rules and over-feed my starter if I need a larger amount for a recipe. So I might feed 50 grams of starter 120 grams each of flour and water to get enough for a cup of starter plus extra to save for next time. It’s not the *proper* way to do it, but it works for me!
I usually feed my starter and pop it in the fridge until I’m ready to use it again. If you keep your starter in the fridge, you need to feed it about once a week. If you keep it at room temperature, you need to feed it once a day.
I use one cup (240 grams) of starter for a loaf of bread. I would increase that to two cups (480 grams) of starter if I was making 2 loaves.
Let me know if you have any more questions – I love chatting sourdough!
Good morning, Erica! I have an eleven year old daughter who loves to bake and I found your sour dough bread on the Pioneer Womanâs website. We have began making our starter, which is going well, but she keeps asking âwhy do we discard half of the starter? It seems like such a wasteâ . . . Could you answer that for me to cure a childâs curiosity?
Thank you-
Ann
Hey, Ann! The reason you discard the starter is because if you didn’t, you would soon run out of space to keep it and flour to feed it! You need to feed your starter at a 1:1:1 ratio of starter, flour, and water. So if you feed 50 grams of starter, you’ll end up with 150 grams (50 grams of starter, 50 grams of flour, and 50 grams of water). If you don’t discard all but 50 grams at the next feeding, you’ll have 450 grams of starter (150 grams starter + 150 grams flour + 150 grams water). At the next feeding you’ll have 1,350 grams of starter, And at the next feeding you’ll end up with 4,050 grams of starter. It will just keep growing!
Hope that helps!
Erica
Once my starter is “ready”, what is the time frame to use it?
After you have fed your starter and it rises, is bubbly, and passes the float test (usually this takes 6-12 hours, depending on how warm your kitchen is), it’s best to use it as soon as possible. If you wait too long, it will get more mature and the final bread with be more sour. Of course if you like a really sour bread, that can be a positive thing!