How To Make Sourdough Starter From Scratch

Make your own sourdough starter right in your kitchen using only simple ingredients. No fancy equipment is required and it can be ready as quickly as in 7 days! Use it to make multigrain bread, pancakes, flatbread, pizza, English muffins and so much more. Simply follow the detailed step-by-step guide: it is easy to make and the process is quite satisfying! Troubleshooting tips and a short video are included.

If you are looking for a fun kitchen experiment, then you have got to make your own sourdough starter!

It is so satisfying! Watching your flour mixture come alive (literally!) is really fun and impressive. Plus, it makes for the BEST baked goods and bread recipes.

All you have to do is combine water + flour, then give it a little bit of care every day, until it flourishes and bubbles and smells bread-y-delicious. It only takes a few minutes of hands-on prep each day and usually by day 7 to 10 (but sometimes a little longer), you will end up with a creamy mixture filled with bubbly and lively yeasts ready to flavor and leven homemade delicious bread.

But what do I mean by a little bit of care every day?

You can consider your sourdough starter to be something like a small low-maintenance pet. You will watch for when it is hungry, feed it, make sure it is comfortable at the right temperature, etc. As long as it is happy, it will grow!

I also gave mine a name. But, you do you.

So, it does take some time, meaning days or even weeks, to reach a ready-to-use sourdough starter, but it is mostly hands-off time. You feed it regularly, which takes 5 min, and let it sit on the counter until ready. Not hard at all and everyone can make it, but it needs some planning and mostly, a lot of patience. But it is so worth it!

Happy sourdough making!

What is a sourdough starter?

You might be used to be making bread using dry yeast. They come in granules and essentially are dormant yeasts. Once combined with your bread ingredients, they get 're-activated' and then, the yeasts do their yeasty-job, which is mostly to puff the bread (and to give it some flavor too, obv).

When we make sourdough recipes, we don't use store-bought ready-to-go yeast at all. We actually grow our own yeast ourselves (sourdough starter). That kind of 'home-grown' yeast is called wild yeast.

So, if we don't add any yeast to the jar, where is the yeast coming from?

It is everywhere already! In the air, on things and in flours. It is in there in small quantities, but mostly inactive and dry. What we do is actually hydrate/feed the yeast to make it happy and allow it to divide and grow and multiply in a cozy environment it likes.

The sourdough starter contains 2 principal microorganisms that are important when making sourdough bread: yeast + lactic acid bacteria.

• The yeast feeds off the sugar from the flour and releases carbon dioxide as it grows. The CO2 gets trapped within the pasty and high-gluten flour and is what makes the mixture look bubbly.
• The lactic acid bacteria provide the sour flavor typical of sourdough baked goods. While the "good" lactic bacteria turn the mixture more acidic, it also inhibits the growth of other kinds of "bad" bacteria by lowering the overall pH of the starter, making it safer to eat.

Amazing, isn't it?

As a side note, making a sourdough starter from scratch is an amazing process as it makes you go back in time. Before commercial yeast was even a thing, people would make bread only this way, using their own wild yeast to rise the dough. Starters were shared between neighbors and friends, this was simply part of everyday life.

Store-bought dried yeast VS wild yeast

Ok, now I told you it will take days (around 7, but sometimes even up to 14-20 days depending on the conditions) to even get to a sourdough starter that's ready to use. What's the point? Why go through the trouble of making it yourself if you can just buy dried yeast?

Simply put: you just cannot compare wild yeast and commercial yeast!

The unique sourdough tangy flavor from wild yeast is worth all the work plus, wild yeast gives the best fluffy textured bread! You will also save some money.

Commercial yeast is a single strain of yeast that was isolated and found very easy to use, especially for baking larger amounts, and efficient at rising breads. But, it also provides less flavor to bread compared to wild yeast, which is a diversity of yeast naturally present everywhere. The depth of flavor from using wild yeast in baked goods is unique and not comparable!

One more thing: it takes some patience to grow your starter to the 'ready-to-bake stage', but once you have it, then it is always ready to go. You will use a portion of it to make some bread, but then, keep feeding what's left so it stays alive or keep it dormant in your fridge. You can plan on maintaining your starter and have it ready to go anytime once it reaches maturity.

What you will need

Ingredients

• Unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour.
• Whole wheat flour (OR less processed flour such as freshly milled wheat flour or rye flour).
• Non-chlorinated water (bottled water often works better than tap water).

Tools and equipment

• Large non-reactive jar (I use a large 32 oz glass Mason jar).
• Non-reactive stirring tool such as a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
• Something to cover your jar such as a clean cloth or even a piece of paper towel with an elastic band.
• Scale (they are not that expensive, I use this scale).

• And patience 😉

What kind of flour to use

There is no right answer to this as many different kinds of flour can be used to make a sourdough starter. They will all have different "effects" on your bread, both in flavor and texture, but that's what makes them unique and fun to create. I encourage you to experiment with different types of flour. Get 2-3 sourdough starters going with different combos of flour to see which one works best for you.

I will say though that using a less processed kind of flour will help get your starter more active and ready quicker. Why is that?

As described above, yeast is everywhere on the grains. If using highly processed flour, especially from ultra-large brands, then you might end up with a flour that's not as rich in natural wild yeast.

That's why I love to use a combo of all-purpose and freshly milled whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour potentially carries more "untouched" yeast to start with and the all-purpose flour has a better gluten structure to help the bread rise properly.

But, other options to try out are bread flour, spelt flour or rye flour.

Here is an article on which flour to use when making sourdough starter from Serious Eats I enjoyed reading.

How to make it

Below is a description of what you will be doing on each day. It can be a good place to start if making a sourdough starter is new to you, but know that depending on your conditions (type of flour, temperature, water, etc), your starter might need a slightly different schedule.

The more you do it, the better you become and at some point, you don't really need a specific schedule, but mostly need to just watch the starter. The best way to manage your starter is to FEED IT WHEN IT LOOKS HUNGRY, which happens to be about every 12 to 36 hours. The schedule I share underneath is what I recommend you to start as a guide, but adjust depending on your starter and watch for when it is hungry.

When is my starter hungry? When do I feed it?

When you feed your starter, the yeast will metabolize the flour, which creates bubbles and rising in your jar. Then, when it is all metabolized, it will sink back down and become hungry again. That's when you should feed it! Here are the hungry signs to watch for:

• You noticed a rise of the starter and then a deflation of the starter. You might see some slide marks on the side of your jar. When it is back down = hungry.
• There is a darkish thin liquid-y film over the starter (hooch) = hungry.
• The consistency of the mixture is thinner and more pourable = hungry.
• There were lots of bubbles, but not anymore = hungry.

Day 1: Starting the starter

• In a glass jar, add 20g. of all-purpose flour or bread flour + 20g. whole wheat flour + 40g. water and stir to combine (total of 80g.).

You should have a thick paste with a similar texture to peanut butter. Make sure there are no dry clumps of flour left. Then, cover the jar with a clean cloth sealed with an elastic band and keep it at around 70-80ºF in a non-drafty area for 24 hours. It is also a good idea to scrape the sides of your see-through jar and place an elastic band around the jar right where the top part of the starter is to be able to better evaluate if there is rising or not.

Seen above is the flour and water mixed into a thick paste.

Day 2: Feed #1

After 24 hours, you should not see much activity yet, maybe a bubble or two, or maybe more if your kitchen is very warm.

• Discard half of the starter (or 40g.), then add 20g. all-purpose flour or bread flour + 20g. whole wheat flour + 40g. water to the remaining 40 g of starter in the jar and stir well (total of 120g.). Keep at 70-80ºF for another 24 hours.

Picture above: The left picture shows you how there was a subtle liquid-y dark film over the sourdough, which indicated that it was hungry. It was quite subtle though as we just started the sourdough and will become more obvious after a few feedings. The second picture shows after the first feed.

Seen above is the starter after 24 hours of fermentation.

Day 3: Feed #2

At this point, you might see some signs of activity such as bubbles, sour smell (but pleasant) and a light liquid-y layer over the mixture. You might have noticed some signs of rising-deflating as well.

You might not have many signs of activity at this point, which is ok too. Again, it depends on the conditions of your house (the starter in my picture already looks pretty bubbly because my house was on the cozy side, but yours might still be quiet at this point).

• Keep 40 g. of the starter in the jar (or discard 80g.) and add 20g. all-purpose flour or bread flour + 20g. whole wheat flour + 40 g. water. (total of 120g.) Keep at 70-80ºF for another 24 hours.

Picture above: Look at the first picture on the left: there is already some activity happening! I can see bubbles and when moving the jar around I can hear the bubbles popping. Also, it is a little hard to see on the picture, but there was a slide mark on the side of the jar showing that it went up and down, which is a sign of hunger, so I fed it. The second picture is right after I fed it. It lost all of its bubbles from stirring, so although I added more flour and water, the volume looks much less.

Day 4: Feed #3

After the third feed, then you should start noticing your starter rising within about 4-8 hours after feeding it. The mixture should become bubbly and expand in the jar. The smell should start to be more noticeable too and be similar to beer/bread with some sour aromas.

By the time you want to do the third feed, if your starter is nicely hungry, the mixture might have deflated and you should have noticed a slide mark on the side of the jar. The starter will probably look thinner too, more of a pourable consistency compared to a thick paste like you started with. And you might notice a liquid-y film over the starter.

All this means that it is hungry! So feed it! This could be after 12 or 24 hrs after the second feed, but sometimes, especially in colder weather, could be after 36 hours.

• Keep 40 g. of the starter in the jar (or discard 80g.) and add 20g. all-purpose flour or bread flour + 20g. whole wheat flour + 40g. water (total of 120g.). Stir well and be sure to scrape the walls as it will become a little more useful to observe rising/deflating phenomena at this point.

Picture above: notice the bubbles within the starter. This is what it looks like once your starter begins to be well-active. It is studded with bubbles and noticeably higher in volume from when you fed it 12-24 hours ago. I actually didn't feed it when it was like that as he was very active at this point and I wanted to see some signs of hunger first.

Day 5: Feed #4

Watch for signs of hunger once more after the last feeding before adding more flour/water. This should be either 12-24 hours, but I have had to wait a little longer too. I noticed that overfeeding it without really watching for signs of hunger seemed to make it more 'dull'. So try not to overfeed either and wait for an extra 12 hours if it does not look very active.

• The feeding routine is the same: keep 40 g. of the starter in the jar (or discard 80g.), then add 20g. all-purpose flour or bread flour + 20g. whole wheat flour + 40g. water (total 120g.). Stir well, cover and let sit for another 12-24 hours.

Day 6: Feed #5 OR ready to use?

You will have to observe your starter for the next step. You might be able to use it at this point, especially if all the conditions were good with a cozy home. I have to say though that I often have had to keep feeding my starter for longer before using it, even a whole 2 weeks, so don't be discouraged if it does not look overly active at this point.

From my experience, you can probably start making some bread after 7-10 days, but your bread will keep getting better as you keep feeding your starter while it gets stronger.

See below to evaluate if your starter is ready to use. If not, then keep discarding + feeding every 12-24 hours until ready and active and happy.

If it's been a while and still not much action, then read below for some more tips and things to try to speed up the process.

How to tell when my sourdough starter is ready to use

Roughly, if the conditions are good, you can aim at making bread on days 6-7. But again, I have had times when my starter was slower to grow and took more than 2 weeks to be strong enough to make bread.

There are few signs that can tell you if your starter is ready to use, but the most reliable one is:

• Your starter nicely rises consistently up to 2-3x its volume 4-8 hours after each feeding.

Once you feed it, you can see it going up within a few hours, it becomes nicely packed with bubbles, then it goes down again usually within 12 hours. This means that the yeast is happy, numerous, active and ready to go.

You can make a mark on your jar or place a rubber band around it just where the starter line is (see picture above). This will help you notice better the rising process, especially if you are not home during the day.

But also, you can do a floating test!

Floating test

Once you believe that your starter is ready, DON'T stir in the jar, take about one teaspoon of the bubbly starter and drop in a glass of water. If it floats, it means that it is ready to use (it floats because of all the air inside!). If it sinks, then it might not be active enough to use for bread.

Improving your sourdough starter

My sourdough starter is not rising

If your sourdough starter does not look that active after 6-7 feedings, then it probably just needs more time and feeding. I have had starters that took longer to take off, so be patient. Move your jar to a warmer area and be sure to feed only when it looks hungry.

And don't forget to discard some of the starter before feeding it! If you feed a larger volume of yeast, then the "food" is diluted and the yeast will compete to feed from the fresh flour. This can slow down the process (more information in this "What is sourdough discard" complete guide)

Things to consider:

• Keep your starter in a warmer area. If it's winter and cold-ish, then keep your starter in your microwave and place a very hot glass of water right beside it.
• Don't overfeed! Wait for signs of hunger. Even try skipping a meal to try and help get it more active. In the winter, you might only need to feed it every 36 hours compared to the summer where every 12 hours might be best. Warmer weather = yeast more active = need more feedings.
• Make sure you use unprocessed flour for the best result. I like using a combination of bread flour + whole wheat flour.
• If nothing seems to help, try to add a little sweetener to your starter to see if that helps the yeast be happier. I would honestly just eyeball it and add a tiny splash of maple syrup.

It does not smell good

This happened to me when my sourdough starter smelled bad. At first, the sourdough should smell acidic and within a few days it should smell like bread or even beer. The smell should be pleasant!

If it smells bad, then it is possible that a bad bacteria grew within the starter. If you have a doubt, then I recommend to throw it away and start over.

Make sure to use a jar and stirring utensils that are very clean!

It looks darker, is it mold?

The top of the sourdough can turn a little darker when it is hungry, that's fine. It usually is a liquid-y layer (called hooch) caused by the fermentation from the yeast. Some recommend pouring it out before each feeding while others don't. I usually don't pour it out. In any case, always smell the sourdough, it should smell like bread!

But if it looks like there is mold over the starter, then I would recommend to start over. I have seen bakers recommend just scraping it off, but I don't know, why risk it?

More sourdough starter tips

• Use a NON-stainless steel utensil to scoop the flour and stir in the jar, such as a wooden or rubber spoon/spatula. Also, a non-reactive glass jar is best! In any case, avoid metal.
• Also be sure to use very clean utensils, even try to run them through the dishwasher before using them.
• Use a large enough container that it will be able to hold the starter when it is rising (it will double-triple in volume!).
• When feeding, stir well and don't leave any dry spots of flour.
• It is best to use low-chlorine water (the yeast doesn't like chlorine!). Either use bottled water or leave an uncovered large container of water from the sink on the counter overnight so the chlorine can evaporate.
• Once in a while, change your starter container when it dries out and gets crusty on the sides.
• One thing that helped me at first when learning to make a starter was to write notes about when I feed it, how it looks like, when it rises, etc. After a while, you will get a good feel of how to make your own starter and you won't need to do this anymore.

FAQ's

When should I start seeing bubbles?

This will depend on the conditions, but usually by day #3 you should start seeing some action in your starter.

What if I won't make bread for a while?

In that case, you can transfer the sourdough starter (covered) into the fridge. This will turn the yeast into a latent phase keeping them alive, but a lot more sleepy and they won't need as much feeding. You can keep it in the fridge for a while as long as you feed it once a week (take it out of the fridge, feed and leave it at room temperature overnight, then transfer it back to the fridge in the morning).

How do I revive my sourdough from the fridge?

You can take out only a small amount of cold starter needed to make the bread or recipes, then feed and wait for it to double before using for your recipe.

Why do I have to discard half of the sourdough mixture before feeding?

As mentioned above, if you have a larger volume of starter, then when you feed it, the larger amount of yeast will compete for the same amount of food. This creates a competition in between the yeast for feeding, which can slow down the growth of your starter by weakening the yeast. Throwing away some of it before each time you feed can help keep your starter more active and strengthen it.

What if I don't have a scale

I highly recommend using a scale, not only for building up the starter, but also when making bread or baked goods. Small scales are not that expensive and easy to find online. You don't need anything fancy!

Recipes using your sourdough starter to try

• Sourdough chocolate bread
• Sourdough pizza dough (no yeast)
• Oatmeal sourdough bread
• Turmeric sourdough bread

I hope this sourdough starter guide helped you! If you try it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how it worked out. Your feedback is so helpful!

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