How To Make a Sourdough Starter

If you’re serious about incorporating sourdough baking into your life, you’ll likely embark on an intimate relationship with a natural sourdough starter. It’s one of the building blocks of sourdough baking, made from flour, water, yeasts and bacteria in a surrounding environment. It’s the wild stuff, and it’s what makes sourdough bread special.

There are a number of ways to acquire a sourdough starter. A friend might gift you some of theirs. You might ask for a small amount from a favorite bakery. You can buy dehydrated starter with a range of pedigrees all over the internet, or you can do what I typically do: make your own. Knowing how to make your own starter is a great skill to have and a real confidence builder on the baking front. This page will walk you through how to make a sourdough starter, highlight some tips and tricks, and generally get you pointed in the right direction. I’ve done this a dozen different ways over the years, and currently this is my favorite approach.

How To Make A Sourdough Starter: Start with Rye Flour

If you want to make this process easiest on yourself, start with rye flour. You can make a sourdough starter using just about any kind of grain-based flour, but whole grain rye flour seems to contain all the good stuff needed to get a starter going fast. Whole wheat flour also works well (in comparison to white flour), but whole grain rye flour is the real-deal champion. You should be able to get a rye flour sourdough starter going relatively quickly, then easily convert it to a wheat starter. To convert, simply discard most of the rye starter and start feeding the remaining bit a blend of wheat flours and water. Boom. Converted. You'll be ready to proceed with many of the sourdough recipes you come across.

Making A Sourdough Starter: Tips & Best Practices

There are a number of things you can do to help lock in your success when I comes tome to make a new, fresh starter. Here’s a list of what I keep top of mind:

• Glass: Use a glass container for your starter. This lets you get a good view of the bubbles and activity going on below the surface. I use Weck Jars.
• Skip the Anti-bacterial Soap: When you wash your hands prior to mixing your starter, use a regular soap. Not something that is anti-bacterial. They are equally target both bad and good bacteria, and you want to give the good bugs a chance to thrive.
• Keep it cozy: Making a sourdough starter in a warm, cozy kitchen is much easier than attempting to do the same in a cold one. My kitchen runs a bit cold, but the cabinet above our refrigerator runs warmer, and there’s a sunny spot on the counter I sometimes use. A general rule of thumb I like to think about is: if I'm feeling nice, warm and cozy - my starter likely is too.
• Water: Consider using filtered water if you've had trouble with getting a starter going in the past. Chlorinated water could be a problem and many water filters can address this.

Once your starter is going:

• Timing & Consistency: Pick a consistent time of day to do your starter duties. For me, mornings around 9am work best. My kitchen temperature is typically around 70-73°F.
• Regular Feedings: Always give your starter a few days of regular feedings before baking with it. If you’ve missed a couple days of feeding, start regular feedings again before attempting to bake.

Video: How To Make a Sourdough Starter

How to Stir: Fingers, Spoon, Etc.

It’s common to learn that you should use your fingers to mix and stir your starter as you attempt to get it going. This is, in part, because some of the bacteria on your hands can help it get going. Another reason? You get a better feel for what is going on with your baby starter. It’s a reminder to use all your senses: smell, sight, touch, etc! When you stir with your fingers you can feel the texture of your starter, the lightness or density, and overall viscosity. It’s a great way to get to know your starter in the beginning. That said, when in maintenance mode, doing my daily feedings, I tend to use a spoon - less messy.

Is My Starter Ready to Bake With?

I’m a fan of the Float Test. You can tell quite a bit about your starter simply from looking at it, or giving it a smell, but the float test is a technique gives confidence. If you aren’t sure if your sourdough starter is ready to mix into a dough, do a float test. Fill a small glass with room temperature water. Drop a teaspoon of the starter into the glass of water. If it floats, it’s ready to use. You should also see bubbles on the sides and top of the starter. You should notice a good amount of rise as well. The starter in the photo above is not ready to bake with, no bubbles, 24 hours since last feeding. You can see the difference between this one and the lead photo - lots of bubbles and ready to go!

What Kind of Water Should I Use

I’ve never had trouble using tap water to get my starters going (in both San Francisco and Los Angeles). I’ve also had good results using water filtered through a pitcher. But everyone has different water sources, and if you’ve had trouble getting a starter going in the past, consider trying filtered water. Chlorine can inhibit a starter from developing and many water filters can help you over this hurdle.

When to Transfer to a Clean Jar

I like to move my starter to a fresh jar every 3-4 days, or so. This avoids buildup on the sides of the jar and generally makes cleaning the jar easier than if you wait longer.

Is my Sourdough Starter Healthy?

Again, you’re going to use all your senses again to know if you have a healthy sourdough starter or not. A healthy starter is relatively uniform in consistency. It show regular activity (bubbles and steady rise) in the hours after feeding, and then a gradual collapse. This cycle (feed, rise, fall, feed, rise fall) should happen each time you give your starter a regular feeding. It will smell mild and creamy just after feeding and sharper and more acidic after it peaks and deflates.

This cycle should be consistent and predictable.

• If your starter develops mold, start over.
• Weird streaks? Start over.
• No activity after a few days? Keep going with the instructions outlined below, but make extra sure your starter is cozy, warm and happy.

How To Store Sourdough Starter

I tend to keep my starter on the kitchen counter and feed it daily. If I need to take a break I like to use the method from Richard Hart’s Bread book. You basically take a small spoonful of starter, add a few tablespoons of flour and stir it together until it is dry, shaggy, and sort-of dehydrated looking. I put this small jar in the refrigerator until I’m back home. To reboot the starter: add enough water and fresh flour so it starts looking like my starter again, and start a consistent feeding schedule for a few days until it is happy, bubbling, vigorous, and predictable.

More Sourdough Recipes

• Sourdough Granola
• Sourdough Galette with Delicata Squash
• Roasted Tomato & Sourdough Soup
• all sourdough recipes

More Rye Flour Recipes

• Rye Crepes
• Swedish Rye Cookies
• 100% Rye Chocolate Brownies