With tips for how to use, maintain and store the starter
Sourdough starter is the key to sourdough bread. With an active and healthy starter, you are one step closer to beautiful sourdough. Growing your own starter isn’t as difficult as you would imagine. It does take some time to cultivate a starter from scratch but it is a quite fascinating process(at least to me). All you need is flour and water (and a bit of patience) and let them work the magic.
How to grow sourdough starter from the beginning?
Day 1
In a jar/ glass (something transparent for easy observation), mix 30g of flour and 30g of water with a chopstick/ fork until there’s no dry flour. Lightly cover the container and leave it aside in room temperature for 24 hours.
- tips: use rye or whole meal flour (or add 10% of rye and wholemeal flour) to jumpstart the process (there’s more nutrients that bacteria and wild yeast need in rye and wholemeal flour rather than baker’s / all purpose flour)
Day 2
Discard half of the flour water mixture (30g) from the container. Add in 30g flour and 30g water and combine well. Mark the container to indicate the height of the starter by using a rubber band or tape. Cover and leave it aside in room temperature for another 24 hours.
Day 3
There should be some activity shown in the flour water mixture by now. By eye, you would be able to see some bubbles around the container and on the surface. Also it may grow a little by height. If you smell the mixture, it may smell like vomit or stinky socks. Don’t worry. It is completely normal at the early stage of growing a starter and it is a sign that the bateria is working. From now on, increase feeding frequency to twice a day. It is better to feed it with same intervals, e.g. 12 hours apart.
Discard all but 30g of the starter and add in 30g of flour and 30g of water. Mix well, cover and leave it aside for 12 hours. Repeat.
From Day 4 to Day 14
Repeat the same step as day 3. Frequent feeding leads to a healthier and stronger starter. Try to feed the starter at the same time and same ratio (starter : flour : water = 1 : 1 : 1 = 30g : 30g : 30g or any amount that suits your need) during this period. Make sure to mark the container and write down the time you feed the starter so you know how fast the start will double the size.
Once the starter is doubling within similar timeframe, it is ready to make the bread with it. Smell the starter at this stage, it should smell a bit milky (assuming you use white flour) and mildly sour. If you use rye or whole meal flour, it should have a slightly earthy but pleasant aroma.
Do I have to continue feeding my starter twice per day even though it already doubles the size within the same timeframe in the first week of feeding?
Feeding your starter frequently ensures you a strong and healthy starter for sourdough baking. I understand that in the early stage of feeding, it seems wasteful to chuck some of your starter and add in new flour and water everyday. But I rather to continue feeding my starter until it is strong and active than to have a starter that can neither leaven the bread nor enhance the flavour of my loaves.
When I started to cultivate my starter, I continued feeding it twice a day for the whole month. And after 6 month, I slowly change the flour type I feed my starter and it take some time to adapt.
Is my starter ready to use?
For me, I look for the time that my starter double the size and also how consistent the time it takes to double. Usually in summer, my starter grows 100% between 4-6 hours and in winter it is doubled in 8 hours. I’ll use it as soon as it grow twice the size.
When the starter is ready, the texture should be thick and bubbly. If your starter is getting runny, it may pass its peak time and using it at this stage may result in flat bread (the starter loses its leavening power). You can still use the starter that passes it peak for the flavor. Add small amount of commercial yeast to assist with oven spring. (check what if I don’t have enough starter to make bread for using both rippen starter and yeast for sourdough bread)
There is a simple test to see if the starter is ready to use. It is called ” the floating test”. Take a small amount of active starter (doubled sized starter) and put it in a glass of water. If the starter floats, it is ready to use.
How to maintain starter?
If you bake sourdough frequently, I suggest to keep small quantity of starter, leave it on the counter and feed it everyday.
If you only make bread once a week or less, leave the starter in the fridge. Whenever you need it, take it out and feed it. To ensure high activity of the starter, I often do a two times feeding – that is I take out the starter from the fridge and feed it with small ratio (1 : 1 : 1). Once the starter double the size, I’ll feed it again. And I’ll use the starter after it reaches double volume.
- tips: keep your starter relatively small (15g) so when you do double feeding, you don’t need to chuck away any starter
If you don’t bake bread at all for the week, feed your starter once per week to protect the starter from starving. Cold envirnment slows down the activity of wild yeast and bacteria, yet they still need food to maintain the basic living requirements.
How to store starter?
One way of storing starter is to freeze the starter if you plan to use it within 6 months. After feeded, use ice trays to portion the starter and freeze it. Remember to defrost the starter the day before making bread. Feed the deforsted starter again before use.
Another way is to dry your starter. Simply spread thinly of your starter on a non stick baking paper and leave it in room temperature for couple days and let it dry out. Either blend the dried starter into powder or break the starter into small pieces and store in an airtight container. When needed, hydrate dried starter by adding same amount of water and flour and let it grow until double. Use it when it reaches its peak.
- tips: add additional ingredients to the starter and dry the starter for garnish. For instance, add cocoa powder / charcoal powder to the starter. Dry and grind the starter, use it as dusting flour before scoring. Go wild with other ingredients like beetroot powder, fruit powder/ puree or spices.
At the end
Cultivating starter can be fun. I remembered I spent so much time just staring at my starter, looking at the bubbles, smelling my starter to get a sense of it. Come join me on the sourdough baking journey – start with growing your own sourdough starter.
