Sourdough Starter Recipe
A simple recipe and day-by-day directions to make a homemade sourdough starter, as well as tips for using your sourdough discard!
Servings: 1 starter
Equipment
- Weck Tulip Jar or other large jar
Ingredients
To Begin Starter (Day 1)
- 100 g whole wheat flour
- 100 g warm water
To Feed Starter (Day 2+)
- 100 g unbleached all-purpose flour
- 100 g warm water
Instructions
Make your starter (Day 1)
- Combine 100g whole wheat flour and 100g warm water in a small bowl. Mix until no dry spots remain. Transfer the mixture to a clean sourdough starter jar.
- Loosely cover the jar (a loose piece of plastic wrap works well - it's important that air can flow in and out of the jar) and let the mixture sit at room temperature (about 70-75℉) for 24 hours.
Feed your starter
- Day 2. Measure 100g of starter into a bowl. Discard the remaining starter in the jar (in the trash or compost) and clean your jar (optional). Add 100g unbleached all-purpose flour and 100g warm water to the bowl with the starter. Mix together until no dry spots remain. Transfer back to the jar, lightly cover, and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day 3. You're likely seeing some activity at this point (bubbles, slight rising, an aroma), which is great! Now we will start feeding the starter twice per day, every 12 hours (so be strategic about what times make sense with your schedule!). To feed, measure 100g of starter into a bowl. Discard the remaining starter in the jar and clean your jar (optional). Add 100g unbleached all-purpose flour and 100g warm water to the bowl with the starter. Mix thoroughly, transfer back to the jar, lightly cover, and let sit at room temperature for 12 hours before the next feeding.
- Day 4. Repeat the feeding directions from Day 3, feeding every 12 hours.
- Day 5. Repeat the feeding directions from Day 3, feeding every 12 hours.
- Day 6. Repeat the feeding directions from Day 3, feeding every 12 hours.
- Day 7+. At this point, you may be seeing significant activity with your starter consistently doubling in size and lots of bubbles. If your starter has doubled in size with each feeding for 2-3 days, you can consider your starter to be established! You can now use your starter for baking and shift to storing your starter (see the Storage section above). If you're not seeing that activity yet, that's ok and completely normal! Continue repeating the feeding directions from Day 3, feeding every 12 hours, for Day 6, 7, 8+. If you are reaching Day 10-12 and still not seeing significant activity, see the Common Sourdough Challenges section above. It can take 2-3 weeks to create a healthy starter. Keep going!
Notes
This sourdough starter is not intended to be eaten without adding to another recipe (example: bagels), so I have not included nutrition information here.
Check out these tips for struggling sourdough starter if you're hitting day 10+ without seeing significant activity.
After day 8 of making a sourdough starter, you can begin to use the sourdough discard to bake sourdough discard recipes.
Looking for a free, printable how-to guide? Subscribe here and I'll send you my downloadable How to Make a Sourdough Starter guide!
