Building a strong starter is fundamental when it comes to baking amazing sourdough bread. It’s important to keep a starter well fed in order for it to be healthy and active. Wild yeast is present in all flour and you can create a starter by mixing flour and water together and letting it ferment for between 5 – 7 days.
I feed my starter twice a day (12 hours between feeds), once in the morning and once in the evening. My kitchen is usually around 20°C and the flour I use is a mix of 80% organic strong white flour and 20% organic rye flour.
I don’t like having to waste starter during feedings so I always keep a small amount of starter at one time, usually between 40g – 50g. I can then increase this to make a larger amount on baking days, this is called the Leaven. This is done by feeding the starter more flour and water than usual.
I feed it with equal amounts of water and flour each time, meaning the hydration is always 100%. To keep the wild yeast happy it’s important to feed it with fresh flour and water, once it becomes bubbly and pillow-like, it’s ready to bake with.
Once you’ve mastered your starter, check out my sourdough bread guide.
How to create a starter from scratch
Day 1: Add your flour and water (25g flour and 25g water) to a jar and mix well to make sure all of the flour has been hydrated making sure there is no dry flour. I recommend using a medium-sized clear glass jar so you can check on how the starter is developing. Cover the jar loosely with a lid and leave for 24 hours.
Day 2: You may be able to see some activity with a small amount of bubbles but if not don’t worry about it. Discard half of the starter mixture (approx 25 grams) and then add 25 grams of flour and 25 grams of water to the jar. Mix well, cover and leave for 24 hours.
Day 3: You should start to see some activity now, there should be bubbles and the starter should have risen slightly. If so you can now start feeding the starter twice a day. The amount of flour and water stays the same as day 2, discard half and then feed with equal amounts. Wait 12 hours before feeding again.
If there are no signs of life don’t worry and repeat the steps on day 2.
Day 4: Continue to feed every 12 hours depending on how quickly the starter is rising and falling (this depends on the ambient temperature of your kitchen).
When your starter is at least doubling and rising and falling predictably you are ready to bake with it. This is usually between days 5 and 7.
Feeding & developing a strong starter
To help your starter stay strong you want to feed your starter at its peak. The highest point the starter rises to. To increase the time between feeds you can increase the amount of flour and water you feed the starter.
To feed the starter, empty most of the starter from the jar. You can either use this in pancakes, bread, crumpets. Whatever you wish, or you can throw it away (hence wanting to keep a small amount at a time to avoid waste). I leave approx 5g of starter in the jar which is usually the starter that is left around the sides and on the spoon. I then add 20g of flour and 20g of water.
Stir the mixture well, scrape down the sides and then put the lid of the jar loosely on the top. I like to mark the outside of the jar with a pen so I can see how much the starter increases in volume between feeds.
Pay Attention
It’s really important to pay attention to your starter. You will get to understand this the more times you feed it. If the starter is not constantly rising and falling make some notes for a couple of days about the amount you feed and you should be able to work out if you need to feed it more or less flour/water. Example timings are below in my kitchen, temperature 22°C.
8-hour rise until peak – Feeding ratio 1:3:3 – 5g starter : 15g flour : 15g water
12-hour rise until peak – Feeding ratio 1:5:5 – 5g starter : 25g flour : 25g water
18-hour rise until peak – Feeding ratio 1:10:10 – 5g starter : 50g flour : 50g water
Ideally, your start should at least double in size, the top of the starter domes and there will be lots of bubbles of gas.
If you are unsure whether your starter is ready to use you can complete a float test. Remove a small amount of starter and place it in a bowl of water, if it floats it’s ready to use. So get baking!
Smell/Storage
When it’s at its peak the starter should smell slightly fruity and slightly acidic. It shouldn’t smell vinegary or unpleasant. This shows that the bacteria and yeast present are healthy and you are ready to get baking.
If you forget to feed the starter, it can produce a very unpleasant smell, to me it smells like nail polish.
If you don’t want to bake as often you can store your starter in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or in the freezer for up to 6 months. The colder environment slows down the rate the bacteria and yeast consume the flour. Feed your starter as normal and leave it on the worktop for an hour. After this, you can place the starter into your fridge or freezer.
To get your starter nice and healthy again, remove it from the fridge/freezer and leave until it gets to room temperature. From the fridge, I usually feed it four times before baking with it and from the freezer I usually feed it 8 times before baking.
Troubleshooting
No movement: if your starter doesn’t produce any gas or stops growing, add a little bit more wholemeal flour to your flour mix, this can help increase the activity. Continue with the feedings as the guide states, don’t overfeed your starter and allow it time to ferment.
Bad Smell: if your starter starts to smell strongly acidic and unpleasant then the bacteria could be infected with other bad bacteria, e.g. a dirty spoon was used. Start using a new clean jar and discard and feed as normal.
Mold: If you find a small amount of mold on the surface of your starter you can simply remove this carefully and continue. I would recommend feeding for a few days before baking, making sure all of the mold has gone. If the starter rises and smells ok then it’s good to bake with. If mold is throughout your starter I would start again or return to a backup one that’s stored in your freezer.
Liquid: If you start to see any liquid forming on top of your starter (hooch) it means that it’s underfed and hungry. You can do two things, either pour the liquid out and continue feeding or mix the liquid in and continue feeding. It could mean that you are not feeding your starter enough flour and water so you can increase this slightly to make sure you are feeding it at its peak.
Creating a Backup: It’s important to keep a backup at all times just in case you lose your starter. It’s hard to mess up and most can be saved but it does happen from time to time. A starter can be kept in a freezer for up to 6 months.