Sourdough Starter Recipe
How hard can it be: Dead simple
Don’t want to read any background? Click here to skip right to the process.
Welcome to the first ever Novice Kitchen original recipe. Why did I choose to start with sourdough starter as my first recipe here? Well that’s simple, you pretty much can’t mess this up.
This recipe is inspired by the recipe for sourdough starter on the King Arthur website. I used their recipe the first time I ever made sourdough and it worked alright, but I thought I could make something that would be less wasteful and less stressful. Their recipe uses a cup of flour every day which isn’t super shocking since they’re a flour company.
Their recipe also made me so nervous about consistently tending to my sourdough starter. I had all sorts of reminders and alarms set so that I didn’t mess things up. Consequently, I wanted to write up a recipe that would set you at ease so that you’re not waking up at 3 am to put flour in a jar.
The Recipe
The end of the recipe includes a compact summary of all steps required.
Sourdough starter is a hard thing to write an exact list of ingredients for, but I can confidently say that you’re going to need at least the following things:
24 ounces (680 grams) of some kind of flour
24 ounces (680 grams) of water
A large storage container with a lid (mason jar, tupperware, deli container, really anything works here)
If you want to follow exactly what I did, you’ll need:
2 ounces (60 grams) of rye flour (or whole wheat if you don’t have rye)
11 ounces (310 grams) whole wheat flour
11 ounces( 310 grams) all purpose flour
24 ounces (680 grams) water
A large mason jar
Note: You don’t need these quantities all at once, so put the scale down and read on.
The whole process for making a sourdough starter takes about a week, but don’t worry, the work on any given day is really simple.
Dawn of the First Day
The quantities I’ve given above make it seem like this process is super precise, but I swear to you that it’s not. I don’t think I’ve managed to precisely measure the quantities I’ve written here even a single time. All that matters is that you put in as much flour as you do water (we’re making a 50% hydration starter, i.e., 50% of the weight of this thing is water).
On the first day you will need:
2 ounces (56 grams) of rye flour (or whole wheat if you don’t have rye)
2 ounces (56 grams) of water
A large storage container (mason jar, tupperware, deli container, really anything works here).
Since the exact quantities don’t matter, I always measure the water first since I find that’s harder to measure precisely. Then I just make the measurement for the flour match the water measurement.
I swear the bottom dish has water in it.
Add the flour and water together into your storage container and mix well. When that’s done, you have successfully completed the first day. Good work.
You may doubt that you’ve done this step correctly since it will probably look pretty awful. But fear not, you’re on the right track. You can tell that you have done it correctly if you’ve managed to get flour on your countertop even though you were 100% certain you got it all in the jar.
If you’re still in doubt, here’s exactly what mine looked like.
Now isn’t that just about the most appetizing thing you’ve ever seen?
Now find a warmish spot (preferably at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit or 21 degrees celsius) and set your starter aside.
The Second Day of the Quest for Yeast
The second day is as simple as the first, you will need:
1 ounce (28 grams) of whole wheat flour
1 ounce (28 grams) of all purpose flour
2 ounces (56 grams) of water
Your starter container with yesterday's mixture in it
Add the water to the previous day’s concoction and give it a mix. This should ensure that everything from yesterday is evenly distributed. At this point, it should look pretty runny.
Now add the two flours and mix it all up. Compared to yesterday, it should hopefully look less like wet sand today.
Once again, set your starter aside in a warmish spot and let it hang out until tomorrow.
Day 3 / Every Day Until It’s Ready
On the third day you might find that your starter has a couple of bubbles on top. “I’ve done it! I’ve made a sourdough starter!” you might think to yourself. And you kind of have, but you’re not quite there yet. In my experience, these bubbles won’t come back for a bit, so don’t be disheartened.
If you had no bubbles on the top of your starter, you’ve totally messed up….PSYCHE! You can’t mess this up. It’s fine. Seriously, you’re fine.
For day 3, you’ll need:
2 ounces (56 grams) of your starter mixture
1 ounce (28 grams) of whole wheat flour
1 ounce (28 grams) of all purpose flour
2 ounces (56 grams) of water
After measuring out 2 ounces (56 grams) of starter mixture, throw away whatever is left in your container. Yep, that’s right. Throw it away. “But that’s so wasteful!” you’ll say. I know! That’s why I didn’t like the King Arthur recipe. It has you throwing away more than a cup of flour a day, which just seems like madness to me.
Getting the rest of your starter out of your container probably won’t be super easy, but don’t fret. Here’s what mine looks like after I have “emptied” it.
As you can see, it’s not completely empty but this isn’t a problem at all.
Now pour your 2 ounces (56 grams) of reserved starter into the jar along with the 2 ounces (56 grams) of water. Mix that around until it’s fairly well combined (again, this isn’t essential, but in my mind it helps better distribute the yeast in your starter).
Add the 1 ounce (28 grams) of whole wheat flour and the 1 ounce (28 grams) of all purpose flour into your container and give it a good mixing.
Note: Keep reading, things are a bit different starting today.
Like always, you’ll set your combined starter mixture somewhere warmish. But! Here’s the twist: you’ll repeat this process in 12 hours (or however close to that you can get).
If you mixed up your starter first thing in the morning, then some time in the evening repeat the process above. If you mixed your starter in the evening, then tomorrow morning repeat the whole process. And then don’t stop. Keep repeating this process every 12ish hours until your starter comes alive. This will usually take about five days (so one week in total).
WARNING: Make sure you let the gas buildup escape from your container every couple of hours or you’ll be in for a bad, explosion-y kind of time. If you need to leave your starter unattended, just leave the container slightly open and you’ll be good to go.
I know repeating this process every 12 hours sounds like a pain, but it’s really not that bad. Just set a reminder on your phone and it’s pretty easy to keep track of. And don’t panic if you can’t do it exactly 12 hours apart! There were days where I had to do it 9 hours apart and everything worked out fine.
Even if you completely miss a day, don’t panic! I accidentally forgot to check on my starter for a day and a half in the middle of this process and it still turned out great. The only thing that will happen is you’ll get a bit of hooch on top of your starter.
If you end up forming some grain alcohol, just mix it in and don’t worry about it.
After a couple of days, you’ll start to see bubbles on top of your starter when you go to add more flour. This means your starter is close to being ready.
You’ll know that it’s definitely ready to go when it starts to rise like this.
When your starter rises like that, you’re ready to start baking and you can stop the twice a day feeding regimen.
Prepping Your Starter for Baking
For any recipe that calls for sourdough starter, you’ll want to feed your starter about 3 to 4 hours in advance. To get things going, I use double the flour and water I use to build the starter:
4 ounces (112 grams) of yesterday’s starter
2 ounces (56 grams) of whole wheat flour
2 ounces (56 grams) of all purpose flour
4 ounces (112 grams) of water
Doubling the quantities helps to make sure that there’s enough leftover starter to keep it alive after removing whatever quantity you need to bake something.
It’s worth noting that if you wait too long to use your starter after feeding it, it will begin to fall instead of rise.
This isn’t a huge deal, but ideally you want to use your starter in your recipe before it reaches this point.
Keeping Your Starter Alive
Keeping your starter alive is simple. All you need to do is feed your starter and throw it in the fridge, just make sure you wait a few hours after feeding it.
If I’m putting the starter in the fridge, I feed it like I’m about to bake something:
4 ounces (112 grams) of yesterday’s starter
2 ounces (56 grams) of whole wheat flour
2 ounces (56 grams) of all purpose flour
4 ounces (112 grams) of water
I wait about 3 or 4 hours to make sure that things are moving and then it goes in the fridge. Once it’s in the fridge, I’ve found I can ignore it for up to two weeks at a time without a problem.
When I want to bake something, I pull the starter out of the fridge the day beforehand and get it going with:
2 ounces (56 grams) of yesterday’s starter
1 ounce (28 grams) of whole wheat flour
1 ounce (28 grams) of all purpose flour
2 ounces (56 grams) of water
The day I want to bake something, I use the “Prepping Your Starter for Baking” instructions above.
Looking for something to bake? Try the sourdough bread from It’s Alive!
Recipe Summary
If you need a quick recap or you’re the kind of person who hates reading the full instructions, here’s the shortest set of instructions I can offer you.
Day 1
In a large mason jar with a lid or other storage container, combine:
2 ounces (56 grams) of rye flour (or whole wheat if you don’t have rye)
2 ounces (56 grams) of water
Mix well and set the container aside somewhere warmish (approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit).
Day 2
In the same container, combine:
Yesterday’s mixture
1 ounce (28 grams) of whole wheat flour
1 ounce (28 grams) of all purpose flour
2 ounces (56 grams of water)
Mix well and set aside somewhere warmish.
Day 3 and every day until it’s ready
Measure out 2 ounces (56 grams) of yesterday’s starter mixture. Get rid of the remaining starter in the container. In the starter container, combine:
2 ounces (56 grams) of yesterday’s starter mixture
1 ounce (28 grams) of whole wheat flour
1 ounce (28 grams) of all purpose flour
2 ounces (56 grams of water)
Repeat this process every 12 hours (or as close to that as you can get) until your starter starts to bubble and rise noticeably. You typically need to repeat this process for about 5 days.
When your starter starts to rise after you add the water and flour (as seen above), it’s ready.
Looking for something to bake? Try the sourdough bread from It’s Alive!