Hello. My name is Cery. I’m a bakeaholic…
Seriously, y’all know that I love to bake, right? Especially bread. Well, I’ve had a lot of people asking me lately about sourdough. More specifically, about how to start a sourdough starter. There are all kinds of articles on the web that will tell you to use sugar or mashed bananas or some other fruit to get something started. And it can be really confusing to have so much information in your face. But I’m here to tell ya that you don’t need anything except flour and water. Yep. It’s really that easy. Just flour and water.
And something to put it in.
And stir it with.
And cover it with.
But, mostly, just flour and water. 🙂
Sourdough Woes
The first time I tried to make a starter I started with one in a little package from the grocery store. The instructions were like 6 bazillion pages long! Honest. And I got so intimidated by that I didn’t even open it for about 3 months. And when I did, and followed all those 6 bazillion pages of instructions, it didn’t work. It was extremely confusing. And I’m a pretty smart cookie. I almost gave up, but I love sourdough bread, so I really wanted to make it work.
And success!
I’ve done a lot of research since that packaged starter with 6 bazillion pages of instructions, and I understand the process now. I’ve started several different types successfully and I’ll tell you, there’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked sourdough coming from your very own oven! You can use any kind of flour that you want to, the process is the same with all of them. (I have not yet experimented with gluten-free flours for sourdough.) Of course, the baking part is a little different depending on the flour you use for the bread.
The starter that I use is made with organic, white, unbleached flour. I have found its more versatile than some of the others, and I don’t really have room to keep 2 or 3 going at the same time. I keep mine sitting out all the time because I use it quite frequently.
The beautiful thing is, if you don’t use it a lot you can keep it in your fridge and you don’t have to feed it but once a week or so. It’s really very forgiving, too. Don’t get too panicky if you think you may have killed it. There’s always a chance for revival. 🙂
And there are so many things you can do with it! It’s not just for bread as you will quickly see. I’ve documented the process of starting a starter in easy, one-day-at-a-time snippets. It takes about 7ish days to get a starter strong enough to use, with about 5 minutes of hands-on time per day.
So, are you ready for your sourdough journey? Click the link below to get started.
Go to Sourdough 101: Everything You Always Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask
Blessings!
Ann says
I’ve been reading this and all your others on sourdough, you’ve got me re-inspired that I can have success at it! Good stuff, thank you! 🙂
Cery says
That is really awesome! You’ll do great. If you have any questions I’d be happy to help!
Karla says
Can i save all the discard in the fridge and revive it to use for stuff that isn’t bread?
Cery says
Hi Karla! Yes you can, absolutely! I have a few recipes that you can use the discard in like the waffles and biscuits. There are also recipes online. Just search for sourdough discard recipes and you’ll find several. Blessings!
Myong Gunnerson says
I used the discarded amount to make an additional batch of starter, do I need to feed it for 14 times still?
It ‘s bubbly and the volume has doubled.
Thank you
Cery says
Hi Myong!
That will depend on when you kept the discard. It’s needs about 14 feedings total to be strong enough to work well.
If you had already been feeding it, those feedings count.
It sounds like it’s going well, though. 🙂
Cery
Patricia Smith says
My sourdough has a scum on top is it still good?
Cery says
Hi Patricia!
I’m sad to say that you’re probably better off to start over with a new starter. The scum would indicate that there is no more alcohol being produced. And that is usually a result of the yeast being dead. Sorry.
Cery