What is a sourdough starter?
If you have been around any natural home-cookers that thrive on making food the traditional way, you’ve likely heard of homemade sourdough starters. Sourdough starters are a blend of flour and water that slowly build a natural yeast and bacteria colony inside. Traditional bakers use starters to turn a dense loaf of bread into something much more light and fluffy. As the yeast microbes are captured in the starter, they begin to feed off the sugar in the flour and produce air, which allows your bread to rise and contain air pockets.
Why use a sourdough starter instead of packaged yeast?
There are many health benefits to creating your own sourdough starter and capturing the wild yeast. For starters, there is an anti-nutrient naturally present in grains called phytic acid. This keeps our bodies from absorbing all the nutrients. Throughout history, grains have been fermented during preparation and this helps eliminate the phytic acid. In modern culture, we more frequently use yeast packets and a lot of people are having a hard time digesting modern wheat. I will just go out on a limb and say, I have a gluten sensitivity. There is something about fermented breads that are easier for me to digest. That has been my experience. However, if you have celiac, you shouldn’t consume gluten, even if the grains have been fermented.
Getting Started
Sourdough starters can sometimes seem a little scary if you don’t know where to start, but they are so versatile for cooking and simple to maintain. When starting your own sourdough starter, you only need to continually add equal portions of flour and water then let nature do the rest to capture wild yeast in the air. You will see your starter go through a few different phases until it is “mature” and ready to use for baking, but if you trust the process, we promise it will all be worth it.
What you’ll need
– Flour (a strong white all-purpose flour is traditionally the cheapest and most versatile option, but whole wheat and einkorn work great as well)
– Filtered Water
The Process
Day 1 – In a glass jar or bowl, combine equal parts of flour and filtered water (1 cup of flour and 1 cup of filtered water if you want to be exact.) Mix well and cover. Set the starter aside in low-draft area in your kitchen.
Day 2 – After 24 hours, uncover the starter, remove half of it, and discard to the trash. Be careful to wipe up any drips, dried starter likes to dry hard like glue. Add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water.) Stir well, cover, and set aside for another 24 hours.
Repeat Day 2’s process every 24 hours until the starter becomes consistently bubbly and doubles in size after every feeding. If you plan to use the starter on a daily basis, some may recommend that you switch to feeding the starter every 12 hours after the first full week. If you do not plan to use the starter every day but want consistent access to it when needed, continue to feed every 24 hours and leave it out on your counter. Storing the starter in the refrigerator post-feeding, is a great option for anyone whole plans to use it less frequently. Once feed, it can store in the fridge or 1-1.5 weeks between feedings, which saves you time and ingredients.
Don’t worry; It’s not an exact science
The homemade sourdough starter community is vast, and everyone has a different take on this same general process. If you follow the above process and feel out what you think your starter needs, you should have success! Here are some variations to consider to your preferences:
– Adding a little less water than equal parts, allows for a thicker starter. Being more like a soft biscuit dough consistency, it tends to climb much higher in my jar and hold the shape of its bubbles longer.
– Adding a little extra water than equal parts, allows for a thinner starter. Being more like a pancake batter consistency, the discard can be used much easier to use for recipes like pizza dough and crepes.
There is really no way to mess it up as long as you keep feeding it! And honestly, even if you forget to feed it, the likelihood of it going bad is really low. As long as it has only been a few days, feed it and see if it revives. Like we said above, when it has a good amount of bubbles and is the consistency of your liking – feel free to pop it in the fridge so you don’t have to maintain it every day. It really is that simple!
