Well, I was very pleased when I walked into the kitchen and got out my sourdough starter this morning! There was already quite a bit of activity going on in my little jar of flour and water. There were LOTS of bubble and it had grown significantly!
If your sourdough is showing this much activity after 24 hours, yay! But if it’s not, don’t be discouraged! The first time I made a starter with store-bought whole wheat, I did NOT have that much activity after one day. But I was still able to grow a wonderful starter that I used and enjoyed for over a year (before it crashed and fell to it’s sad, sad death!).
Freshly-ground wheat has more organisms and yeast present then store-bought wheat does, so if you’re using store-bought, be patient for bubbles and growth. It will take a week or two before your sourdough will show reliable growth and be usable (whether you are using freshly ground wheat or not).
On days 2-7 (or longer if your sourdough isn’t growing reliably after day 7), you will do the same thing everyday.
Detailed Version:
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You will need a spoon, 1/2 cup filtered (not distilled) water, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, and your sourdough starter from day one.
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Remove half of the sourdough from the jar and discard it.
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This may seem wasteful, but it really is necessary. If you don’t remove some of your starter, it will grow so large that it will be unmanageable.
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Removing some of the starter also gives your sourdough a better chance at success.
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After you have a working, reliable starter you don’t have to discard the starter that you remove. You can use it to make things like pancakes, waffles, biscuits, and lots more!
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You don’t want to use the starter that you are removing in this early stage because there may be some bad bacteria in it. You want to give the good, friendly bacteria in your sourdough a chance to take over before you actually bake with it and eat it.
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Add 1/2 cup of clean, filtered (not distilled) water to your jar of sourdough. Stir very well to incorporate some air into your starter.
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Add 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour to your jar of sourdough. Stir until completely incorporated.
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Scrape down the sides to prevent yuckies and mold from growing in your jar.
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Cover loosely and put in a warm place for 24 hours.
Repeat every day until your sourdough has doubled in size for at least three feedings in a row. At this point you have a fully functioning sourdough starter ready for use! Congratulations!
Notes:
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Please see Sourdough Starter: Day 1 for more information on what kind of water and flour to use, what to cover your jar with, and where to store your jar.
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After I added the water and flour to my jar on day 2, I realized that there was not much room for growth, so I switched my sourdough from its original 2 cup Ball jar to a 4 cup (quart-size) Ball jar. It now has plenty of room to grow and I don’t have to worry about it spilling over the top of the jar. Adjust your own container size as needed.
Upcoming Schedule of Sourdough Posts to Keep You Going:
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What’s Going On Inside Your Sourdough Jar (some of the science behind sourdough – I’m NOT a scientist, but I will try to explain this to you in common language!)
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How to Care for Your Sourdough (so you can enjoy it for many, many years to come.)
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Plus lots of recipes for you to use and enjoy your sourdough.
Like what you read? Don’t miss the rest of the sourdough posts! Make sure you sign up for a free subscription, either through e-mail or RSS to get the new posts automatically sent to you!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I would love to hear how your sourdough is coming along as well!
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Hi…I’m making a sourdough starter along with you! I’m new to this all, so I’m very excited about my adventure with sourdough. I do need some additional help on how warm the area needs to be where the starter is stored. Do you have a general temperature? For instance, I’m in Texas where it’s still relatively warm. Can I store it in a warm room and be fine? If not, how about a warm water bath? Or does it need a more constant source of warmth? Many thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Hi Neslie, I’m so glad you’re making a sourdough starter! You will love it!
Really, as long as it’s between 65 and 85 degrees F it will be fine, but generally speaking the warmer end of that range is better for sourdough starters. A warm room would be perfect. You definitely don’t need to worry about a water bath or keeping a perfectly constant source of warmth on it. Just room temperature, but the sourdough will be happiest in warmer room temperatures.
Hope that helps!
Ok, reading up on sourdough at Kitchen Stewardship – she says there is a black liquid that forms and you pour it off. Did you have that happen?
Christy recently posted..Grocery Shopping
Hey Christy, the black liquid that Katie is referring to is the “hooch” (lovely name, I know
) Hooch occurs when your sourdough starter is hungry and you have gone too long without feeding it fresh water and flour. Since we are feeding the starter every day to get started, it should not be an issue right now.
Also feeding the starter a higher ratio of flour to water helps the hooch to stay away as well. That is one reason we are making our starter with 3/4 c flour to 1/2 c water. This makes a little firmer starter that is not as susceptible to forming a hooch.
If your starter does form a hooch on it then I would recommend pouring it off, although it is not absolutely necessary to do so. I know that some people stir it back into their starters, because they say it gives their bread a more sour taste. So if you want really sour sourdough, you could try stirring it back in.
Personally, I’ve never really had hooch form on my starter unless I went too long without feeding it (once it was already established, of course). When this has happened, I just poured it off.
I hope that answered your question. Feel free to ask any more questions you may have or run in to!
This is a great tutorial. Congratulations on those bubbles!
Amanda recently posted..Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer Review
Ok – I’m in! Last night I started my starter. Tonight I followed the directions for Day 2. My first question, of many I am sure
, um, it didn’t smell good. Pretty bad actually. Is that normal?
I posted about your post and added my pics after 24 hours:
http://blessedrootsblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/grow-baby-grow/
Thank you so much for the hand holding
!
Jenna recently posted..Pumpkin Spice Granola
Jenna, your sourdough looks great! I see bubbles
Thanks for posting pictures so I could see how it’s going!
A bad smell is definitely normal at first. Don’t worry though, the smell will get much better. Once your starter is established, it will have a pleasantly sour smell to it.
In the beginning stages, there is bad bacteria (which makes it smell bad) as well as good bacteria in your starter. That is why we won’t be using it for at least a week or two. We have to give the good bacteria a chance to take over and get rid of all the bad bacteria in there.
You are my hero! I’ve tried to start a sourdough starter twice now (at least) and failed miserably both times. One of these days, I will give it another go.
Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy recently posted..Pumpkin in your Enchilada? Uh huh.
No! Is it really this easy? I love it when things I think are too complicated for me to have time to do turn out to be easy. I think I’ll be starting this this weekend with some of my lovely local Oklahoman wheat flour. *excitement*
I had to transfer mine to a larger jar too when it tried to escape on me! I’m glad I caught it before it overflowed – yuck. It was doing great on day two but this morning had formed a hooch. I suspect my house might be a bit too cold (I’m stubborn about turning the heat on in the fall!), so I might try to find a warmer place for it.
Hm, re the comment above, I put mine in the oven with the light on and it got pretty warm and formed a hooch that night, so I thought it might be too warm. Do you stir the mix before removing half? Also would stirring it during the day help or disturb it? It seemed good the first day, bubbly and thick, but now it’s watery? Hm…
Christy, once you pour off the hooch, you can stir it before you remove half if you would like, but it isn’t necessary. The important thing is to stir it well after you feed it.
If your sourdough seems to be doing well, and showing signs of life (bubbles and growth) then I would not stir it in between feedings. However, if you are having trouble getting your starter to show growth or show bubbles, then, yes, sometimes stirring it in between feedings can help wake up the yeast and get more air in there. This only applies to when you are actually starting a starter and not once it is established. Once you have a working, active starter, you shouldn’t stir it in between feedings.
Don’t worry about the starter being watery. That is probably just the start of the hooch and you can try to pour it off. If this becomes a re-occurring problem, then you can try to do feedings every 12 hours instead of every 24 hours until you have a reliable, active starter. Then you should be able to go back to 24 hour feedings. Also, your oven might be warmer than mine and it might actually be too warm for the starter. The warmer the starter, the faster it will eat its “food”. So you can try just putting your starter at room temperature and see if that solves your problem.
Hope that helps!
I’ve never been brave enough to try this, but you make it look so easy, I just might! I am officially awarding you with the Versatile Blogger Award: http://joyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/10/we-won-versatile-blogger-award.html
Can you post pictures from days 4 on? My starter got all bubbly from days 2-3, but since then has been sluggish. Is this normal?
Anna, I have added the pictures for the rest of the week. As you can see, my starter hasn’t shown much difference from about day 4 on. My starter has been doubling in size after every feeding and it is ready for use.
There are so many factors that can affect sourdough starters, that no two are exactly alike. So if yours isn’t doing exactly what mine is, don’t worry. It is definitely normal for a starter to look like it’s starting off really well and then slow down. Just keep feeding it every day, and you should start seeing reliable growth by the end of two weeks.
Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions or problems.
Thanks!
Okay, I think my starter has doubled about two days now, so hurry up with the sourdough posts, lol! I have no clue what to do next!
Christy recently posted..Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Homemade Cream Cheese (sort of)
Yay, Christy! I’m so happy that you’re starter is doing so well! Keep feeding it like you have been everyday, but instead of throwing out some of your starter at each feeding you can start using it to make things. Here is a simple whole wheat sourdough biscuit recipe to get you started. I will be posting a pancake recipe either later today or tomorrow as well.
When the starter is ready to use do we still keep it in a warm place or put it in the refrigerator?
Thanks so much for your posts on this. I have always wanted to do sourdough but never had the courage to try it myself. Your step by step instructions and pictures were very helpful!
Gayl, you want to keep feeding your starter and keeping it at room temperature for at least 1 month. After that your starter will be more hardy and you will be able to store it in the refrigerator. I will be writing a post soon with more information on this, but feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I’m so glad that you are doing this!
If I don’t use the starter one day do I still discard some or just add more to build it up?
You should discard (or use) some of the starter every time you feed it.
I bought a sourdough cook book when we were in Alaska last summer and it had a starter package with it. When you use sourdough how much do you feed the starter so it keeps on going? Love your site. Glenda
I usually feed it at least it’s own weight x2. So if I have 3 oz of starter that I want to feed, I will feed it 3 oz of water and 3 oz of flour. I hope that makes sense
This post has more detailed information of how to care for your sourdough starter.
this is my second time trying a sourdough started… the last one fizzled- my house is very cold. so i’m trying yet again, in different spots to see what i can get to happen! i looooove sourdough, and i loooove loooove looove homemade! so, i’ve been wanting my own starter for a long time… day one turned into 2 days, but it’s going so hopefully it will continue progress to years of sourdough….
thanks for sharing this and so many recipes! love your blog 
so…it started out great and 4 days later it’s barely active. Don’t think I’ve changed anything. Any ideas of what could be going on…? I did get it to work long enough to make some of your sourdough pancakes- my husband looooved them!
I feel like I’ll end up going through a lot of flour to keep it going?? I started mine tonight- we’ll see how it goes! I might just do it long enough to try those sourdough pancakes you have a recipe for!