Sourdough Starter

Maintaining a sourdough starter

This sourdough starter is a mixture of a little bit of freshly ground Rye, a lot of All Purpose (UNBLEACHED) flour, and water.  It was started in 2021.  It has been the basis of many wonderful sourdough breads, pancakes, cookies, etc.

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I usually feed my starter on the weekends.  It doesn’t have to be exact date and if you forget it, its okay.  It is really hard to kill a good starter.  

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When feeding the starter, always use spring or filtered rain water.  Never use distilled or tap water. 

When stirring, use a wooden spoon.  Sometimes metal or plastic will interact with sourdough.

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Put the jar into the refrigerator with the lid.  Store in the refrigerator for up to one week. 

After the one week, take out of the refrigerator and let sit on your countertop with the lid on overnight. 

That next morning, take out almost all of the starter.  Leave just a little on the sides.  (Approximately 2 tablespoons left inside the jar).  What you take out is discard.  You can toss this or find sourdough discard recipes. 

Add 1 cup flour (all purp and rye mixture) and just over 3/4 cup water.  Mix with a wooden spoon.  The consistency should be like really thick pancake batter. If you find it difficult to stir, add just a tiny bit more water.  

Put a cloth on the top with a rubber band around the rim and place in a warm place.  If you have a bread proofer, this is perfect.  If not, somewhere around 80-90 degrees is good.  Most people say don’t go over 82 degrees but I have never had a problem in my 90 degree dehydrator that I set it in for a couple hours to rise. 

It should double in size.  If it doesn’t, it needs warmth.  Once doubled, you are now ready to use this in a sourdough recipe.  Remember, most sourdough recipes take 12-20 hours to make after your starter has risen.  Take out all sourdough (what the recipe calls for and any discard) leaving about 2 tablespoons in the jar. 

Place in the refrigerator with a lid on it until you are ready to use it again. 

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Always make sure that what you put into the refrigerator to sit for a week is only a couple tbsps with the lid on.  You don’t need much of it to activate the added flour/water.  Always make sure when its warming, it has a cloth on the top with a rubber band around the rim.  This keeps things out (bugs, stray hairs, etc.) while letting air and wild yeast in.