It is easy to make and so rewarding – your own sourdough starter. You just need some rye flour (organic is the best), water, and about 5 minutes of your time each day for 5 days in a row. Once you have the sourdough starter ready, you need to keep it in a fridge and feed it at least once a week. Homemade sourdough bread is healthy and super delicious.
Sourdough Starter – Old Traditional Recipe
You need:
- rye flour, organic is best
- filtered or boiled lukewarm water
- super clean glass jar or glass bowl (rinsed with boiling water), and a lid for the jar
- rubber band
Add 50g rye flour + 50 ml lukewarm water and mix together. Cover with a clean tea towel, secure with a rubber band, and leave in a dark warm place for 24 hours.
3rd day:
Add 50g rye flour + 50 ml lukewarm water and mix together. Cover with a clean tea towel, secure with a rubber band, and leave in a dark warm place for 24 hours.
4th day:
Add 50g rye flour + 50 ml lukewarm water and mix together. Cover with a clean tea towel, secure with a rubber band, and leave in a dark warm place for 24 hours.
5th day:
Your sourdough starter should be ready by now. It has to have a very pleasant sour smell and bubbles. If it doesn’t, repeat the step from day 4, which also makes you wait for another 24 hours
6th day:
Your sourdough must be ready by now. If not, something went wrong.
Store the starter in a fridge. Use it to make your own sourdough bread, pizza base, sourdough rolls, and more.
How to feed the sourdough:
- Feed at least once a week with a good 1/2 cup of rye flour + 1/2 cup of filtered or cooked cool water. Leave in a warm and dark place for at least 12 hours at around 25-30°C room temperature or for 24 hours at around 20°C or less room temperature
- Take 3 tablespoons to make your bread, throw it away if you don’t bake, cover the rest with a lid or cling wrap, secure it with rubber band, and put it back into the fridge
- You can also freeze the sourdough starter if you don’t intend to bake it for a while, however, it will lose its good quality after sitting in the freezer for more than one month
Tipps:
- make sure the glass is super clean and rinsed with boiling water to minimize any contamination
- when you see a very fine white film on the top of your sourdough starter, don’t panic, this is normal
- when you see a grey or black film, mould on top, this is bad. You can throw your starter away and start again
- your sourdough starter is supposed to develop a nice sour smell and a lot of bubbles after the third or fourth day, then you know, you did it well
- another sign that the starter is good to go is if you take a bit out of the jar and put into a glass with water. If it floats, you did well