In 2024 I, like many, many, many people, went down the sourdough rabbit hole. It was all over my social media feed. Sourdough benefits and taste were talked about everywhere. In early spring I got gifted a starter so I watched a few videos, read some things and tried it out.
Everyone talked about proper measurement, constant feeding, and I was overwhelmed. Now, a year later, I can confidently tell you it is a very easy and uncomplicated option. Let me review it for you.
Sourdough Basic Terms
As a sourdough beginner, the language can be a bit varied, so here’s some basic vocabulary:
Sourdough starter: This is the container of flour and water that ferments and creates the ‘wild yeast’ needed to make sourdough bread. Sourdough starter lives on your counter that you must ‘feed’ daily and before feeding, you must discard some of the container contents.
Active Sourdough Starer: This is when your sourdough starter has bubbled and hit its peak fermentation height. Typically, 6-12 hours after it was fed. You want to use the height of the active starter to make sourdough bread. I like to use a rubber band around the bottom of the jar to tell how much my starter has bubbled from the starting position at feed to peak fermentation.
Sourdough discard: This is the leftover unused starter contents that you feed the day before. Typically, people discard a lot of what was active and fermented from the day before which leaves you a small amount of starter to start the process over.
How to Make Sourdough Starer
A lot of people think you need to buy starter or get it from someone – that’s false. While it’s quicker and easier, it’s not complicated or hard to start your own.
All you need, is equal parts flour to water. That’s it. 50g of flour mixed with 50g of water in a glass container (ie. jar), use plastic wrap and a rubber band to seal it. Wait approximately 24 hours. Then weigh your jar, discard the starter contents until it’s at a small amount of starter – let’s say 50g. Then repeat the process. You will do this daily until your starter starts to get nice and big. Around day 5 or 6. That’s how you make sourdough starter.
How to Upkeep Your Sourdough Starter
You feed it every 24 hours and feed it equal parts flour to water. The higher the amount of flour/water the bigger your starter will grow. You want to keep it small.
What Do I Do with the Discard?
Do NOT put it down the drain and do NOT throw it out! Especially the drain, seriously it’s sticky and when dried it’s tough to remove. DO NOT PUT DOWN THE DRAIN.
Get a large container (ie. large jar) and put your discard in there with a lid and leave it in the fridge to use.
I keep sourdough starter strictly for the discard!
I add it to everything to get the healthy gut fermentation benefits. I add it to my regular bread recipes, pancakes, pizza dough and my favourite –2 Ingredient No Roll Sourdough Crackers. My toddler will eat these up in a few minutes. They’re ridiculously easy, delicious AND much healthier than anything you will find at the store.
I Didn’t Feed My Starter in 24 Hours – Is it Dead?!
YOUR. STARTER. WILL. LIVE.
With two littles, striving to homestead as much as possible AND working full-time, I very often forget to feed my starter. We’re talking like 2 sometimes 3 days. When that happens, I check it for mold – just in case but that has never happened. I do discard this stuff in the garbage because I don’t like the hooch (liquid from the sourdough starter being unfed) that covers the top. Then I feed it – A LOT. Like 150g of flour and 150g of water to the 50g of the remaining starter. And lo and behold – it bubbles and becomes active.
What Do I Do with My Starter When I’m Gone for Days?
AFTER you’ve used active starter (within the 6-12 hours post feed), put the sourdough starter jar in the fridge with a tight lid and leave it there until you want to bring it back to life. Take it out of the fridge and bring to room temperature, then give it a good big feed and ta-da. It’s back.
My Sourdough Isn’t Bubbling After 6-12 hours.
Give it a GOOD healthy feed. Wait a day, do it again, and again. If it’s still not bubbling after a few days of consistent good feeds – I think you might have managed to kill something that’s hard to kill – congratulations!
Conclusion
I really hope this helps de-mystify sourdough for you. A lot of information out there makes it sound harder than it actually is, it’s easy and healthy for you so I always recommend trying it out.
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