A very popular question is how to make sourdough starter at home. Making Sourdough at home is pretty simple because very few ingredients are needed: water, Flour, and Air! Let me explain how to make sourdough at home… easily!

It is often recommended to use a starter, an ingredient (such as fruit pulp, white yogurt, or honey) capable of triggering fermentation. Still, you risk introducing many bacteria that could make our yeast too sour.

On the contrary, we will see how to use only flour (but of good quality) to start our yeast. If flour is already available, all the substances (such as sugars, proteins, and mineral salts) must initiate a “healthy” fermentation. 

Yes, the real starting point is to create a small community of yeasts and bacteria, which will become larger daily!

The time needed to bring the Sourdough starter to proper maturity is about 15 days. Still, it will depend on many factors:

• The flour used
• The temperature in your kitchen
• Even the microorganisms present in the air of your home

So don’t worry; if your sourdough starter doesn’t entirely respect the schedule, we’ll give it… Maybe it will be lazier or more vigorous than your friends’ one!

Before you start, consider the main fermentation methods: sourdough vs yeast, Levain and Biga.

HERE ‘S HOW TO MAKE SOURDOUGH STARTER AT HOME

Day 1

The essential step is to capture the yeast and bacteria in the air and “invite” them to interact with a world made for them, precisely the dough from which we will start. It contains everything these microorganisms need: food and water!

Knead then;

• 150 grams of Wholemeal or Semi-Wholemeal Flour
• 75 gr. of Plain Water (better if bottled)
• 1 gram of Salt

Once all the ingredients have been mixed, place the dough in a clean jar, cover it with gauze or paper towels held by a rubber band, and let it ferment for 24/36 hours at 25°C.

In this first phase, you will not observe any dough growth. Still, inside it will be formed the first population of yeasts and bacteria used to start the future fermentation.

This is what the first sourdough starter looks like

From Day 2 to Day 4

After 24/36 hours, you will already notice the first signs of fermentation: the volume will not have increased much (at most about 1/2 times the initial volume), but there will be many bubbles on the surface of the dough, and you will already notice a characteristic smell of yeast (a bit spicy yet)

Once ready, remove the surface crust and take the middle part of the yeast. Weigh out the amount you want to refresh (I recommend carrying at least 200gr of yeast daily) and then knead it with:

• Flour: Equal weight of yeast
• Water: 43% of the flour’s weight

For example, if you want to refresh 200gr of starter, you will have to knead it with:

• 200gr of flour
• 86gr of cold water

I recommend you continue to use Wholemeal flour in this second refreshment and use good quality Bread Flour (ensuring the protein content is around 14%) for all subsequent refreshments.

Knead everything, put the dough in a container (maybe a measuring jug to follow the yeast development better), cover it with paper, and let it rest for at least 48 hours at 25°C. At the end of this period, you will already notice a slight dough growth (about 1.5 times its initial volume).

From now on, you will notice that after each refresh, the sourdough starter grows more and more after 24 hours, doubling (and more) on the fourth day.

If your starter is not so “strong,” don’t panic… It may just need a little more time!