How to make a sourdough starter: make it yourself

My sourdough adventure began in early June! For years, I'd wanted to learn how to bake sourdough bread myself, for various reasons. But since I'm not a fan of long introductions myself, let's dive right in !

Regular bread is made by adding baker's yeast. This yeast converts sugars into CO2, allowing the bread to rise and become airy. With sourdough, we don't add baker's yeast, but instead use lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, and yeasts that naturally occur in the flour.

These bacteria and yeasts must first be activated and multiplied, which we do by making a sourdough starter. A good starter contains enough active yeasts and bacteria to bake bread without additional baker's yeast. The presence of these bacteria also gives the bread a slightly sourer flavor than when using baker's yeast alone, which contributes to the characteristic sourdough taste.

There are plenty of recipes for making a sourdough starter , and they all work well, as the authors have usually tested them themselves. The most important thing is to persevere when making your starter. This is also good practice for baking your sourdough bread, because your first loaves won't be perfect right away— that's just part of learning something new!

When making sourdough, you can use almost any type of flour. The most popular choices are wheat flour and rye flour . Rye flour is teeming with microorganisms, which often results in faster fermentation. This is useful if you want quick results, but a rye-based starter can also be a bit more acidic, so that's something to keep in mind.

I went with wheat flour because I enjoy taking on a challenge right away. Wheat flour makes a milder sourdough starter and gives you more control over the flavor. Want to start with rye? That's perfectly fine; I tested this recipe last week, and it worked perfectly. You can gradually convert your rye starter to wheat later if you'd like. I haven't tested that transition myself yet, but it's definitely possible.

I'm happy to share my own recipe for a wheat starter, taken from Christian Weij 's book. It's a great way to start with sourdough!

• Organic whole wheat flour
• Water (room temperature)
• Organic wheat flour

1. Combine 25 grams of whole wheat flour with 50 ml of water in a bowl. Whisk well until the mixture is dissolved and frothy.
2. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let the sourdough starter ferment at room temperature for 12 hours.

1. Add 50ml of water to your sourdough starter and stir well with a whisk until the mixture is dissolved and frothy.
2. Mix in 50 grams of wheat flour (you are now switching from flour to all-purpose flour).
3. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let the sourdough starter ferment again at room temperature for 12 hours.

1. Take 25 grams of your sourdough starter (discard the rest) and add 50 grams of water. Whisk this in a large bowl until dissolved and frothy.
2. Mix in 50 grams of wheat flour .
3. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let the starter ferment again at room temperature for 12 hours.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 above for at least 4 days (so 8 times in total).

After about 7 days, you should be able to make an active sourdough starter. But how do you know for sure if your starter is ready for baking? You can test this with the float test. Scoop a small amount of starter from your jar and drop it into a glass of water. If the starter floats, it means your starter is active enough for baking.