How to: Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starter is basically a naturally fermented bacteria cluster to use in your baking. Hard baked bread, desserts, pastries, flat bread and so on. So, here I will show you how to start a sourdough yeast and how to maintain it. First the process to make your starter is equal in weight additions of water and flour, like any fermentation, the bacteria needs sugars to feast on, hence the flour, and a damp environment to multiply. There is a ratio for that to work, over feeding can kill it, over hydration can yield a more active yeast but will also end up in a funky starter. Another thing to understand with fermentation is temperature. The higher the temperature the faster the growth would be and the lower the temperature the slower the growth will be, this is why when we make any fermented food like kimchi or kefir, we end the process by refrigerating it. Also we refrigerate the sourdough starter when not in use. Bakers and people that make bread on the daily feed their starter daily and use it daily so no need for them to slow it down or store it. But for home use, you just need to feed your starter 2 days before usage to activate it again after putting it to sleep in the fridge. How to feed your dormant/sleeping starter? Follow the same method of making the starter for 2 days and then it is ready to use. Feeding the starter is basically taking a tablespoon of your starter and mixing it with flour and water. What to do with what bakers call the “discard”? Well instead of discarding it, you can use it in baking desserts, crackers and so on. No waste needs to happen here.

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% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet