Sourdough 101

Sourdough help for beginners (this is me!)

I started this post last year and forgot to finish it. Oops. 🙊

So I’ve been trying to make my own sourdough starter. It was going really well for the first few days, but then when I had to discard some of it and use a small amount of the starter to feed, it quit growing. So I started over and it didn’t work again. I decided to buy unbleached flour to see if that was the problem. I started over again and it was going good, but then my starter grew mold. 😭 So today January 26th 2022 I started yet again.

I was confused about some of the process. I keep seeing everyone with discard and making recipes from it. If they are using discard what are they using for bread? How much of their starter do they keep? How much do they feed their starter?

So I’m going to break things down to hopefully help others understand more about sourdough.

Supplies needed:

Starter
Unbleached Flour
Warm Water (not over 110°)
Salt
Scale
Measuring Cups
Mixing Bowl(s)
Dough Hook
Banneton
Bread Lame
Parchment Paper
Dutch Oven
Shower Cap or Dish Towel
Scraper

Here are some definitions:

Starter - a mixture of flour and water that is growing the natural yeast from the air.
Discard - your starter that is put into recipes (it’s the same as what you put in the recipe to make bread).
Bread Lame - a scoring tool used to cut lines/a design into your bread
Banneton or Proofing Basket - what you put your bread in for its final rise before scoring and baking. It gives your bread structure.
Dough Hook - a tool used to stir the ingredients to make bread dough. They are also called Danish dough hook.
Growing - this happens when your starter is strong and will feed on the flour and get bubbly and grow larger in your jar.
Scraper - used to scrape the dough off the counter to put in the Banneton to rise.
Push and Pull - a technique used to tighten the bread by pushing it away from you and then pulling it back toward you.

If you’re making a starter from scratch, it will take a few days before your starter is ready. You will need to add some flour and warm water to a mason jar (or any glass jar) 🫙. On my mason jar I filled it to the first line (it has an ML next to it) with the flour and water to a consistency of thick paste.

Let it sit for 24 hours, then add more flour and warm water to the next line (200 next to it).

On day 3 add flour and warm water again to the next line (nothing next to it).

Then I let it sit for 2 days.

On the 6th day take out the mixture until you are back to the first line (ML next to it). Add flour and warm water to a thick paste again, to the second line (again, 200).

Day 7 throw away until you’re back to the first line and add more flour and warm water to the second line again.

Continue throwing away and adding to your starter until it is bubbly and growing.

Once your starter is ready, you can add a lot of flour and water to be able to make more recipes at a time, share with family, friends, or neighbors, and/or dehydrate it and sell it.

Make sure you feed your starter every day, or at least every 2 days. If you’re going to be away from it for more than 3 days, you will need to put it in the fridge! I’ve also seen some people freeze theirs, and it still is fine. Although I haven’t tried this yet!

Hopefully this helps you with sourdough!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

If you need a recipe for bread check out this blog post: Sourdough Bread Recipe

We have other recipes with sourdough as well:

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the kit Nick bought for me that had everything (except a glass jar) to start making bread!