In this post, I’ll show you how to make your first sourdough starter so you can make sourdough bread! Patience and exact measurements are the keys to success. Once you make this starter, you’ll need to follow a feeding cycle to keep the sourdough culture alive.

Ideally, you’ll want to make this starter and then go into the feeding cycle routine for about two weeks before you bake your first loaf. This will help give you a strong baseline starter. In the meantime, you can always bake things using your sourdough discard.

I prefer to use King Arthur for all of my flours. I like their unbleached flours and have had great results using them!

Supplies You’ll Need:

A Baking Scale
Whole Wheat Flour
All Purpose Flour
At Least Three Mason Jars
Plastic Lids for the Jars (unless you’d like to use fabric)
A Rubber Band
Rubber Spatula

Keeping Your Starter Warm

It’s essential to keep your starter at a warm room temperature, around 74 degrees F. After day 7, or when you are in the feeding cycle routine, you’ll need to keep the starter warm in order for it to peak. I had issues with my starter for a long time because I was feeding it daily but never getting a peak. I was upset because I couldn’t make bread with it. I finally realized, in December, I needed to take extra care to keep the starter warm enough to rise.

I use a rice pack warmer and heat it in the microwave for about 1:30 minutes. Then, I place my starter jar on top of the pack (after a feed cycle) and close the microwave. If I have time, I’ll rewarm the pack (make sure you don’t microwave your jar!) 2 or 3 times in a day in order to coax my starter to peak. This works like a charm!

How to Make a Sourdough Starter

Homestead With Grace

A simple way to make a sourdough starter from scratch.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Total Time 7

Equipment

1 Baking Scale
3 Mason Jars with Lids I use wide mouth 32 oz and plastic lids.
1 Rubber Band
1 Rubber spatula
1 Glass Measuring Cup

Ingredients

1 bag Whole Wheat Flour
1 bag All Purpose Flour

Instructions

Day 1

Mix 50g warm water with 50g whole wheat flour in a mason jar using a rubber spatula.
Place a rubber band around the jar to mark the starting point for the starter rising. Screw a lid on completely and then unscrew it a quarter turn so it's loose.
Let rest overnight. You will see little change.

Days 2-6

Remove top half of the starter and weigh 50g into a clean jar.
Add 25g water and 25g whole wheat flour and mix. (2[starter]:1[flour]:1[water] feed ratio)
Screw lid on loosely, put on the rubber band and let rest overnight. Repeat until day 7.
Be sure to feed your starter around the same time every day. Set a timer if you need to. If you wait too long, it may mold quickly. When a starter molds, it is best to throw it away and start over for safety.
Do not use your discard before day 7. Throw it away because at this stage it won't be very effective. After day 7, you can save the discard in a jar inside the fridge to use for sourdough discard recipes.
If your starter forms small to medium bubbles, you know it's still alive and well. Don't be discouraged if it's not growing much in the beginning.

Day 7

Remove the top half of the sourdough starter and move 30g of starter to a clean jar.
Add 60g warm water, 30g whole wheat flour and 30g all purpose flour and mix. (1[starter]:2[flour]:2[water] feed ratio)
Loosely screw lid on and let rest at room temperature for 8 hours.
Repeat the feeding process two more times with an 8 hour rest in between.

When Can You Make Bread?

You can use your sourdough starter to make bread when it has doubled in size and passes the float test.
To perform a float test, drop a pea sized amount of sourdough starter into a container with water. If it floats, your starter is active and ready to use. If it sinks, you either need to wait until the peak occurs, or restart the feeding cycle.
Make note of the smell of your starter. If it smells stinky or fowl, it is still good to use, it just needs to be fed. When a starter is ready to bake with it will have a pleasant, bready scent.

Notes

Temperature:

In order to rise after day 7 to make dough, your sourdough starter wants to be kept at a warm room temperature around 74 degrees F, or close to that. If it’s winter or you keep your house colder, you may need to take extra measures to keep your starter warm. By heating a bean or rice bag warmer in the microwave and then placing your starter jar in the microwave on top of that for the rest periods, you’ll speed up the peaking process.

What Next?

Make sure you follow a proper feeding cycle using your preferred ratio (like 1:2:2).

You’ll need to feed and maintain your starter every day to prevent mold.

You can also store your starter in the fridge to “pause” it for months at a time.

Learn more about my feeding cycle routine here: https://homesteadwithgrace.com/sourdough-feeding-cycle-routine-how-do-you-sourdough/

Keyword baked goods, baking, beginner sourdough, bread, sourdough

Make Your First Sourdough Starter | How Do You Sourdough?