How to Make Your Own Sourdough Starter

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By aprilq
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Making a sourdough starter is very simple, and once you've done it you can bake sourdough bread continuously!

Making a sourdough starter is very simple, and once you've done it you can make endless loaves of sourdough bread!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

flour
warm water
molasses/honey

Step 1

Despite the onslaught of low carb and non carb diets, bread remains a staple food. Why? Because it's delicious, and the right kind has good amounts of protein and fiber. Making your own bread from scratch is rewarding experience, and is the localest of all foods! Use organic flour, honey/molasses, and it will be organic and local. Creating your sourdough starter will only take a few days with minor maintenance one it's assembled; when you have a starter you always have automatic batter for sourdough bread!
Step 2

In quart size jar, mix two cups of warm water with four tablespoons of honey OR molasses and with one cup of flour. Honey and molasses have very different flavors, but both produce the desired effect. Try them both and see which one you like better.
Stir the mixture vigorously (the more vigorous the better--you want to agitate the mixture). Cover the jar with a cheesecloth or any other porous material that allows air flow. Place jar in warm place (70-80 degrees F is ideal). If it's winter and your house isn't that warm--your starter will take longer. Try to put it near your stove or fireplace or radiator.
Step 3

Waiting for the Starter

After a few days, depending on how warm the environment is, you will notice tiny bubbles releasing at the surface. This means your yeast is active! NOTE: Do not confuse bubbles that appear after stirring with yeast bubbles. To be yeast bubbbles, the bubbles should be present before you stir the mixture.
The number of days it takes for your mixture to become active will depend, as I mentioned above, on the temperature, but it will also depend on other environmental factors; every ecosystem is different, and its own unique yeast populations. This is why some locations produce such distinctive sourdoughs. Your own homemade sourdough is really the localest of all foods!
Each day you should be adding a little more flour (about 1/4 cup); stir each time you add flour. Continue adding/stirring for 3-4 after bubbles first appear. The batter will continue to get thicker as it rises, but you want it to remain essentially liquid in form.
Step 4

Once you have a thick, bubbly batter, pour half into a bowl--this will be your bread to bake. The other half will remain your starter, to which you should add flour occassionally and stir. If you bake weekly, add flour weekly; if you bake less often, or rarely, put your starter in the fridge. It will still remain active but the cold will slow down the growth of yeast. Now you're ready to bake your bread! Check out my article about baking the perfect sourdough loaf.