Starting a starter, Mike's Way

This is a thumbnail sketch of how I start a sourdough starter.

A Polite Request If you are starting a starter using my instructions and have trouble, I would greatly appreciate it if you would contact me FIRST if you are having problems with your starter. I really do care about your sourdough success, and if there are problems with my instructions, I would like to correct them. On the menu of each page at this web site is a "contact us" link. Please use it so I can help you. Thanks, Mike

This page has been written and re-written more than any other page on this site. I'll have a nice simple description and then people ask questions. "What about if Jupiter aligns with Mars?" And then my clarifications mess things up to the point where it's no longer simple and easy to read.

Let's be clear here. People have been starting sourdough starters for thousands of years. They were starting starters long before they understood that there were living creatures in the starter. It is really easy to over think this mess and to obsess over it. Don't go there. Relax. Remember to breathe. The process is simple and it works. If you forget a feeding, it's not the end of the world. This time, I'm going to write what I hope are simple, clear instructions. And I'll try hard to resist complicating the instructions everytime I get a question about them. Most of the questions are answered in the general comments about Starting A Starter, so if you have questions that are not answered in this page, go and look at Starting A Starter again. I have added some photos of the process, however, please be aware that the main narratie and the pictures are not in synchronization.

You need some flour. The flour feeds the starter, and also contains the micro-organisms that form the culture. Whole grains in general, and organic stone-ground grains in particular, have more wild yeast on them than highly processed white flours. So, pick up a sack of organic, stone-ground, whole wheat or rye flour. You might also ask your grocer which flour sells the best and check the expiration dates on the sacks of flour - you want to get the freshest sack of flour you can find at your grocery or health food store.

Many people feel that rye works better. However I've recently had better luck with whole wheat flour. Once your starter is healthy, you can use it with any kind of flour, so you can use rye flour to start your starter even if you don't plan on making rye bread. If your grocery store doesn't have such a thing, check out your local health food store. If your health food store doesn't carry such a thing, ask them to order some flour for you from Arrowhead Mills or Bob's Red Mill.

A recurring question with regard to sourdough starter is what sort of water may be used with it. Many people insist that sourdough starter can be killed by chlorinated water. Others say that it cannot be started with chlorinated water. In my experience, chlorinated water has not been a problem. I have started, fed and used starters with chlorinated water with no problems. However, I have heard that the more persistent forms of chlorine used by some cities, such as chloramine, can cause problems.

In general, if your tap water smells and tastes good it will probably work well with sourdough. If you have problems with your starters, you may want to try using dechlorinated water. Since few home filters will remove chlorine from water, and from what I am told neither boiling nor standing will remove chloramine, I suggest that you try bottled spring water if you are experiencing what you think might be water related problems with your sourdough. Don't use distilled water or water treated with a reverse osmosis filter as those waters are lacking in minerals that your starter needs. If you think you might be having water problems, you might want to check out my more in-depth discussion of water issues.

You'll need some sort of container in which to mix your starter. I suggest a small mixing bowl or measuring cup that will hold between 2 to 4 cups (500 to 1000 ml). You can use a glass, ceramic, plastic or stainless steel container. You want a container you can cover with cling wrap (or plastic wrap). Old husbands tales warn against using metal. I've found that there is no problem with stainless steel, but I would recommend against aluminum, copper, brass, plain steel, iron, lead or any other base metal. Some people prefer to avoid plastic containers as plastic scratches easily and then becomes difficult to keep clean. The plastic wrap is there to keep bugs, cats and children out of the starter as well as to help prevent the starter from drying it out.

Temperature is the next issue. It's easy to obsess about temperature, but remember people have been making sourdough since long before temperature control was as easy as it is today. So, it might be important, but it's not the end of the world. In broad terms, you want to stay within the 65 to 85F range (18 to 30C). If you get much below that range, things will take far too long to happen. Above that range, you get into off tastes and organisms dying off. You really want to keep things under 90F (35C). It is impractical to heat or cool your whole house to keep a quart (liter) sized container at its optimum temperature. If you need a warmer area, turning on the light in an oven will often get your temperature where you need it. Similarly, the top of many refrigerators is also a hot spot. I suggest using a thermometer to double check the temperatures. Most people really can't gauge temperatures very accurately by feel. If your problem is that things are too hot, you can put your containers into a bath of cool water. If you are at too cool a temperature, remember to allow more time for things to happen. How much more time? I'd double most of the time predictions. When your starter is healthy and active, you can loosen up on your temperature control, although you still don't want to let the starter get much above 85F.

Covering the starter - absolute sterility is not a goal in sourdough. You're not looking for operating room cleanliness. You just want to keep the starter from drying out, as well as keeping stray bugs, the kids and the cat out of it. You don't need to tape or rubber band the cling wrap in place, just press the plastic wrap onto the sides fo the container. You can use SaranWrap QuickCovers, if they are still available.

Now then, once you have your flour, water and container, mix 1/4 cup of water with 3/8 cup of whole grain flour. Mix the ingredients well, cover with plastic wrap or a saran wrap quick cover (if you can still find them). The mixture will be a thick mass, even a very thick mass. Congratulations, you've just mixed up a sourdough starter.

A photo essay. Again and again, I've been asked for pictures of starting a starter. Two weeks ago, I declared my starter was dead. Despite my attempts at washing the starter, it went back to dissolving protein. So, it was time to start a new starter. When God gives you lemons, make lemonaid isn't just a cute saying, it's a formula for a happier life. So, since I had to start a starter, I took pictures and added something to the page that many people have asked for. If this page loads too slowly, I can always move the photo essay to another page. We'll see how it goes. While the text of this page and the photo essay cover the same material, the timeline of the two aren't quite in sync. I tried to put them close, but they didn't line up. Which may another reason to put the photo essay on another page.

Here's the ingredients and tools. Since the water at my home isn't suitable for making bread, I use bottled spring water. Look for a water that has good mineral content and that is slightly acidic. I use an organic, stone-ground whole wheat flour - the freshest sack at the local health food store. And an assortment of measuring utensils and mixing implements.

I mixed 1/4 cup of water with 3/8 cup of flour, scooped from the bag. You can see doesn't makes a lot of starter. As you'll see more clearly in a later picture, about 1/4 cup. The starter smells very much like wet flour.

I mashed the starter against the side of the measuring cup so you could see how firm it is. It stands up on it's own - it's not slumping - and the fork marks remain clear and distinct. After this, I covered the measuring cup with plastic wrap and set it aside. My kitchen was in the mid 70's (22C or so) as I was starting this starter.

After mixing up the starter, wait about 12 hours. Take the plastic wrap off the starter so you can get a good look at it and smell it too. At this point there is a very good chance that you'll see bubbles in the starter. If not, stir the starter vigorously, cover the starter again and let it sit for another 12 hours or so. Then check and stir again. If you don't see bubbles in two days, pitch the flour and water and start over. If you go through this twice with no results, you may want to change brands of whole wheat flour. And you may want to switch to bottled spring water. Changes to the smell of the starter will tell you that something is happening. If you looked at the Starting A Starter page, you should know that the first critters to start a starter may or may not be the final ones to rule the starter. So, if it smells bad don't be too surprised or at all discouraged - it's a sign of life, and that's a good thing.

After sitting for 12 hours, there was no discernible activity. The starter smelled like wet flour with a hint of fish or sea air thrown in. Since nothing had happened, I let the starter sitfor another 12 hours.

After waiting another 12 hours, 24 since the mix, the starter has risen. There are bubbles in it, and it has almost doubled in height. At this point, this is good news, but it's as far from being a starter as a toddler is from being an Olympic runner.

Since the starter was active, I fed it. I stirred in another 1/4 cup of water and 3/8 cup of organic, stone-ground whole-wheat flour. The starter still has a pretty thick consistency.

Once you see bubbles, it's time to give the starter a feeding adding another 1/4 cup of water stirring that into the starter, then adding another 3/8 cup of your whole grain flour and stirring that in. I like to stir after I add the water and again after I add the flour, it puts more air into the starter, which helps its growth at this phase of its life and it also makes it easier to mix. Even though this is hardly a starter, I think of this as the starter's first feeding. Any time you add flour to your starter, you are feeding it, much as you are feeding your dog when you put dog food in a bowl and put it on the floor for your pooch.

After the first feeding, we had about 1/2 cup of starter. A rather dense starter.

Twelve hours later, the starter had risen again, risen enough to just about double in size! It has more of a fishy smell, the first time I've smelled that in a starter at any stage. I am wondering if the Arrowhead Mills people use fish meal as a natural fertilizer.

Since the starter was active, I fed it again. I discarded 1/2 the starter and fed it with another 1/4 cup of water and 3/8 cup of white flour, leaving me with -

Once you've stirred the starter, scrape down the sides of the container to make sure you don't leave food on the side of the container to feed mold. An active starter can take care of itself, but this starter is still too young to do so. I've had reports from people who didn't scrape their containers and wound up with mold on the sides of the container. This is one of the reasons I suggest a bowl with a wide top rather than a harder to scrape mason jar.

I've gone back and forth on when to start regularly feeding the starter. At this time, I suggest not feeding the starter again until it shows signs of life. If you start regular feedings of the starter too soon, you could wind up diluting the starter so much that the starter might not reach a critical threshold where it will have enough organisms to thrive. This isn't very common, but it has happened to a number of my correspondents in cooler climates. Usually, when the starter has shown enough life for a second feeding, it will be ready for another feeding twelve hours later.

- about 1/2 cup of a lighter colored starter. This picture is 12 hours after the previous feeding, and there is no appreciable rise, so I let it sit another 12 hours.

Quite often, a starter will slow down when it is switched to white flour. Here, after 24 hours, there is very little rise. However, it has risen, so its time to start feeding the starter again.

If you get to Carnegie Hall by practicing, you get to sourdough through patience. The starter isn't doing much, but I keep feeding it anyway.

If your starter showed signs of life, it's time to start regular feedings. Each regular feeding begins by discarding half the starter and then feeding it another 1/4 cup of water, stir, add 3/8 cup of whole grain flour and stir again.

It rose a bit better than before.

The starter looks like mud after it has been fed.

And 12 hours later, there are good bubbles on the top.

Every few days, you might switch containers as an additional precaution against mold. Once the starter is active, the danger of mold will drop. I've never had starter mold, but a few correspondents report it has happened to them.

Since it's active, I keep feeding it.

And it rises to about twice its height! (If you look closely at the previous picture, there is a fair amount of starter on the side of the measuring cup, but around on the side, you can see the starter level is around 1/2 cup.)

The starter kept rising, so it seemed like a good time to put it into a larger container!

When the starter is active and bubbling reliably I suggest you switch to unbleached all-purpose flour flour. White flour has fewer microorganisms on it, and switching to white flour will help encourage the organisms you want to grow without introducing more organisms you don't want to encourage. Overall, I find starters maintained on white flour get into less trouble than starters maintained on whole grain flours. You will need to continue to feed your starter every 8 to 12 hours to encourage the growth of the microorganisms. Again, discard half the starter each time you feed the starter and then add 1/4 cup of water, stir, add 3/8 cup of flour and stir again. You should double the size of the starter with each feeding.

When you switch from whole grain to white flour the starter will get thinner. This is because whole grain flour absorbs more water than white flour. We see this again and again in our whole grain baking classes. You don't need to add more flour to compensate for this. The starter will get thinner over several days as the amount of whole grain flour decreases through the feeding process.

The starter almost looks lost in its new home! We feed it and we wait.

It always looks sad after feeding, but

it more than doubled after being put in the new container.

The reason we discard half the starter each time is because we want to double the size of the starter with each feeding. If we don't discard half the starter each time, the amount of starter will fill a modest sized swimming pool in about 10 days, an Olympic sized pool in 14 days, and a second pool the same size Twelve hours later. That's a lot of flour and that's a whole lot of stirring!

Some people object to discarding starter. It is made of flour, and it seems a shame and a waste to throw it away. At this point in the cycle, there is no telling which organisms are in the starter. I feel that until the starter is stable, it is better to discard the wannabe starter.

Let's look at the risen starter from the top. Again, it's not bubbly, but more turbulent looking. I think looking at the side of a clear vessel gives you a better idea of whats going on in the starter.

This time, instead of discarding half, let's start feeding the starter up. Since each feeding should double the amount of starter, let's add 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of bread flour scooped from the sack.

A top view of the freshly fed starter.

Within 3 or 4 days, you should have a very lively starter. You should see lots of bubbles in the starter. We are making a fairly thick starter, and it is unlikely to become frothy. Thinner starters will become frothy, but thinner starters are usually unable to double in size between feedings. Also thinner starters are more apt to go astray - they run out of food faster. Your goal is a starter that will rise to double its size after feeding.

When you feed the starter, it will rise. It can take 3 to 6 hours to reach its peak, depending on how active the starter is. Once it reaches its peak, it will remain there for a while and then it will start to recede as the starter slows down. If you feed your starter and go to work, you could miss the starter's peak, and see a quiet starter when you get home. You might think nothing is happening as a result. If you look at the container that holds the starter, you'll see that the starter will leave streaks on the side of the container.

The starter is more active - it rose and fell a bit in 12 hours. You can see it fell by looking at the starter clinging to the side of the measuring cup above the liquid level.

I usually tell people that there are two tests that a starter should pass before I'm ready to trust it to make bread. It needs to be able to double itself, and it needs to be at least a week old. This starter smells good - the fish smell went away some time ago - and it's lively. So, it might be a bit early, but I'd be ready to use the starter.

If you're as curious as most people, you're wondering how the starter worked out. I fed it for 2 more days and then refrigerated it because I wasn't ready to bake. The next week, I pulled some out on Thursday, fed it 3 times and baked Saturday morning. It rose very nicely and the bread was good. I wasn't trying for super-sour bread, so I don't know how the starter will do in that regard, but the bread was very good.

When the starter is at least a week old and doubling in size after a feeding, it is ready to be used to make bread.

Please remember that if our fairly thick starter can't double its own size, it can't raise your bread.

If you won't be using the starter for several days, feed the starter and then pour the starter into a quart canning jar, taking care not to fill the container more than half full. Put the jar's lid on loosely to allow any gas the starter produces to escape. Then put the jar into the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. The starter can be kept in the refrigerator for at least a month between feedings. If you are going to use the starter in the next day or two, just leave it out and feed it every 12 hours or so.

A sourdough starter will continue to mature for some time, gaining in taste and power. Enjoy!