Creating a sourdough starter

It all starts with the starter and mine is now around 5 years old.

I had a few failures making my starter. I think it was due to the fact I was using desalinized water living in Dubai. It just was not developing the fermentation as it should do so I finally resorted to the addition of grapes which meant the fermentation took. It was a process that should not and would not usually be so difficult.

Sourdough starter is simply flour and water that naturally ferments. I use a 100% hydration starter which means that it has equal quantities of flour and water.

To make a starter:

You will need:

• 1 set of kitchen scales
• 1 spatula
• flour
• tap water (or if you are somewhere tap is not great like I was use bottled)
• 2 glass jars with lids that sit on but are not fully sealed

Day one:

• Mix 100gms of flour and 150gms tepid (not warm not cold) water in a glass jar.
• Cover with lid and let this sit for 24 hrs.

Day two:

• Get second glass jar
• Weigh out 75gms of mixture from day one into your second glass jar.
• Into this 75gms of day one’s mix add 100gms flour and 150gms water.
• Mix. Cover with lid and let this sit for 24 hrs.
• Discard the leftover flour water mix from day one and clean the jar (or you can freeze or use this mix to add for another time to pizza dough etc)

Day three:

• Get cleaned second glass jar
• Weigh out 75gms of mixture from day two into your second glass jar.
• Into this 75gms of day two’s mix add 100gms flour and 150gms water.
• Mix. Cover with lid and let this sit for 24 hrs.
• Discard the leftover flour water mix from day two and clean the jar (or you can freeze or use this mix to add for another time to pizza dough etc)

Day four:

• Get cleaned second glass jar
• Weigh out 75gms of mixture from day three into your second glass jar.
• Into this 75gms of day three’s mix add 100gms flour and 150gms water.
• Mix. Cover with lid and let this sit for 24 hrs.
• Discard the leftover flour water mix from day three and clean the jar (or you can freeze or use this mix to add for another time to pizza dough etc)

Day five:

Today you must do the process twice 12 hours apart each. So instead of sitting for 24 hours between feeds repeat 12 hours later.

So:

• Get cleaned second glass jar
• Weigh out 75gms of mixture from day four into your second glass jar.
• Into this 75gms of day four’s mix add 100gms flour and 150gms water.
• Mix. Cover with lid and let this sit for 12 hrs.
• Discard the leftover flour water mix from day four and clean the jar (or you can freeze or use this mix to add for another time to pizza dough etc)

12 hours later on day 5:

• Get cleaned second glass jar
• Weigh out 75gms of mixture from 12 hours earlier on day five into your second glass jar.
• Into this 75gms of day five’s mix add 100gms flour and 150gms water.
• Mix. Cover with lid and let this sit for 12 hrs.
• Discard the leftover flour water mix from earlier on day five and clean the jar (or you can freeze or use this mix to add for another time to pizza dough etc)

Day 6:

Repeat as for day 5. Feed twice 12 hours apart.

On day 7:

You should have a nice bubbly starter ready to use.

I maintain my starter by:

1. Keeping it in the fridge as I do not bake bread every day it keeps better in the fridge (I get it out of the fridge 2 days or so before I am due to bake bread

2. Each time I use my starter I replace it with equal amounts of flour and water. If using just a small amount of starter for the recipe like I do then take out 100gms of starter in total and discard or use for making pizza dough, blini, scones, pinwheels, I use this for all sorts of things, I just put it in the mix with the other ingredients I’m using so I do not waste.

3. Therefore take out 100gms starter, replace it with 50gms water and 50gms flour.

4. Do this each time you use your starter and leading up to making bread take it out of the fridge and remove 100gms starter replacing with 50 gms water and flour each day for 2 days.

5. Your starter should be actively bubbly and at room/ambient temperature before you use it.

When you use your starter for the first time do so after day 7 before you get into your maintenance programme. It’s fun. If your bread fails DON’T WORRY!!! Just feed it by taking out 100gms in total (this includes the amount taken for your recipe) and replace it with 50gms flour 50gms water.

As I said earlier I had a lot of problems getting my starter up and running. It took me about a month until I finally resorted to a grape method by Paul Hollywood.

If making it again, I would use the above method because the grape method turns into a bit of a drama (well mine did) because you need to get inorganic untreated grapes. Where I lived at the time that was very difficult to come by so my sourdough kept failing.

When you make your starter, initially it might appear a bit odd to you. There might be liquid separated on the top and look a bit off. Unless it's mouldy it's not off, it's fine, it's part of the fermentation process and this will happen from time to time. Just stir it in.

The smell of your starter will be slightly yeasty and slightly sour.

A nice bubbly starter