How to Make a Sourdough Starter from Scratch

Making your own sourdough starter from scratch to bake bread or any baked good with it… I have to say, is one of the most satisfying things that as a baker you can work with.

How will you build a sourdough starter from scratch?

Below I have provided the daily feeding instructions and all my tips to help you build your own sourdough starter from scratch! This is actually how I created my own starter 4 years ago when I moved to the USA.

Why is it so satisfying baking with a sourdough starter?

because the combination of working with a living organism and the challenge of being able to manage it, is fascinating!

Is it too difficult to build a sourdough starter from scratch?

It’s not, but you need to have patience and perform the daily feedings. Please don’t be overwhelmed by the process, just enjoy it! because once you have your sourdough starter built with you, you will never need to go through this process ever again.

Building a starter is actually a very fun activity to do at home by yourself or with your family. Children will love being part of it and seeing how it grows! Plus following my step by step process will guarantee you build your sourdough starter with success.

Now, before we dive into each step – the below 4 things are a MUST to build and maintain a successful sourdough starter and its something NO ONE TELLS YOU so I will.

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4 Musts to Build and Maintain a Successful Sourdough Starter

Digital Scale – we are always going to measure each ingredient in grams

Bottled Water – If you live in a place where the water is too chlorinated, always use bottled water for your sourdough starter

Container with a Lid – it can be plastic, glass, just make sure its clean! because it can easily grow mold, which we don’t want to happen

Good Quality Flours – NOT all flours are equal, therefore we CAN’T use bleached or bromated flours for a sourdough starter, so please stay away from those types of flours. Rye Flour – freshly milled would be ideal – but if you can get stone ground online or at your grocery stone is fine. Also, reach out to your local mill. All Purpose Flour – any that you can find that is not bleached or bromated (King Arthur is easy to find and a safe way to go)

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If you prefer a personal instruction rather than making this on your own check out by Virtual Sourdough Class – in which I will personally walk you and help you out through the entire journey.

The class is flexible as videos are filmed, but you can reach out to me anytime as I’m fully dedicated to the class.

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Instructions

Day 1

• 100 grams of rye flour
• 125 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F

Day 2-4, feeding schedule for each day

Discard all except 100 grams of your starter and add

• 100 grams of rye flour
• 125 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F (you should start seeing activity on day 2 or 3 – you will see bubbles in it)

Day 5, feeding schedule for each day (switching flour)

Discard all except 70 grams of your starter and add

• 50 grams of rye
• 50 grams of whole wheat or white flour
• 100 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F

Day 6, feeding schedule for each day (switching flour)

Discard all except 50 grams of your starter and add

• 50 grams of rye
• 50 grams of whole wheat or white flour
• 100 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F

Day 7, feeding schedule for each day (switching flour)

Discard all except 50 grams of your starter and add

• 50 grams of rye
• 50 grams of whole wheat or white flour
• 100 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F

At this point you should see the starter doubling in size between feedings, around 12 hours after you fed it, and then slowly collapsing. If you don’t start seeing this behavious – check the temperature of your starter and the quality of your flours.

Don’t move onto Day 8, until you see the starter rising and collapsing!

Day 8, feeding schedule for each day (switching flour)

Discard all except 30 grams of your starter and add

• 10 grams of rye
• 90 grams of whole wheat or white flour
• 100 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F

At this point you should see the starter doubling in size between feedings, around 12 hours after you fed it, and then slowly collapsing.

Day 9, feeding schedule for each day (switching flour)

Discard all except 10 grams of your starter and add

• 100 grams of whole wheat or white flour
• 100 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F

At this point you should see the starter doubling in size between feedings, around 12 hours after you fed it, and then slowly collapsing.

Day 10, feeding schedule for each day (switching flour)

Discard all except 10 grams of your starter and add

• 100 grams of whole wheat or white flour
• 100 grams of water

Mix and let rest for 24 hours at 75-80°F

At this point you should see the starter doubling in size between feedings, around 12 hours after you fed it, and then slowly collapsing.

After day 10

If you plan to use your newly born sourdough starter to bake your first loaf I highly encourage you to do my no knead sourdough bread recipe. You will love it, all my students do!

Also, if you don’t plan to use your starter to bake on day 11, just place it inside the refrigerator, without doing daily feedings. When planning to bake, take the starter out of the fridge 2-3 days before mixing the dough, and feed it daily using the feeding ratios from Day 10.

Remember that:

1. The MOST important aspect on keeping your sourdough starter made from scratch healthy and alive, is the flour you are feeding it! Use flours that are not heavily processed and do not use bleached or bromated.

• The sourdough starter’s temperature will only regulate how fast or slow it will rise. If the starter is colder, it will take longer to rise. You can always play with the water temperature that you use to mix the starter.

• You will never need to go through days 1 to 9, once your sourdough starter has become active. Those initial days using Rye are only to build the initial culture.

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Starter FAQ

When is my sourdough starter ready to make bread?

• If you see it consistently rising, and doubling its size and then collapsing.
• A good way to test it, is to put a teaspoon of starter in a bowl of water and see if it floats. If it does, it’s ready to make bread! If it doesn’t float, wait longer, or add 1 gram of instant yeast to the recipe

How do I keep my sourdough starter alive?

• Keep it inside the refrigerator and feed it at least once a week, with the amounts shown on feeding days 5-8.
• If you want to make bread, take it out of the refrigerator 2 days before you want to mix the bread, and feed it every 12 or 24 hours.

I am travelling for more than 1 week – what should I do with my Sourdough Starter?

• Feed it before you leave, and then leave it in the refrigerator.
• It will have a black liquid on top, toss it out, and start doing the feeding schedule from days 5 to 10, every day for at least 5 days to get the culture active again.

How to preserve the sourdough bread that I just baked

• Sourdough, naturally preserves itself due to the acidity, so it will stay fresh for a long time, however the best way to keep your loaf fresh is to prevent it from dehydrating. Therefore, wrap it in plastic, or put it inside a zip lock bag, and leave it at room temperature.
• Another option, if you are not eating it in the next few days is that you can freeze it wrapped in plastic or inside a ziploc.

What should I do if I want to make multiple loaves? How can I scale up my starter?

• When making more than 1 loaf of sourdough bread – you will need to follow the below feeding ratio to increase the amount of starter you have.

x = ((the total amount of starter needed)*1.1)

Why multiply by 1.1? Because we always need to keep part of the mother culture!

Ingredient	Ratio
Starter	0.05 x
Water	0.5 x
Flour	0.5 x

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Any questions!?

Feel free to post your questions below – also if you want to share your journey building a sourdough starter from scratch, photos and baked goods with me tag me on social media here!

If you wan’t a one-on-one help building your starter, I teach once a month an online sourdough class that includes a kit! On that class I am available 24/7 helping you out to build a healthy starter and we bake your first sourdough bread together. Check all the information here.

Hope you are enjoying the process as much as I do!

With love,

Javi