In a glass jar, prepare the starter. When the starting is finished, place the covered container in the refrigerator. It’s typical for the beginning dough to smell really sour and to develop liquid on its surface. Each time you use the starter, stir it. Make sure 1 cup of starter is left in the container after using portion of it.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 days 1 hr 55 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 days 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 3 |
| Yield: | 3 cups starter |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
Instructions
- Mix together flour, warm water, and yeast in a large glass bowl. Let stand uncovered in a warm place over night or up to 48 hours. The longer the mixture stands, the stronger the ferment will be.
- After fermenting, the starter is ready to use or to store covered in the refrigerator. Feed once or twice a week with 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, and 1/4 cup sugar; allow the starter to rest at room temperature for several hours after feeding.
Reviews
This does not work and should be removed from the website. I can’t believe it has this many great reviews. All starter recipes I have read call for feeding the starter. This was a waste of time.
step 1 you use 2 cups water, but after fermenting feed with milk, is that correct
It’s more of a preferment than a sourdough starter.
It is so easy to make and keeps well in the frig after use. I usually let it ferment for two days before use and it adds a wonderful combination to the various breads that call for starter.
Easy and it worked great. Excited to make my second batch of bread.
I loved this starter, made the best I’ve ever tried, however, I added my daily feeding of flour but I used 1/4 less of the water, and it turned out better for me as where I live it’s more humid, thank you for sharing this starter.
Easy as pie, and many happy bubbles have been produced.
I made this starter EXACTLY as instructed and it makes the most amazing sourdough bread! I have been keeping mine on the counter and feeding it once a week for about a month. I keep sharing it with friends who rave about it as well.
I have to agree with “loves to cook”. Yea, it’s a great starter recipe but does nothing to add to the sourness of sour bread. I’ve been reading about using water from boiled potatoes. Let’s see if that is the ticket.
Easy enough to make. Definitely place a pan under it while its fermenting. I mixed mine all up in a 1 quart Mason jar and yeah.. just used it to make my 1st batch of sourdough. Letting that rise and then going to bake.
It was a disaster! all the other recipes I found said to feed it daily, and NEVER to use yeast, only flour and water, preferably unbleached flour.
This was my first attempt at making bread from scratch. I selected this starter because it seemed easy enough and the reviews were good. It was very easy to prepare and I made my first batch of sourdough bread to day. Fantastic. I followed the directions for feeding the starter after having taken a cup for my bread. Hopefully it will produce the same great result of today’s bread. One of the reviewers mentioned leaving the starter out 3 to 4 hours after feeding. I did and it was reacting well. Looking forward to the next batch of bread.
Yeast is naturally occurring, so there is no need to add commercial yeast to a starter. It’s amazing how many people do not do any research on this. It’s quite simple. Fun fact: It’s not San Francisco sourdough if it’s not started in San Francisco. Flour, water, salt. That’s it folks.
Easy to make, I’m 2 1/2 days in and so far so good. I’m a little concerned because I keep reading online that it’s unnecessary and possibly harmful to the starter to feed with anything other than flour and water but I’m a newbie myself so I’m forging onward. 🙂
.25 oz is equivalent to 1 1/2 teaspoons in case anybody needs to know. Or…better to weigh it if you don’t buy it pre-packaged to get the accurate amount.
I made the sour dough bread from this starter and my family loved it! Making it again today. The hardest part was smelling the starter and knowing we had to wait.
Just made this today, we’ll see how it goes from here, I’m going to let it ferment for 48hrs, then I can revisit this review. Right now, my only issue is that I wish the recipe maker had stated how large of a jar we would need, this is my first time trying to make bread and a sourdough starter, I used a 4 cup jar at first, because I didn’t know how fast or how much it would rise. It ended up spilling over the top and down the sides (hopefully it’s not ruined), and I had to pour it into a kimchi jar (I don’t know what size these are, I looked at an 8 quart jar picture and the kimchi jar looks larger than that). I think next time, if I need to make a new batch, I’m going to try the recipe at half the measurements and see where that gets me.
I was reluctant to make bread from scratch, but now I’m hooked! Thank you so much for this recipe. In order to keep the starter in perpetual motion, it’s important to replace the starter quantity used that day with a fresh batch of flour and water (equal amounts, for example 1 cup water and 1 cup flour) with 2 pinches of sugar mixed in. My “baby” likes to nap in the oven with the oven light on time to time. Get a feel for your kitchen. I actually glance at my thermometer and barometer for a quick reading. Experiment, record and see what works best for you. Every kitchen is different; and your kitchen’s atmosphere is different everyday. 😉 Remember: the more time your starter has to sit, the more characteristic the flavor. Lastly, don’t be afraid of that wonderful, powerful odor and layer of brown liquid. This will give you that coveted sourdough taste! Yummy! I’ve been keeping this original going for almost 6 weeks now!
I absolutely love this starter. I have used it to make many loaves of sourdough bread and it works perfectly every time. It’s so easy to make and it keeps in the fridge for a long time. I’ve had mine for at least 6 months! I’m making bread bowls for broccoli cheddar soup next. Yum!
This worked wonderful for me made bread to die for.
I’ve just hit the two-year anniversary with this starter, and I think it’s going to be a long-term relationship. It’s easy to start and very forgiving with its care. I’ll go months with out feeding it, dig it out from the back of the fridge and get reinspired, dump off most of the alcohol, stir it up, feed it, it gets happy, and a day later I have some very yummy bread.