Yeast Starter- Day One

I made some sourdough starter today. It’s an easy, natural starter for making regular or sourdough bread. It’s more accurate to call it a “natural yeast starter” as it doesn’t actually have to be sour.

Make your own natural yeast starter for regular or sourdough bread

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Here’s what you need:

Bottled Water

Flour

Bowl

Way to measure (THIS SCALE works great!)

Make your own yeast starter for regular and sourdough bread

So first, I ground my wheat. You can use any kind of flour you like for this, I chose wheat because it has more nutrients for the natural yeast to feed off than white. You could also use rye, pumpernickel, etc. Or a mix. I think when I feed it I’m going to do a combo of white and wheat.

Then you use a non-reactive container – glass, food-grade plastic. I put the container on my kitchen scale and zeroed it out. Then I measured 100g of flour. You can use any amount you want, you just need to keep the water/flour ratio 1:1. I’ve found recipes that call for anywhere from 1/4 cup to 4 cups (approx). I used under 1 cup – 1 cup of flour should weigh 120g.

Then I zeroed out the scale again, and added the same amount of water. Using tap water is NOT recommended, as any chlorine or fluoride in the water can inhibit the yeast growth. If the tap water doesn’t have added fluoride, but does have chlorine, you can let the water sit out overnight to allow the chlorine to evaporate.

Then I stirred it all together. You don’t need a spoon, hands work fine, but I had a little helper so I decided a spoon wouldn’t be a bad idea. Mine looks pretty thick compared to a lot of them, because whole wheat is much thirstier than plain AP flour. It might be runny, gummy, even the same consistency as fully-made bread dough. It really doesn’t matter. (so don’t panic)

Then cover it with plastic wrap. I found a place that says it’s unlucky if you don’t name your starter, as it’s a living, growing thing, so my kids named it and we gave it a name tag.

Then you leave it somewhere warm and let it start to work. I’ll keep taking pics and let you know how it goes…..

Note: Some people do their start using pineapple juice instead of water, or add grapes into it, etc. to get the natural yeast started from the fruit. It isn’t necessary, although it does work well.

What comes next? You can read the whole series here.