Sourdough Starter

 

There are ways for you to start your own sourdough starter, but it’s cool to say you got this starter from your sister, who got it from her friend, who had it passed down in her family and goes back hundreds of years. But you could also be the great, great, great so on and so forth grandparent that started this sourdough starter, so you pick your path.

If you know someone that does sourdough, ask if you could have some of their discard (you’ll learn what that means) to have your own starter.

How to take care of your starter:

First, stir the discard. If it’s been sitting in a fridge for a while, it can separate and develop what’s called “hooch” and it’s totally normal. If it looks like a lot, you can pour some out, or you can keep it all, it’ll just give it a more sour flavor. So stir your discard, mixing in that hooch.

Now you’ll feed your starter. Be sure there is room in your container/jar for your starter to at least double in size! There are a few different ratios with feeding your starter if you want to get all technical and fancy, but I just add about 3/4C flour and 1/2C filtered water. I do less water to make a thicker starter. Stir it in well, loosely cover with a lid to allow air to escape, and let it ferment on your counter for about 7 hours. It should be bubbly like you see in the top picture. It is now active! You can use it in recipes that call for “active” or “peaked” starter. Or you can pour some into another jar (or throw away 😢) to save for another time and is now considered “discard”. There are lots of recipes that call for discard!

Now with your remaining starter in your original container/jar, you can keep feeding it every 7 hours or so as per instructions, or you can store it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. You’ll just need to plan in advance to activate it again since it’ll be stored in an “inactive” or “discard” state. If you’re storing it in your fridge, keep it covered to prevent any contaminants from getting inside. Your lid can be loose or tight if in the fridge since it won’t be fermenting.

If you’re wanting to make your own starter from scratch, I’ve liked Rosehill Sourdough’s website, so you can refer to their recipe here.