Starting The Starter

Last revised: 03-Feb-08

Now, before we begin the mechanics of how to start the starter, let me lay out a couple of qualifying restrictions: DO NOT, try to make or start your own starter from scratch! Doing that is akin to setting your grape juice out in the open, hoping that a proper wine yeast spore will fall into it. Or leaving your wound open to the air, hoping that a penicillin spore will find it attractive. Yes, these are all possible outcomes. But they are highly unlikely! ALL of the schemes that you read about for starting your own culture are a fool's errand! If you don't know someone that has a good working culture, spend the couple of bucks and buy a package of culture from some reputable vendor, there are many...

Also, these busy little guys are much like us. Separate them and raise them one particular way, and over time they'll change. There are literally hundreds of different strains. Some of the best known are the San Francisco variety brought out by the gold rush folks. The Yukon variety, and several mid-east, African, Australian, Russian, and other varieties. They all differ in some way. Each has some feature or attribute that the user wants. Whichever one you get first will probably become your favorite. If someone else has a strain you like better, change. But don't mix them. That's usually the kiss-of-death for both. And yes, there are folks out there who can tell which strain was used in the same way I can divine and catalog fine wines. To most of us the differences, if you can't taste or see them, are genetic and not all that important.

First; the container. You need a container for holding your starter. Most anything will do, but not something metal. Stoneware, a crock, glass, or plastic is fine. I use a pint sized rubber-ring sealed glass "snap-top" kind of container, like the kind that's usually found on counters full of noodles or something.

Second; the water. All the starter SHOULD EVER GET FED, is water and flour! The flour is whatever you've got (but I recommend that you use UNBLEACHED "All Purpose" flour). In addition, the water is very important. I recommend against tap water. To be sure, this depends on your water. If you have "city water", remember that they put chlorine in it to kill little things growing in the water. Depending on the level and strength of that processing, that may well include your sourdough "critters." If you have well water, you probably don't have that issue--but be sure to consider the iron and other naturally occurring chemicals and minerals that might be in it. Again, depending on what you have, it might be okay. I'd recommend using filtered and/or bottled water if you're not sure. Again, it depends on your situation. Just take care that you don't inadvertently poison your little guys. Treat them well, and they'll give you years of service...

Third; your tools and utensils. Some folks get all stressed out about using anything metal on our little workers. I checked. They're blind! They can't tell if you're using a metal or wooden spoon. So don't let the piously ignorantly among us get you in a lather about using only wooden spoons and so on. Use your head! Don't put your culture in a metal container. Over time the metal will leach out and will almost certainly kill 'em. But a few moments under the gentle ministrations of your metal spoon or whisk isn't going to do squat!

Fourth; temperature. Your sourdough beasties are actually little bacteria sized fungus (plants). They don't much care about anything except a diet of carbohydrates and enough moisture to keep their surfaces wet. If they get too hot, they die. If they get too cold, they quit working. But between about 35 and 100F, they'll do quite well. If it's cool, they're slower. If it's hot, they're much faster. But other then that, if you're comfortable, they probably are too. If they get too dry, they simply go into suspension--and will probably last for centuries. Also, note that these guys are not specifically bred "domestic" yeasts. They will NEVER be as fast and uniform as their commercial brethren. So be patient when using them. Don't equate 45 min to an hour of rising time for store-bought yeast as suitable for them. They will almost surely take longer. 3-4 times longer--perhaps more. Unlike commercial yeast, they don't really like or need to be kept warm to work. They'll do just fine--albeit a bit slower--at room temperatures; cellar, even. I do not recommend warming them too much near an oven, or through the use of an oven light. If it's cool where and when you're using 'em, then fine--add some mild heat. But normally they don't need it. I recommend temps in the low to mid-70's for most purposes...

Fifth; time and interval. A new culture should be exercised daily for a month or so for best results. You can use it right away, but the results won't be as good. If you keep 'em out, at or just above room temp, you've got to feed 'em at least every other day or two. If you refrigerate 'em, then every 2-weeks to a month is okay. Let 'em go too long, and just like an unfed goldfish, they'll die and end up floating around belly up and stinking the place to high-heaven. I usually work a new culture every 2-3 days for a month. Then I put 'em in the 'fridge making sure to trot 'em out no less than once a month or so--although I've heard folks say that they can live for 6-months or more like that...

Sixth; general care. The ONLY formula you need to remember is that you mix the flour and water about 1:1 by weight. That should be easy enough for even the densest hard case to remember. Close is good enough. About a slightly rounded container of flour is mixed with a 3/4 container of water (where "container" is any convenient, handy sized unit of measure). If that turns out to be too moist for you, cut down the water or increase the flour. If contrary, then add water and decrease the flour. Start with 1:1, change that as you gain experience and begin to form your own standards. The old-timers would mix up their "traveling hooch" so that it was nearly dry. It made it easier to transport and carry, and would last for weeks. Then they'd get it back to "normal" when they were done moving. In normal usage, the consistency should be about the same as school kid's paste or thick pancake batter.

I keep mine a bit thinner, since I use it directly (and often). Think about it, many recipes call for: a cup of starter, a cup of flour, and a cup of water. I just use 2-cups of the starter sponge. Use it as you wish. There are no real hard, fast, rules. Just take care not to kill it (by neglect or letting it get too hot (> 100F)), and it'll serve you well...

Starting the starter:
If you've purchased a commercial package, it should have instructions--follow them.

If you've gotten a bit of starter from a friend, then;

Measure out your water. Anywhere from a 1/4 or more is okay (depends on the size of your container).
Add the dried or wet starter, mix/stir until thoroughly dispersed.
Add an amount of flour roughly equal to the amount of water you used. If the starter ball is large and/or dry, add more water. Stir well. Congratulations, you've made your starter.
Put this "sponge" in a warmish, draft-free, darkish place.
Each day, mix the sponge and add several tablespoons of flour and water in roughly equal proportions.
If you forget a day, don't sweat it. If you add to it 6-days in a row, don't sweat that either. As long as they don't die, all is well.
If your container gets too full, dump some out to make more room. Using the excess to make pancakes or waffles is usually a welcome side-trip. For simplicity, I dump out everything but about 1/4 cup. Then I add a cup, each, of flour & water.
After a few weeks or if/when your starter starts to make a nice "head" of bubbles and foam, then you're about ready to go. At that point, mix up a cup each of flour and water, and add in 1/4 cup or so of the existing starter sponge. Discard or use the rest. You should now be fully ready to use your starter in any way you like.
Store in a cool place, and "service" it every 3-5 days or so. In a warmer place, then every day or every other day or so. Keep it in the fridge, then you'll only need to refresh the mix every month or so...

If you refrigerate it, remember to always take it out and let it assume room temperature before you use it. You can feed it cold, but you should wait for it to proof and assume room temp before you use it.

I usually rescue it from the depths of my fridge in the evening. I dump in a cup each of water and flour, mix it with my metal whisk, and leave it in the oven with the light on overnight. By morning, it smells wonderful, and the pancakes or waffles aren't far away... If I'm going to make bread, I let it sit out until afternoon, and then I use it. I save about a half cup of what I make and shuffle that back into the icebox for next time... Sometimes I forget and it goes for months hiding in the back of the fridge. Other times it gets trotted out nearly every other day.

Enjoy it! And don't stress over it. It ain't worth the effort...

Starting your own starter from scratch. Before you get into this, I very, very, very strongly suggest that you learn to work with a known SD culture and use the text placed above. I DO NOT recommend that beginners start by making their own starter. "Home grown" starters can run the gamut from worthless, through too active or too effective, in and out of no taste to bad tasting, and in some cases possibly dangerous. Unless and until you understand what sourdough is and how to care for it, I RECOMMEND AGAINST trying to grow your own!

However, that having been said, it is possible to make a good working sourdough culture "from scratch". Most of the best SD aficionados do that. They make is sound simple, easy, and a "no-brainer" step-by-step process. The part they leave out is that they do this from the lofty perch of probably decades of experience.

Here's how to hunt down a wild sourdough starter.

Dusty