Make Your Own Sourdough Starter
If you’re feeling a bit adventurous, you may want to try creating your own sourdough starter from scratch. Baking bread from scratch is satisfying in its own right, but when you’ve also had a hand in the creation of one of the most fundamental components, the leavening agent itself, you’ll feel an even greater satisfaction and connectedness to the process.
Are there kids in your house? This little science project is ideally suited to sharing with any children you can convince to join in. Culture their budding scientific minds while creating your own bread culture.
This video outlines one simple method that worked for me the first time I tried it. In the video, I give credit for this technique to Peter Reinhart. It has since come to my attention that Debra Wink, a chemist and accomplished baker, is the mastermind and author of this Pineapple Juice Technique. A lot of research and testing went into developing and refining the technique. The choice of pineapple juice over other juices is from much trial and error. Debra was kind enough to email her essay on the Pineapple Juice Technique. Click here for a printable copy of it.
As I mention in the video, the wild yeast spores and lactic-acid bacteria that give your starter its leaving properties are all around you. You are simply creating the conditions ideally suited for them to thrive and multiply. I used whole wheat flour in this recipe because fresh whole wheat flour may harbor greater numbers of yeast spores than ordinary all-purpose flour and so increase your likelihood for success. It worked for me, so you might try the same. If, at any time, you wish to transition your whole wheat sourdough starter to a regular white flour starter, it’s super easy to do so.
I’ve listed the ingredients and approximate steps here to save you the note taking.
- Step 1. Mix 3 ½ tbs. whole wheat flour with ¼ cup unsweetened pineapple juice. Cover and set aside for 48 hours at room temperature. Stir vigorously 2-3x/day. (“Unsweetened” in this case simply means no extra sugar added).
- Step 2. Add to the above 2 tbs. whole wheat flour and 2 tbs. pineapple juice. Cover and set aside for a day or two. Stir vigorously 2-3x/day. You should see some activity of fermentation within 48 hours. If you don’t, you may want to toss this and start over (or go buy some!)
- Step 3. Add to the above 5 ¼ tbs. whole wheat flour and 3 tbs. purified water. Cover and set aside for 24 hours.
- Step 4. Add ½ cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 to 1/3 cup purified water. You should have a very healthy sourdough starter by now.
Notes: I do wonder if the fact that I bake all the time with a sourdough starter (and so theoretically have wild yeast floating around our house by the gazillions and covering everything we own) would increase the likelihood that I would have success creating my own sourdough culture from scratch. So I anxiously await feedback from anyone who attempts this process at home. (You’ll see a nifty little form below for comments and feedback. If you’re shy; you can use the Contact link at the top of the page. While I may report your (mis)adventures, I’ll keep your identity anonymous. 
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Greetings. I really appreciate this site and this article. I wonder, however, has anyone tried starting a sourdough culture with non-wheat flours — like oat or tapioca? Thanks for any insight!
I am having trouble getting my bread to leven. I live at 5800 ft in altitude. I have watched all your videos and have hade a lot of success with yeast as a levener. keep my starter thick as reccommended. HELP! My husband is from San Fran and loves the flavor, I just want fluffier bread.
Hi Ben.
I’d have thought 2 days in the fridge would help a lot. I’m not sure what to suggest.Controlling the degree of sour sure seems like one of the most challenging aspects of sourdough baking. Some people “cheat” with a pinch of ascorbic acid (vitamin c) in the their dough. Hopefully someone else will chime in here with some ideas.
Hi Eric
Well I think my starter is about a month old now, I have made some nice loaf’s. Tonight I bake one that was in the frig for 2 days was looking to get that zing of the sour bite, it only had a small hint of sour still, its a white flour starter and I did dry it up some like you suggested. is there any more secrets to getting it really sour ?????? picture is from tonighs loaf.
HI, just wanted to let you know that I used your recipe for sour dough starter last week. My friend in Germany sent me her bread recipe and it called for starter but I could not find any for sale. I went on line and found you. Even though it took about 5 days to make it up, it was absolutely worth it! I even gave away some starter already!
To make the starter, I used some whole wheat and some rye flour because that’s what I had and it worked wonderfully. The German recipe used both rye and spelt, along with a whole lot of nuts and seeds and it turned out fabulously! I’m anxious to try some of the recipes you have posted on the site now.
Thanks for doing this and best wishes as you continue to share so generously!
Sincerely, Michele
I tried this method after a failed attempt with another recipe (casualty to that bacteria mentioned?). It worked perfectly! I wasn’t able to save any, so I started a 2nd batch tonight
I had a great starter but got buzy with sons homecoming and forgot about it look at it tonight and it had a dark gray liquid on top and it smelled like a bad potatoe, can it be saved?
And here’s a pic after I stir it. The colour look pretty much the way it should be do you think?
Should I transfer it to the fridge for the next 24 hours?
It doesnt smell bad. Just a little fermention smell, a little whole meal wheat smell, and a hint of pineapple
Hi Dave, thank you for responding. No, the colour didnt turn
Colour is the same as when i first made it except there’s some hooch starting to form in between the paste. Here’s a picture before I stir for the 3rd time today.
Christina, If it is turning colors, THROW IT OUT! your starter has gone bad. You’re in a warmer climate, so maybe trying a cooler place in your house, a basementm or you may have to even go as far as using the refrig. to slowly develope your starter. I promise you though, that once you get it started you’ll be off and going making great bread.
Hi Eric, I have only started bread baking 2 weeks ago and so far all the yeast and soda bread turns out well. So I embarked on this starter 48 hrs ago.
At the end of Step 1 (48 hrs) my starter already has quite a bit of activity, a little more than your 96 hrs result. Tried smelling it; it smells like a mixture of sour, fermentation, wheat, n pineapple juice (Not that I know how a bad starter is suppose to smell like LOL). No pink or dark brown colour.
I just went to give it a stir, I am now into the 58 hrs and the starter has double in size, a bit like your end of step 3.
Is my starter fast forwarding? Is it because I am located in Malaysia? We are very hot and humid here. Kitchen temperature is around 25-27C I would think. Outside temperature ranges between 28 – 35C.
Question is, what do I do now? Do I still wait for the 96 hrs before feeding it again? I made 2 lots just to in case i need a back up. Both are showing the exact same progress.
Hi Eric and Denyce;
That was a awesome read; I just finished it now
Who would have thought that the water and flour paste that we all used in kinder-garden school to paste paper to paper could be so active if stored for two days. Just Kidding. I have to say that that read was well worth the hour, as I feel that I a even better understanding of the life-cycle and survival of the fittest needs required by our friend Yeast.
I discovered your web site Sunday Night and here it is Wednesday and
my kitchen smells like bread and beer, from all the little batches that I have created… Muuu ah ahh ahh
Again Special Thanks
The bacterias are called Leuconostoc dextranicum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. There’s more info in the document you can download from the link found in the text above.
Yes, and I was asking for a sample picture or the details of that that particular strain of harmful bacteria looked like? Even a link or the name spelled out would help me with knowing that I am not going to die… LOL
Ah, right, that was about using pineapple juice to get a starter going so that a particular strain of harmful bacteria won’t survive. Apparently this bacteria can rear its head about 40% of the time.
Oh,, in the video you mentioned 40% around where you said that name of the BAD bacteria that I can not pronounce or spell.
That said, Thank you for your prompt reply, and for the added details and for your time. I have a much better understanding now.
Hi Edoctor.
I’m looking for where a reference to a “bad” culture and “that can happen 40% of the time” was made, but can’t find anything. I don’t know what percentage of attempts to make sourdough starter from scratch are successful on the first attempt. I know it’s not 100% so sometimes one has to try more than once.
It’s definitely not true that starter has to double in an hour as a sign of it being a good one. How much it rises and how fast it rises is largely a function of the starter’s health to begin with, how much and how often it’s fed and the temperature. A healthy starter can double in an hour or it can take much longer.
Hooch is alcohol that forms when a starter typically isn’t so healthy so I’m not sure smelling like hooch is a very good indicator of good starter. Or like beer. I don’t know how to describe the smell of a healthy culture. Like everything, there’s a range of smells that I like.
CO2 is Carbon Dioxide, the gas that’s produced during fermentation that creates the bubbles in starter and the rise in bread dough.
I hope this helps clarify things a little. I’m sure others can add and improve on it.
I noticed that you said something about a bad culture.
That could happen 40% of the time; and I was wondering if you could make a bad culture on purpose, or ask people to post links to a bad culture so that we can know what a bad culture looks like. Or, add in your video a detail so that we can be certain that our culture isn’t bad..
Currently, I am assuming that if it doesn’t nearly Double in size one hour after
the feeding that the culture is bad.. ;however, if it smells like beer or hooch that it is good. BTW My first batch worked perfect and I only made it 48 hours ago, and it already shows signs of bubbling and smells like beer or CO2.
Question: Do you know the words that CO2 means? Special thanks,
I can not express how much I appreciate your very clear and concise web site.
Rebecca, Let’s face it, your starter has become a “snowbird” and is now vacationing in Florida for the winter.
Down here I have the problem of my pre-ferments going wildly active. Once I use some, I don’t replace it with an equal amout; otherwise, I may walk into my kitchen and find the thing taking over. I feed it in small amounts and usually 1 x/ day and I have a very active starter that has great leavening power. Now, I don’t know if it is just me, but doing it this way seems to product a bread with a rich sourdough flavor which I prefer. I agree. divide your starter into smaller ‘seed’ starters/cultures and feed them–try adding a little malt syrup (actually a pinch of regular sugar works just as well) to one of the and see what happens–the yeast love the stuff and usually take off. Also, not wanting to state the obvious, but have you tried moving your starter to a warmer spot in your house since the weather has gotten cooler? I know I’ve ‘experimented” and failed only to realize I didn’t see the obvious. And, I don’t know how long you’ve had your starter going OR if this is just an old wives’ tale; but I’ve heard that if you jump start your starter with a little commercial yeast when you just begin, that it reaches a point where the commercial yeast begins to die down (ie., less or slower rise) and the wild yeast begin to overpower theother yeast and establish an environment that is more suitable to the wild yeast culture (ie., a wild/natural local yeast culture for your baking pleasures)–just something I heard; if anybody has any info. either way I’d appreciate it. And one last thing, I keep a sample of my established starter in the freezer so just in case mine goes belly up by some unforeseen event I can jump right back into my bread baking (and sometimes a peice of homemade bread is so comforting if something has gone array. Best of baking to everyone!
Hi Rebecca,
It’s unlikely that your starter just up and died on you. Colder weather changes things a lot. I suggest taking a small portion of your starter, maybe a 1/2 cup or so and feed it 1 cup of flour and 2/3 cup of water in its own container. Give it several (to many) hours to show signs of rising and getting poofy again.
We’ve had a cold spell here in Iowa too. Yesterday morning I fed my starter as usual and by noon, almost nothing had happened. On a normal warm summer day, it would have gone ballistic by then. It wasn’t until mid to late afternoon that it had risen significantly.
One thing you have to be a little bit alert to also is that your starter can rise and fall back down again and if you’re not around to see that you might think nothing has happened. That’s only an issue if you’re away from it for quite a while but good to know it can happen.
Something has happened to my starter! I have been using a starter that I’d made by following the pinapple juice instructions all summer long. It’s been making perfect bread and has been very robust. But suddenly, since the cold weather hit here in Michigan, it seems to have died! I feed it and it just sits – no fluffing up at all, maybe a couple bubbles – and the last loaf I made with it was pancake bread. I’m very upset. Any idea what might have happened??
I had the same thing happen as “L” below. I saw a feew bubbles yesterday but not many. How can I reactivate a robust culture? Few bubbles mostly hooch
Very impressive bread Holly! So far all of my sourdough breads have looked like amoebas, although they taste superb.
Very nice, Holly. Congratulations!
I just wanted to thank you for your instructional videos. I am a total novice to bread making but after watching your videos I was able to make my very own sourdough starter and use that to make delicious spelt bread! My first attempt at baking the bread was a flop because I only had a metal loaf pan and at 450 deg, the crust was scorched and completely stuck to the pan. Undeterred, I attempted it a second time only I baked it at 400 deg and heavily greased/floured the pan. I also covered it with foil about halfway through and then removed it for the last 5 minutes or so.
It turned out beautifully
I feel like a proud parent and must post a photo. Thanks again!
Hello, I am completely new to making starter and I am confused about how you are supposed to cover the container. I see that you are using a plastic container and putting the lid on it but are you sealing it completely? Some other recipes call for a towel over a bowl to allow yeasts in the air to get in which won’t happen if the container is sealed all the way. But there are wild yeasts already in the flour, so it shouldn’t matter how it’s covered, right? I’m confused! Thanks
Hi Holly,
I’m not sealing it completely so the gasses from fermentation can escape. So just allow a little air flow.
L, have you been feeding the startrer with more water and flour? where have you been keeping it? Although, after 3 weeks, I would have expected something to happen. I’d say, start over after doing some homework about starters. good luck
I have a sourdough starter from another recipe. I started it with a cup of white flour and a cup of water. This was three weeks ago. It smells yeasty and gets a watery brown film on it, but it has never bubbled. Should I toss it?
Following instructions almost exactly, my sourdough starter is almost done and seems successful. You might try covering the bowl with cheese cloth in the early stages since you are trying to get airborne particulates into the mix and only keeping out larger critters. That’s how I did it and it was successful.
Madalynn,
Thank you for the time. I didn’t know that hard crust was the goal in bread. I just saw two at the second hand store. I’ll give it a try.
The proofing basket is for controlling the shape of your loaf as it proofs. I don’t use one, though at times I wish I had one. I just don’t have room to store it. So I’ve improvised. You could let it proof freeform on the counter but that only works for doughs that hold their shape. The No-Knead doughs tend to be wetter so you want to proof it in something that is easy to get into your baking pan without mangling the shape. I’ve tried lining a bowl with a towel, but its a little tricky getting it into the oven without deflating it. My most foolproof way is to proof it in a parchment lined Romertopf or a parchment lined loaf pan that is the same size as my Romertopf. Then I can lift it in the parchment into the clay baker.
A clay or ceramic baker with a lid is for crusty breads. They are great. I have a second-hand La Cloche someone gave me and Romertopf clay bakers. I recently bought a second one so I could bake two loafs at time. The La Cloche and the Romertopf react to temperatures a little differently so putting a La Cloche and a Romertopf on the same rack wasn’t ideal so I got a second Romertopf. A dutch oven works too. I used that before I got a La Cloche and my Romertopfs. If you want crusty bread, you have to try it to believe it. It seems counter intuitive to me but I would not bake my rye breads any other way now.
So, why does one need the ceramic bread pan with a lid? What does it do? The proofing basket, why? Why not just in a bowl or on the counter?
Thanks for the answers.
I just thought I’d post an update. the starter I got going which I posted on below has died a horrible death. I refrigerated it only a few days after it got going, because I had to do some traveling, and it was starting to poop out on me. Then i accidentally left the whole thing in the oven on the warm setting and it was too hot. Killed it deader than a doornail. I tried again just with a few tablespoons of white flour, equal amount of water, and I through in some wild grapes that are growing outside to see if the yeast from the skins would do anything. I am traveling a lot now for work, so after day 2 when I pulled the grapes out I pretty much did nothing to it for five days. Just a note that I was careful not to crush the grapes, and cut them from the stem in a way not to rupture them. So I had no juice in the flour. Anyway, on about day 5 i noticed that the liquid that was separated was turning dark and smelled like the hooch you get on sourdough, so I added more flour and water. On day 6 it was bubbling with yeast growth. This starter has a definite character to it that’s different than my last one, and different from the Oregon Trail one I used to work with. I have no idea if the yeast from the wild grapes contributed yeast to this or not. I’ve made two loaves of bread with it so far, now that it’s about 2 weeks old and it’s doing pretty well. I started a loaf last night and let it proof in the oven overnight before baking it today. It has a very nice sour tang to it. Tonight I’m making pizza. Eric, this starter has an interesting aroma when it’s “ripe” and if your interested I’d like to send a sample to you to see what you think about it. I don’t want to say what I think of the aroma just in case it would influence your impression.
Hey ppls btw-
I came up with a recipe for homemade doggie treats using the bread starter from white flour. Is anyone interested in it?
Has anyone else noticed or is it just me here, that the bread starter seems to have some kind of a culture similar to yogurt as far as it’s effect on the gut systems? I am a person that has stomach and gut issues commonly- it’s common for things not to be quite right. When I eat bread made with the bread starter it seems to really calm my gut down and make things behave the way they should. Nothing bought at the store (food wise) does this for me…its very distinct in my case.
Erez,
Unless you were cooking with store yeast when you had the mixture sitting out or unless you live close to a yeast plant I don’t think you have much to worry about. Wild yeast is in the air because it is being made all around us constantly, it is also delivered via the flour as it is on the grains before they are processed….industrial yeast is not and is not likely to be floating around.
Additionally, even if you started with store yeast entirely, soon it would be taken over by wild yeast that floats in the air or the wild yeast in the flour you add as the wild yeast is stronger I’ve read. In effect, you can’t hardly avoid getting wild yeast even if you tried.
And if you move? Your current starter will be taken over by whatever yeast prevails in the new area you live and you can’t stop that either.
And yes there are tests. You could take a sample to a lab (at, I’m sure, an insane fee) and they could identify for you exactly what yeast types you have in there. But really, it’s working, apparently well, why mess with it and why worry about it? If you need to worry about something there is always world hunger, whales being killed in the arctic and dolphins being killed in alot of places…trust me, this, in particular, is not a thing you need to worry about.
Hi Erez. Your starter has to be wild yeast based or it wouldn’t continue to leaven your bread time after time. Commercial yeast won’t perpetuate itself indefinitely.
To Vlad. Yes, I just maintain the approximate same consistency of my starter by adding equal weights of flour and water with each feeding.
My pineapple starter is now 2 months old. I have made several loaves most of them using the ‘No Knead’ method. I am getting better and adopted the recipe to fit our taste. I became a bit paranoid recently and started to ask myself whether my starter is really contains Wild Yeasts or it caught Dry Industrial Yeasts from my kitchen. Is there any way to test it? How can I be sure? I just can say that when I started the Starter process I sterilized the bowl and spoon as well as used a brand new flour pack. Any idea…. Thanks in advance.
P.S. Enjoy the picture of my recent sourdough loaf.
Eric,
Thank you for making this video. This is the second time I am attempting to make the sourdough starter from scratch. The first time around I “boosted” my starter with instant yest… I have read that this is not what I am suppose to do, fortunately my starter was thrown out by mistake. So here I am making my starter from the scratch again….
It has been more than seven days since I have started. However the starter is no where near to be as active as the one in your video. The recipe I followed says to discard half of my “batter” while replenishing it with equal amounts(by weight) of flour and water. I see plenty of bubbles it it smells quiet sour however it is nowhere near to the texture of the starter in the video.
If I understood correctly with each time you added less and less water- just enough to keep it at certain consistency?
I like your recipe since you start gradually without throwing away any starter. I have wasted enough flower by now to bake at least 2 or 3 loafs of bread.
Remarkable! I used the pineapple juice method to create a spelt based starter in a kitchen in Scottsdale, Arizona, that hasn’t seen yeast (at least store bought
in many years. I saw activity in the base within a couple days, followed the directions completely, and then put the starter into the fridge last week. I mixed the first batch of dough last night and baked it this afternoon. Wow — great crust and texture, and it even tastes like proper sourdough! Now I just need to find a better vessel in which to bake the next loaf.
This is the best web site for home bread makers.
I used your directions along with Peter Reingart’s, for making my sourdough starter and it came out great. I was buying the starter from King Arthur but I feel this method if much more satisfying.
Thanks for everything,
Paul
Hi Ben,
Looking good. The quantity isn’t so much an issue as just giving it at least a few more days of at least daily feeding for it to “get its legs”. When you go to bake with it, after you use whatever quantity the recipe calls for, you just need some left over to feed for the next time you bake with it.
It looks like your starter is pretty runny. I would stiffen it up by adding flour until it’s more like a very wet dough than a liquid. After it’s risen well, you can easily maintain that consistency by feeding with equal weights of flour and water. Since it doesn’t take long to build up a huge quantity of starter, you may have to dispose of some so when you double it with each feeding you don’t end up with a house full of starter.
Well made my first batch of white flour starter ever, followed all the steps was kinda woundering at end step 2 if it was working saw small bubbles and thought it was from all the stiring and proceded to step 3 when I got up this morning I saw bubbles forming forgot about it til I saw it in the kitchen at the 24-1/2 hr mark, and WOW it looked like it was on steroids !!!! went right to step 4 ———- how much more should I make til I try it.
ps: picture is at the 24- 1/2 hr end of step 3
Hi Barb and Jena,
I’ve never tried it with these flours, but there’s no reason I can think of why it couldn’t work. Yeast is everywhere and a mixture of some of these gluten free flours and water would provide a food source for it.
I don’t know if wheat harbors more yeast than quinoa, teff or amaranth, for example, but in case it doesn’t you could also mix it some grape skins, potato skins, or whatever people use to spike their flours with yeast to get a starter going.
I’m guessing the bigger challenge would be knowing when you’ve got a successful starter going and how best to care for it. It could be easy, for all I know. Or not. Hopefully someone who knows will respond to your inquiry or maybe there’s something on it at http://www.thefreshloaf.com or elsewhere on the net.
If you find out, I hope you’ll update us here.
Good question Barb! I was wondering the SAME thing today!
Hiya! I was wondering if this technique would work with quinoa, teff or amaranth flours?? I have a son with gluten issues, and a friend of mine suggested using the old fashion method of leavening for my breads….as the standard gluten free bread recipes are not very good and he won’t eat them due to the texture….I am new at this, and would welcome any advice.
Thanks for listening!
Barb,
I have found that when I put my starter on top of the stove directly under the range top light on the low light setting, with bowl covered, that seems to be the perfect temperature to stimulate activity with the yeast. Give it a try but watch it closely since you may have a higher wattage bulb. Let me know if it works for you. One other question, after leaving the pineapple starter out for seven days, how often and how much flour/water do you feed it daily? Please let me know.
P.S. I find, sourness is a factor of the recipe and your proofing, not really the kind of flour you use. I find my breads are sourer just like San Francisco sourdough in the summer with the warmer proofing temps.
I started my starter in December 2009 with white bread flour. I have been making rye bread using the Almost No-Knead recipe on regular basis. I feed my starter with rye, but often times after I’ve formed a loaf and have extra white flour I toss that in too. Basically most whole-wheat and rye recipes call for some white flour. Anyway, works for me!
Is it possible to make a good sourdough starter with both whole wheat and white bread flour in it? I tried and it looks nice and bubbly puffy but I am wondering if the culture is just good for whole wheat or just for white, really.
Thanks for the sour dough starter recipe. I tried making a sour dough starter from scratch last summer and it flopped horribly so I stopped trying. I recently acquired a sour dough starter from a friend who had stayed at a B&B in Homer, AK. She’d had it for a couple weeks and didn’t know what to do with it and asked me if I was interested. I jumped at the chance to have a crack at a starter that had come over the Chilkoot Pass in 1898 (ironically, I had hiked this particular old gold miner’s route last summer. I was excited to have a piece of history.) It looked dead when I got it and smelled particularly bad, so I called the lady from the B&B to see if it was still OK. She told me to go for it and she was really excited that I was going to give a whirl.
Well, the pancakes turned out awesome, and I’m not even a fan of sourdough pancakes. My old starter is now very healthy looking and smelling.
I was still a little upset that I had failed at making a starter from scratch, so I wanted to try you recipe. What a difference! I two (one white, and one wheat) beautiful, healthy starters from scratch after just five days. I tried for several weeks last time. I was worried that they wouldn’t develop since we have had a very cool summer here in Alaska, but it wasn’t a problem. Now I have several science projects in my fridge and I have tried them all with success on three different bread recipes from this site. And of course, the pancake recipe from the old Chilkoot Trail.
One thing… I am hoping to try the pizza dough next, but I couldn’t find the link to the all wheat recipe. Perhaps it has been too long since that post. Does anybody have a recipe that they have tried?
I just want to say thanks to Eric for my recent success with sourdough starter and bread. This is a great website. Any chance for a pumpernickel recipe?
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