Making your own Sourdough Starter is not difficult.
Sometime you need to go through some trial and errors.
Just don't give up!
Sometime everything goes right at the very first try, some others you need to restart from the beginning several times before you succeed.
Note everything you do, this will allow you to identify mistakes.
My aim is to make you baking your first bread in a couple of weeks since you decide to start preparing your own natural yeast.
Let’s start preparing the starter. To start you will need the following:
A clip top preserve jar (capacity 1 Ltr., with an airtight seal).
Cling film.
Very strong white flour about 900 g in total.
Mineral still water about half a litre.
It is important to use a flour that will guarantee you a very active yeast and a non sticky sourdough. I usually use Manitoba (W370, P/L 0,5/0,6).
The following table provides all the ingredients, fermentation times and temperature for preparing the yeast. The procedure is based on 3 steps:
Step 1 is done only once and has the longest waiting time (48 hours); in 2 days the mix of water and flour will start a natural fermentation process.
Step 2 must be repeated 4 times (one every 24 hours). This step will allow the yeasts to start flourishing. After 24 hours your dough should double in size.
Step 3 is repeated twice (every 12 hours). Your yeasts should be now strong enough to double the size of the dough in this timeframe.
Prepare the Starter:
Ingredients | Step1: Prepare the Starter | Step 2: Repeat 4 times | Step 3: Repeat 2 times |
|---|---|---|---|
Very strong white flour | 200g | 100g | 100g |
Water | 100g | 50g | 50g |
Starter | | 100g | 100g |
Temperature | 27/30˚C | 27/30˚C | 27/30˚C |
Rest time | 48hours | 24hours | 12hours |
Mix the ingredients together and work the dough until it has a smooth surface. Place it in the jar and close the jar with a piece of cling film. Make few holes in the film to allow air to circulate.
An important factor to successfully create your natural yeast is the temperature: it must be between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius. If you do not have any place with this temperature, there are few tricks you can follow, the most common one is to use the light of your oven. I will post some idea in another log.
After about one week your yeast is ready, at this point you just need to refresh it weekly (or whenever you need it).
Weekly refresh:
100g Very strong white flour (W360 min)
100g Sourdough Starter
50g Water
Mix the ingredients together until the dough surface is smooth. Put the dough in the jar and close the lid. Leave it at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours before to put it in the refrigerator.
This procedure will give you every week about 250 g of natural yeast. You will use 100 g to maintain it and the rest can be used for baking.
If you need more yeast just adapt the quantities as necessary.
The natural yeast is ready when it double its volume in 4 hours at 27/30°C. It usually takes a few weeks to reach this strength, in case of need you can add 2 or 3 grams of diastatic malt while refreshing it, this will give a small boost to the yeasts. |
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