If you are lucky you have a friend that can share some of their sourdough starter with you. You can also purchase one from King Arthur, which I have done in the past. I used to make the most amazing sourdough biscuits with the starter. Recently my daughter made her own sourdough starter and then shared some with me. Making a sourdough starter was much easier than I thought.
Making your own sourdough starter is a week long process and you have to throw away a little of the starter each day. However by day seven you will be able to use the discard to make your own sourdough bread, biscuits or whatever you like!
Day One
Combine 50g flour and 50g water in a clean bowl and stir together until fully combined. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
Day Two
To the sourdough starter add 50g of water and 50g of flour. Stir together until fully combined and then cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
Day Three
Throw away 100g of the starter. To the remaining starter add 100g of flour and 100g of water. Mix together until fully combined, cover and leave overnight.
Day Four
Throw away 150g of the starter. To the remaining starter, add 100g of the starter and 100g of the water, Mix together until combined. Cover and leave overnight. The starter and should have a pleasantly sour smell with small bubbles starting to appear on the surface.
Day Five
Throw away 200g of the starter. To the remaining starter add 150g of flour and 150g of water. Mix well, cover and leave overnight.
Day Six
Throw away 250g of the starter, to the remaining mix add 200g of flour and 200g of water. The starter should be quite active and full of little bubbles and smell slightly sour.
Cover and leave overnight.
Day Seven
The starter should now be quite active, full of bubbles and ready to use. Remove the amount of starter you need for your recipe. Weigh the remaining starter and ad the same weight of flour and the same weight of water to the starter. For example if you have 200g of starter, add 200g of flour and 200g of water to the mix. When working with a starter it is always best to have a smaller amount of starter left behind. I think it stays healthier. Share some with a friend or neighbor and have fun experimenting with the various sourdough recipes.
If you keep your starter at room temperature you will need to refresh it each day. However you can also store your starter in the refrigerator for up to ten days.
Take your starter out of the fridge a day before you plan to bake. Refresh your starter as mentioned in day seven. Leave at room temperature overnight and it will be ready to use the next day.
Friday I will share the Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread I’ve been making. It is a great way to use up your starter!
Nancy on the Home Front 
My Mom used to make sourdough bread when i was a kid…I haven’t delved into making sourdough bread, but I love it. I’ll have to give this a try when I get a chance. Thanks for sharing, Nancy!
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Lisa,
It had been a while since I’d baked with sourdough but my daughter got me back into it! Now we’re trying all sorts of recipes!
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Sounds like so much fun! I bet you are having such a wonderful time seeing your family again!
I would love to have you share your post on Farm Fresh Tuesdays if you have time to stop by! Here is a link, but feel free to delete this if you don’t want a link in your comments…
https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2019/05/farm-fresh-tuesday-blog-hop-week-1.html
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Lisa,
On my way! Thanks for the invite! 🙂
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Of course! Thanks for joining the party!
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Thanks for this article Nancy! I have this on my bucket list to do soon! Thanks for sharing on the Farm Fresh Tuesdays Blog Hop also!
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Tamara,
It’s so much easier than I thought, previously I’d always purchased a starter!
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Nancy, I love making true sourdough bread. So much better than any you can buy at the grocery store. I’ve kept my little batch of starter in a little half-pint jar in the refrigerator (no discarding ever) since 2014. I’ve never made cinnamon bread with it–yours looks lovely! #WonderfulWednesday
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Jean,
The Cinnamon Raisiin Bread is the best way to use up starter! 🙂
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I’m completely new to this idea – in theory, instead of throwing out the amounts, could you just add new to them as well and have a LOT of additional starter made? I hate to waste things. Just don’t know if then I will have way too much starter? I’d have to make sure I have a lot of people that want some.
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Rebecca,
In theory, yes you could just add equal amounts of flour and water and end up with a lot of starter! However you could make a lot of goodies to use up the bulk of it and then end up saving just a little on Day 7. I have also heard of people making a starter using very little in the beginning!
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