Easy sourdough starter recipe from scratch! Learn how to make a sourdough starter at home step-by-step, including tips for feeding homemade yeast starter, storing the starter, and troubleshooting your starter for baking homemade bread or other baked goods for food prepping.
Tips On How To Make An Easy Sourdough Starter Recipe for Beginners
Making a sourdough starter, especially for the first time, can be intimidating.
I think it’s because it’s a multi-step yeast process for starters and it seems like it’s a lot. This is
just the normal sourdough starter feeding and maintenance phases.
But, a few minutes a day will help you start a healthy yeast for baking. Once you get past the initial days of steps, you will have a starter that you can keep in the refrigerator and will then only have to feed once a week after.
So the process may seem difficult, but it’s not. It just seems time-consuming when you create yeast for the first time.
My no-yeast sourdough starter recipe is perfect for beginners and you may be surprised that it only uses two ingredients — flour and water.
IMPORTANT RECIPE TIP: YOU MUST USE WATER WITHOUT CHLORINE FOR YOUR SOURDOUGH STARTER TO BE SUCCESSFUL. The chlorine will make the starter die off. That means you can't use unfiltered tap water, especially if you're on city water. Use filtered water or bottled water instead.
Why use a sourdough starter?
Making your own yeast — like a sourdough starter — can be a game-changer for self-sufficiency, especially during hard times when store shelves are empty (and all those yeast packets are gone), or budgets are tight. (Those mini yeast packets can be expensive and it seems like bread is getting more and more expensive every time I go to the grocery store.)
With just flour and water, you can grow wild yeast at home and use it to bake everything from bread to pancakes to crackers (and so much more!) without relying on commercial yeast.
This frugal pantry cooking skill will help stretch your ingredients.
It will also keep you baking even when grocery supplies are low or grocery prices are high when money is tight.
DID YOU KNOW? You can dry your sourdough starter (dehydrate the starter and the rehydrate the sourdough starter when you're ready to use it!
What can you make with sourdough starter?
The most common use for sourdough starter is baking sourdough bread.
However, there are so many other things you can do with sourdough starters like:
- Make discard recipes – pancakes, waffles, muffins, biscuits, crackers, and even cookies
- Thicken and flavor – add to soups or stews for thickening
- Dough – for pizza crust, flatbreads, bagels, or pretzels
- & MORE
How To Make A Sourdough Starter Step-By-Step Free Printable Recipe Card
This is a vintage sourdough starter recipe, aka: how my grandmas made yeast in the “old days” and baked their own bread.
SOURDOUGH STARTER TIP: Place your sourdough starter in a jar and then place two rubber bands on the jar at the top line of the starter. When it rises during the feeding and maintenance phase, raise the top rubber band to the most recent line (leaving the first rubber band in place). That way you will be able to see how much your yeast is rising and if it's doubling.
- RECIPE NOTE: We discuss getting rid of the sourdough discards in these recipe steps. However, you can also give them to a friend as a starter or there are plenty of sourdough discard recipes out there, too!
I recommend that you read completely through the recipe before starting. Since this is a multi-day recipe process, you’ll want to fully understand it.
Best Sourdough Starter Recipe
Equipment
- clean glass jars with lids
- 2 rubber bands optional
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour
- filtered tap water or bottled water
Instructions
DAY 1: CREATING THE SOURDOUGH STARTER
- In a glass jar, combine 1/2 cup flour and 1/3 filtered or bottled water.
- Stir until there are no lumps left.
- Cover the jar with a loose fitting lid that allows the starter to "breathe." You can also use a paper towel with rubber band around the top.
- Set the jar in a cool spot and do not disturb for 24 hours. This is your "starter."
DAY 2
- On Day 2, remove the lid and gently stir the starter.
- Replace the loose fitting lid and place back in a cool spot for 24 hours.
DAY 3: OVERVIEW
- On the morning of Day 3, you should start to see some activity in your starter. You may see tiny bubbles forming on top and you may even notice that your starter has risen some.
- This is the day you will start "feeding" your starter. This process involves taking some of the current starter, discarding the rest, and also includes a "maintenance feeding" at night.
DAY 3 MORNING: FEED THE STARTER
- In a clean jar, add 3 Tablespoons of the sourdough starter (discard the rest), 1/2 cup flour, 1/3 cup filtered water or bottled water.
- Gently stir until well combined. Cover with loose fitting lid. Let sit for 12 hours in a cool, dry spot until you maintain it in the evening.
DAY 3 EVENING: MAINTAIN THE STARTER
- To the current starter, add 2 Tablespoons flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons filtered or bottled water.
- Gently stir until well combined. Cover with loose fitting lid. Let sit for 12 hours in a cool, dry spot.
DAY 4-6: FEED & MAINTAIN MORNING & EVENING
- Repeat the steps from Day 3, do the feeding and maintaining each morning and evening, 12 hours apart. IMPORTANT: Each morning, be sure to use a new jar and place 3 TABLESPOONS of the starter (discard the rest of the starter) before doing the steps.
- In the evening, you will maintain it by adding the 2 TABLESPOONS of flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons of water.
- Keep an eye on your yeast daily! You want to see it get very bubbly. It will also need to double in size to be a strong yeast for bread. (See our tip for keeping track of the size in the NOTES section.)
- During this time, you may see your yeast rise and then fall again. That means it's not strong enough yet, so you'll need to keep doing the feeding and maintaining cycle. Your yeast may be ready sooner than 7 days or maybe take a little longer than 7 days. Your first time may take a little trial and error.
DAY 7: MORNING
- In a clean jar, add 3 TABLESPOONS starter from the other jar (discard the rest), 1/2 Cup flour, 1/3 Cup filtered or bottled water.
- Stir until well combined and cover with loose-fitting lid. Let sit for 4 hours.
- Fill a tall glass of water 3/4 way full with bottled water and set aside to come to room temperature. You will use this water in the next step (4 hours later).
DAY 7 – 4 HOURS LATER: TEST YOUR STARTER
- It's time to test your starter to see if it's ready to use for baking. Take a spoonful of starter and place it into a glass of room temperature water. If the starter floats, it's ready to use for baking like in your favorite sourdough bread recipe or other sourdough recipes.
- If the starter doesn't float, it is not ready to use for baking. Continue with the evening maintenance schedule and repeat DAY 7 instructions on DAY 8 until the starter is ready.
KEEPING FRESH SOURDOUGH STARTER
- If you want to have fresh sourdough starter to use regularly, save some of your starter in another jar before using it for baking. Keep it in the refrigerator and maintain it by doing a sourdough feeding once a week.
Notes
*Nutrition information is approximate. If you have special dietary needs, please calculate your own nutrition.
Check out this recipe next: How to Cook Wheat Berries – you can grind wheatberries for flour, too!
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