All you need to know about Sourdough Starters

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What is a sourdough starter?

A sourdough culture or starter is used to grow wild yeast in a way that can be used for baking. In Italy it is called "mother yeast". 

It is a simply a combination of flour and water which is left to sit for at least 6 days until you have created a bubbly starter which is ready to use. 
All you need is a jar, flour and some tap water! 

The type of flour is totally up to you depending on what you have available BUT if you can buy a particular type of flour we would suggest buying wholegrain flour. Wholegrain typically refers to an intact cereal grain that has all its key parts: bran, endosperm and germ. This type of flour has a higher content of wild yeast which makes it easier to grow a sourdough culture (and gives a very nice aroma and fruity flavour to all your final baking goods!)

​Nevertheless, if you don't have wholegrain flour you can still use any type of bread flour that you like, a simple strong white flour will do the job as well! 

Oh, and for those looking to make a gluten-free sourdough starter? 
Simply use gluten-free wholegrain options: Amaranth, Brown rice, Buckwheat, Corn, Millet and Quinoa.

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The journey of your sourdough starter. Day 1,2,3... and forever.​

HOW TO GET STARTED
In a clean jar, start mixing 50g of flour and 50g of water together until there is no more dry flour in your jar. Lightly cover the jar with the lid and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours. 

Reapeat the same process again for the next 6 days but only adding 30g of flour and 30g of water. 
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By day 7 you should have a nice bubbly sourdough culture with a slightly alcholic aroma. It's ready to use so all that's left is to give it a name! :) ​

A STAR IS BORN: HOW TO USE YOUR STARTER AND HOW TO KEEP IT
When it comes to baking with sourdough you need a strong, bubbly starter (it should be active with plenty of bubbles).

Then there are few ways to keep your starter, it all depends on how often you bake. See below for answers to all your sourdough questions!

• You are ready to bake straight after the sourdough culture has come alive.  Read the recipe  in advance - for example if the recipe calls for 150g of your starter, take your jar with your starter and discard half of the mix. (See the last point on this page for what you can do with the discarded half of your sourdough starter). Then add to the remaining starter 75g of water and 75g of flour, Mix well until there isn't any dry flour left and let it rise at room temperature until the starter doubles in size.
• Your sourdough starter is ready to use but there is no time to bake! How do you keep it alive?  Keep the starter in a jar (properly closed and sealed with the lid on) in the fridge for a maximum of 2 weeks. At the end of the 2 weeks you have to give your starter some food and water before it runs out of food and dies! So take your sourdough out from your fridge and let it come to room temperature. Once the starter is at room temperature discard half of it and add to the remaining starter some flour and water (50g flour and 50g water), mix well and leave outside of the fridge until you start to see the starter coming back to life (bubbles start to appear). Then place your sourdough starter back in the fridge. This process is only to keep your sourdough alive if you are going through for example a busy period at work and you do not have any time to bake or you're taking a holiday.
• You have now a sourdough starter and and want to bake every 2/3 days. If you are going to bake frequently keep your starter in a jar on the kitchen counter closed loosely (so that some air can still get in) and feed it every day with the same amount of water and flour. 
• How do you know when the sourdough starter is ready to use after the feeding process? Your sourdough starter is ready when it has doubled in size and is nice and bubbly - this should happen from 4-6 hours after feeding to a maximum of 18 hours (this will all depend on where you are and the temperature of your kitchen, the colder it is the slower it will rise, the warmer it is the faster it will rise). If you are still not sure if your starter is ready or not for baking then the best way to check is to do the float test -  drop a small amount of the starter into a glass of lukewarm water. If it floats, the starter is ready to use! If it sinks, you need to let the starter sit longer to develop more bubbles, or feed it again and let it sit for another 6–18 hours and try the float test again. 
• How much of sourdough starter should you use when baking?  The amount of sourdough you use depends on the type of bread you are making and you can find your prefect amount through lots of trial and error. But for a sourdough bread the amount of starter used is usually between 20% to maximum 35% of the amount of flour. For example if you have 1kg of flour then you will have to use a maximum of 350g of starter.

• How long can my sourdough stay out of the fridge without feeding? Well this all depends again on where you live and the temperature of your house. Generally a starter can stay at room temperature without feeding for a maximum of 3 days. After that you will need to give the starter few feedings before you can use it again. This is because it will become less strong and it will need time and food to become strong again. If you are not a daily baker we would suggest you to keep your sourdough starter in the fridge and take it out one day before baking. 
• What can I use my sourdough starter for apart from bread?  There are plenty of things you can do with your sourdough! Think about any type of food that needs to rise. You can make pizza, doughnuts, grissini, pancakes, muffins, gnocchi fritti and much much more! ​ ​

• How can I gift my sourdough to someone? It all depends on how you are delivering your sourdough! You can transfer 100g of live and bubbly sourdough into a new glass jar to present as a gift. We suggest giving the person all the instruction to look after it. If your sourdough starter gift will need to be sent somewhere you will have to dry out the starter first. You can do this by simply spreding your sourdough (about 100g) with a spatula onto a piece of parchment paper. Make sure it is spread as thinly as possible so it will dry out quickly and evenly and place another piece of parchmant paper on top. Let it dry out for several hours or a full day if possible. If your sourdough starter is not drying (maybe your room is too warm or there is too much moisture in the air) then place it in the oven on a minimum heat and with the fan on as this will help the starter to dry out quickly. Once the starter is fully dried, brake it into pieces and put it in the jar you are sending. Once the sourdough has arrived at it's new home, all the new owner will need to do is to refresh the dry starter with several feedings like we have done at the beginning when we brought our starters to life. 3 feedings in 3 days will be enough to bring the starter fully back to life and ready to use! 
• What can I do with the discard of my sourdough starter? There is so much you can do with the discard of your sourdough starter! Think about wheat tortillas, crackers, crumpets, chapati bread or even banana bread! Toatally up to you but we suggest you go with something that dosn't need to rise a lot, for example your normal sourdough bread or a chapati bread. Or if you don't have time to bake with it straight away, simply dry it out and store it inside a glass container in your cupboard. ​​

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