Making your sourdough starter: 1. First, make sure you gather the essentials: a large (at least one quart) non-metal container and a non-metal mixing spoon (metal will alter the flavor of the sourdough); flour (wheat, rye, and spelt are best); water; dry yeast; and a large dish cloth, kitchen towel, or other cover.
2. Mix two cups of your flour of choice with two cups of non-
chlorinated water in the container until you have a smooth paste; add one pack of dry yeast. Note: You might want to experiment later with the flour-to-water ratio, as some people prefer equal volumes of flour and water to make it easier to pour, while others prefer a denser bread using equal weights of flour and water.
3. Loosely cover the container with your cloth; this deters
contaminants. Ensure it’s not airtight, allowing carbon dioxide to escape as the yeast does its job. Leave the covered container in a warm, draft-free area—preferably in the kitchen, but not under direct sunlight.
4. Stir the mixture daily.
5. Freshen the mixture with equal volumes of flour and water once you’ve noticed the sour aroma.
These steps are all you need to create your very own starter, but it takes about a week, so be patient, and don’t rush to bake. Once you have a starter, keep it happy by feeding it (freshening it with flour and water every few days), mixing it daily, and keeping it covered and warm. Feeding it weekly makes sense if you plan to bake bread weekly. Do this by using about half of the starter to bake, and then feeding the other half to save for the next time. Starters also keep quite well in the fridge (one to two weeks) and even the freezer for a few days. Something to note is that it’s possible to overfeed your starter, which can kill it. A good rule of thumb is to feed it only when it’s at its maximum height and full of bubbles; otherwise, you’ll thin out the microorganism population.
Now that you’ve got a starter, you can use it to make your own sourdough bread. If you’re new to baking bread, we recommend the no-knead method, originally pioneered by Jim Lahey, owner of the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City. This method takes time (at least 24 hours), but includes a simple hack that revolutionized homemade bread: The method uses a dutch oven to create the perfect bread-baking environment within your home oven. Thousands of bakers have tweaked and adapted this method over the last decade; simply search online for “no-knead sourdough” and pick out a recipe that sounds good to you. For holiday gift ideas, you can give someone a freshened sourdough starter (if that person is a DIY-er), or you can use your starter to bake them something delicious.
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December 2022
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