How to make sourdough starter
Our sourdough starter recipe doesn't use any yeast – just flour and water - and takes about 7 days to develop.
When it's ready to use, you can share your sourdough starter with family and friends. Plus, if you store it correctly in the fridge and feed it when needed, this mixture can last for months.
Once you've made your sourdough starter, you can make our delicious Sourdough Loaf and Sourdough Stuffed Crust Pizza.
How to store sourdough starter
After you've fed your sourdough starter at room temperature for seven days, it can be stored in the fridge in a container which lets it breathe slightly.
If you don't use the mixture frequently (around once a week), you'll need to feed it every now and then to keep it alive and activated.
Method
Step 1:
Weigh 70g of the strong white flour into a 1 litre jar with a loose fitting lid and add 70ml of warm water. Stir well until all the lumps have gone.
Step 2:
Seal the jar and leave in a warm place.
Step 3:
Every day over 7 days, feed the starter with another 70g of flour and 70ml of water, stirring well to make sure there are no lumps. Make sure that any flour settled at the bottom of the jar is incorporated when stirring.
Step 4:
After 3 or 4 days bubbles will start to appear as the flour and water chemically react together. If your sourdough looks as though it has separated, don't worry - simply give it a good mix and continue to store it in a warm place.
Step 5:
At the end of the 7 days, the sourdough starter can now be stored in the fridge until you are ready to use it. If you don't plan on using it regularly, feed the mixture once a week or fortnightly to keep it alive and bubbling.
Step 6:
When you are ready to make your sourdough loaf, take the starter out of the fridge the day before you need it and give it a little feed.
Ingredients
- 490g Allinson's Strong White Bread Flour
- 490ml Warm water
- 490g Allinson's Strong White Bread Flour
Utensils
- Baking tray
Recipe Reviews
Perfect advice
The instructions are ambiguous and unclear. What would help is some advice about the container and how it’s sealed. A loose fitting lid or a tight seal?
We are sorry to hear that you have found our method unclear, step 1 does advise bakers to use a 1 litre jar with a loose fitting lid. If you were to have a tight seal it would lead to a build up of gas inside the jar and might lead to some messy overspill from your sourdough mixture.
I have been making bread for several years now but always struggled with Sourdough. This is the first recipe that has worked and is my most successful sourdough recipe - especially the business of proving the loaves overnight in the fridge. It really works! Someone once said something like Sourdough takes a lot of time but should not take a lot of your time. For information, I use a Kilner Jar for the starter but remove the seal to let some air get to it, I do freshen the starter up often and yes water can rest on top of it after a couple of days but I stir it and it works fine. That said, I did leave it for a while and decided to abandon it because I wasn't sure about the smell. Thanks Allinsons. I am trying a wholemeal starter now. Fingers crossed!
Yes done this but I still don’t now if I add just flour to it to feed or a full mixture.. It is not bubbling any more is that correct? Mixture looks a bit watery but ok as far as I now. Will soon find out as I am going to have a go at sourdough bread.
Looking above I think some are confusing sourdough bread with soda bread. Sourdough needs starter and soda bread doesn’t. Is that right? I have tried to make starter a few times but never works out.
Hello,
That is correct Sourdough requires a starter whereas soda bread does not. Sourdough uses its naturally occurring yeast which has lactic acid in it, while soda bread uses buttermilk. The reactions from both breads produce carbon dioxide bubbles which help the bread rise.
Hope this helps,
Happy Baking!
I always use Allison's flour to make my Soda bread and have been doing so for years.
You make a white or brown soda loaf without the need to make a starter.
Ingredients
- 490g Allinson's Strong White Bread Flour
- 490ml Warm water
- 490g Allinson's Strong White Bread Flour
Utensils
- Baking tray