My First Sourdough Starter

Jennifer
Jan 5, 2021
5 min read

Ok, so I've been interested in trying to make my own Sourdough bread. I've been doing a bunch of research and found these two videos to be a lot of help. Also, can I point out sourdough is super healthy for you, it also goes back to Ancient Egyptian times, and it's a lot of fun!

You can make pancakes, pizza dough, crackers, and all sorts of things! So I figured I'd give it a shot!

The Start Of My Sourdough Starter

I used Unbleached Flour for bread ( King Authur Brand) and tap water. Which I won't use anymore because it needs to be non-chlorine water, so bottle water it is! I started this about 8:00 p.m. on Monday Evening, and the videos say to let it sit 24 hours before you feed it again.

I did about 1/2 cup flour 1/2 water. I added a little extra because I wanted to get it to pancake consistency, not biscuit consistency.

Second Day

Tuesday Morning 7:00 a.m.

It seemed fine, it looked like it had a bubble or so in it which is what we want.

Tuesday Afternoon Around 12:00 p.m.

While I was at work, I had my dad check to see if there were bubbles. Well, when he went to see it had separated! I started panicking. How come it separated? Did I do something wrong?

Never Fear! I checked google and it said this is normal, especially for a new starter. It's just hungry and is ready for more flour/water mixture.

I found this article as well that explains what's going on: https://truesourdough.com/sourdough-starter-troubleshooting-your-questions-answered/

https://www.mashed.com/201929/mistakes-everyone-makes-with-sourdough/

The layer on top of the flour mixture is a liquid called hooch. It's fine, and it actually means you fed it correctly.

So Woot! Crisis averted. I just know from now on I'm using bottled water.

Tuesday Night at 8:00 P.M.

Ok, so I'm going to use 1/2 flour and 1/3 water this time. The article that explained the hooch mentioned something like that. Plus I'm going to use my handy dandy bottle of water this time too!

So once I stirred it in it seemed a lot better and the 1/2 flour 1/3 water ratio seemed to do a lot better.

Third Day

Wednesday Morning 7:00 A.m.

When I got up the mix looked like it was going to separate again, it looked like water on top just a smidge. I was a little concerned too because it was cold in my kitchen and they say to store it in a warm area. So I stirred it a little bit, which is ok to do the articles say. I also took it on an adventure to my work because after work for Thanksgiving I'll be heading to VA.

This is what it looked like after riding in a warm car, and then set on my counter at work around 8:30 a.m.

Look at all the little happy bubbles!!! That's a good sign I'm told. Also, it smells a tiny bit sour, still, the flour and water smell is strong, you can get a hint of sourness.

Wednesday at 1:00 P.M.

In some of the articles, it says you can feed it up to 2x a day ( I probably won't do this once I know it's good, but I wanted to try it). I decided to go ahead and feed it a little more just to see what happens.

Honestly, it started bubbling a lot! I walked away and came back and saw a bubble pop!

I spoke with my friend Raven and she said that at this point I could make stuff with it like pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, and English muffins. It just won't rise very good just yet for bread making. She also confirmed the liquid layer saying, "It's hooch. Mine even turns a gray color you can just pour it off. I also mark where the level is right after you feed it and if it doubles in size within like 4-12 hours it's ready."

... Don't judge but I jumped deep into the sourdough starter pool lol. I also decided to make a whole wheat sourdough starter. This also got fed at the same time. [Whole Wheat Article Link Here]

Wednesday at 4:20 P.M.

I wanted to see how it was doing four hours after it's first feeding today. It has risen just a little bit as you can see with the rubber band, but look at all those bubbles! The bubbles are now on the sides of the jar which is excellent, and if you see in the left picture, there are bubbles starting to form throughout the dough. That's exactly what we want.

Reading articles and watching videos have suggested once it gets to the point that it rises double in size, then it is ready to bake bread.

Day 3: Wednesday at 8:00 P.M.

Day 4: Thursday at 1:00 P.M.

Day 4: Thursday at 7:00 P.M.

Day 5: Friday at 1:00 P.M.

Day 5 At 1. Changed jars. The smell of the regular sourdough has gone from a super-strong vinegary smell back to dough smelling. The wheat just keeps on growing.

Day 5 for regular sourdough at 9 And day 3 for wheat. The smell isn't bad now for the regular sourdough.

Day 6 I missed documenting but I did feed and discard.

Day 7: Sunday at 1:00 P.M.

Day 7 for regular sourdough it was a very low growth. Day V I believe for the regular wheat sourdough it had lots of Bubbles and it had grown

I just fed it one time this day.

Day 8: Monday at 1:00 P.M.

I tried the float test at 4:00 p.m. and it just sunk. I will keep feeding it and leaving it to collect wild yeast!

Day 9: Tuesday at 1:00 P.M.

Here's what it looked like. It had a bunch of bubbles but it didn't grow much. I feel like because where it snowed today it's not going to. Around three it started to gain a little bit of hooch so I stirred that in. I tried the float test one more time and it just sunk.

Day 10: Wednesday an hour after I fed it.

Day 11: Thursday at 1:00 p.m.

There's lots of activity, just not any growth.

Day 12: Friday at 4:00 p.m.

Day 13 at 1:00 P.M.

I skipped Day 14

Day 15: Monday at 8:00 a.m. ( the start of the 2nd week)

Day 15: Monday at 4:00 P.M.

It smells like bread honestly today. It grew just a tad. I did the float test and it did float! So I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully in the next week or so I can make some bread!