{"id":181,"date":"2020-10-01T10:55:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T10:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tropicalbaker.com\/?p=181"},"modified":"2020-11-03T12:54:19","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T12:54:19","slug":"how-to-make-sourdough-starter-without-yeast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tropicalbaker.com\/how-to-make-sourdough-starter-without-yeast\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Sourdough Starter Without Yeast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had been wanting to experiment with sourdough starter for a long time. I was pretty comfortable making bread with store-bought yeast and enjoyed making baguettes and country loaves for my family who loved eating it. However, I didn\u2019t know what I needed to get started with sourdough starter. I seemed mysterious to me, this \u201cmother\u201d that people feed and keep alive and store for years, even decades. I knew they passed it down for generations. But how did you START the starter to begin with? You must need some special bugs, or juice, or magic. I needed to know how to make sourdough starter without yeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sourdough starter journey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I learned that starter required nothing more than flour and water, I was stunned. So I jumped on it. And when it became impossible to find yeast in the store because of a global pandemic, it made even more sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bread in Hawaii is NOT cheap, especially good quality bread. So, the decision was an easy one for me to start experimenting with my own sourdough starter. I would try something new that I had been wanting to learn, and I’d be able to participate in something exciting that lots of people were doing. I’d save some money while eating bread that I trusted because I made it myself too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little did I know, I was in for a more complicated journey than I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The starter recipe and method that I recommend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I started with the King Arthur Baking Company sourdough starter recipe<\/a>. It\u2019s referenced all over the internet, and it\u2019s from the company that makes the flour that EVERYONE uses to make sourdough bread. So I thought I\u2019d give it a shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It uses a 1 to 1 to 1 scheme with starter, flour, and water if you measure on a food scale. The recipe uses a cup for the basic measurement for the flour, which is where you get roughly 113 grams. I used the cup of flour to \u00bd cup of water measuring scheme that they provide until I got a scale. Get a scale! It changes everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you keep within those ratios (1\/1\/1) and you\u2019re using a scale to measure, your starter should work fine. You\u2019ll see some recipes using 100g as the basic measure too, which is great. You\u2019d just use 100g of flour, 100g of water, and 100g of starter. It\u2019s not a magic number here. You can use more or less and get the same results for the most part. Read below about scaling down if you\u2019d like to work with smaller amounts. Using grams as your measure makes it easy to scale your starter down to reduce waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time frame for developing a sourdough starter is usually about one week. You\u2019ll find solid advice to pay more attention to the state of your starter than to the days on the calendar, and I absolutely echo that advice. It takes me a bit longer to develop something usable here in Hawaii, but a week is a good guideline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of flour should I use for my sourdough starter?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have used whole wheat, AP (all purpose), and bread flour. While they\u2019re different, they all seem to work fine. There are some folks who believe that whole wheat flour is best to start with as it contains more of the good microorganisms that you need to form a sourdough starter. Also, if you\u2019re going to be baking 100% whole wheat loaves, you may want a whole wheat starter at some point. Just try to stick with the same flour type throughout this whole process until you get your starter off and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the record, I love King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose flour for this process and for baking as well. You can always use rye or whole wheat flour just for day one and AP flour for the rest of the days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll see me mention pineapple juice below as a replacement for the water. If you\u2019re curious, check this article on using pineapple juice for a sourdough starter<\/a>. You might want to try it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How long will it take before I can use it to bake?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This depends on your environment, the type of flour you use, and the quality of your water…among other things. Plan on holding off for a week or two, but you should be baking away within a couple of weeks if all goes well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll reference 100 grams as the basic measure here, but using less is fine and produces less waste. It also saves money on flour. You can follow along with the recipe as is or adjust up or down as you\u2019d like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n