How to create and maintain a sourdough starter
Hi fellow bread lovers,
I had a lot of people reach out via the website and Instagram, asking for tips on how to create and maintain their own sourdough starter. Just wanted to share my version:
I feed with 50/50 bread flour & wholemeal flour to get a nice, neutral starter that I can use in a wide variety of recipes. You can use different flours (eg. 100% rye), but keep in mind that you'll always carry the character of your starter over into your loaf, therefore affecting the flavour and also texture.
I keep a 1:5:5 or 2:5:5 ratio (start/flour/water). You can keep different ratios, but you want a thick batter (porridge consistency) and you don't want to keep more starter than you add flour, because you're running the risk of creating an environment that's too acidic for the micro-organisms. In measurements, that means I keep around 10-20g of my starter and feed it with 50g flour and 50g water. Don't throw the discard/leftover away, it can be used in loads of recipes!
I feed once a day. It's a really safe window to keep in terms of over- or underfeeding.
This video will take you through the whole process of creating your own sourdough starter. Hope it's helpful:
