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.
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.
2 ingredients6 steps
Vegetarian
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
MetricImperial
490gAllinson's Strong White Bread Flour
490mlWarm water
Utensils
Baking tray
11 Baker Ratings
Perfect advice
Love this?
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?
Baking Mad
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.
