How To Make Sourdough Starter | The Beginner's Guide

The beginner’s guide to making sourdough starter from scratch! In just 5-7 days you will have starter ready to make loaves of bread, pancakes, pikelets and other sourdough treats.
Like many of you, I have found myself with limited access to ingredients and grocery stores due to the coronavirus outbreak. I filmed this video from the safety of my home, using the ingredients I had on hand. For flour, I recommend you use whole wheat flour, but you can use unbleached all purpose flour or even rye flour for this recipe. I hope that you enjoy the video, make lots of yummy sourdough and stay safe. The Sugar Geek Family is here for you!
***RECIPE AND MORE INFO ON MY BLOG ►sugargeekshow.com/recipe/sour...
HOW TO USE A SCALE ►
sugargeekshow.com/news/digita...
STARTER DISCARD RECIPES ► sugargeekshow.com/recipe/sour...
FAST BREAD RECIPE ► sugargeekshow.com/recipe/fast...
SUBSCRIBE ► kzbin.info...
WATCH RECIPES ► • Sculpting Rice Cereal ...
WATCH CAKE TUTORIALS ► • Pokemon Topper Pikac...
Facebook Page: / sugargeekshow
Online Cake Tutorial School: sugargeekshow.com
Instagram: / sugargeekshow

[@SugarGeekShow]

Get the free printable on my blog! sugargeekshow.com/recipe/sourdough-starter/

[@lucafelipe2347]

A trick: watch series on Flixzone. Been using them for watching loads of movies these days.

[@ellenesteban2212]

@@lucafelipe2347 0

[@alancantor9437]

I left a jar of sourdough in the fridge for three years without doing anything to it. I recently removed a few grams and put the old stuff in a fresh jar, fed it water and flour, and after a few days of feeding, the sourdough was active again. Sourdough is very resilient!

[@Jason-ji5yg]

After searching through so many videos, I finally find one that explains things so well. Not just someone looking at the camera saying what to do or skipping steps, assuming I know what I am doing. Thank you.

[@Fmkayla]

You the only one I found who explained levain 👍🏻

[@fruitpunch4890]

I've learned so much about sourdough starter from so many others but I have never heard anyone explain why we toss out half of the starter, thank you for explaining this. Now I know.

[@alfonsoferro101]

Yes thank you for making this way more clear then other tutorials ❤

[@severenkoski856]

I really enjoy these sourdough videos. You are a great teacher, giving details but also getting to the point. Thank you for this!

[@staceyverley3851]

Literally just telling my husband I wish Liz would show us a sourdough starter and voila! Perfect as always!

[@irenesixty]

This video made me clear between levain vs starter!!!! Excellent explanations

[@zeejah]

One of the better starter tutorials. Thank you

[@elizabethpage7674]

Your explanations are everything! Thank you 😊

[@nancykim2562]

So thankful you made this video! I was hesitant to make my own starter cuz everyone's been using rye flour, but so happy so see it comes out well even with using whole wheat flour. Also thankful for how detailed you explain every step including the levain. You're seriously so awesome

[@pauladickerson6082]

It’s easy to see you have a beautiful heart. Thank you for sharing and teaching with so much patience. ❤️

[@michaelwalling8281]

Lots of good info in this presentation. This young lady has done her homework. Perfect for a neophyte bread maker.

[@Internalharmony92]

I have a 2 year starter I just fed today. I'm excited to see how it grows. Can't wait to make some pancakes with it.

[@michaelh2931]

I discovered a good way to make my active starter really grow and become bubbly after a feeding. What I did is not feed my active starter for two days (48 hours), and then when I did feed it I gave it some good sprouted rye flour. The starter then tripled in height! Starving the starter for a couple of days made it real hungry and when I fed it it really grew. It never happened like that when I fed it every 24 hours. My starter is about 2 months old and I have never refrigerated it , yet. I keep it fed daily with a King Arthur AP flour and when I am ready to make a bread I starve it a couple of days and then give it a sprouted rye feeding in the morning and when it triples in height I make a flour and then refrigerate it after making the dough and folding it a few times over a few hours. The bread is high-hydration and is 30% rye and 70% bread flour.

[@myalkalineveganjourney4919]

please do a video and tag me...please

[@shirleyclgan7282]

Thank you for this invaluable tips will try it next time.

[@tmanmcvie8467]

no it was just cold

[@lauraprale3952]

Thank you for giving this much information and detail. It is extremely helpful!

[@rosauragarcia1991]

You are great!!! Definitely helped me feel a lot less intimidated! I had been looking for a video that helped me make a starter for over an hour and Im so glad I came across your video!!! I loved it. My daughter watched it with me and wanted to say "I love you because you make the instructions to make sourdough starter for bread". Thank you!!!!!

[@shirleyclgan7282]

Thank for your lesson on how to make a sourdough starter. Appreciate all the tips given on how to preserve the sour dough for future use..You are awesome.!

[@nanmckee54]

Thank you so much for your video! After watching many videos on this subject, this is the first time that I actually understand the whole process of yeast. No one teaches it better than you. I have tried to make 5 starters and none of them worked so I gave up. I'm beginning my new starter today with your recipe now that I understand it more. You're the best!

[@kayte13]

Me too

[@christellelock5864]

Hi there! I made my very first starter using this video! Mine is VERY strong!! Thank you so much for your clear and useful info. I never had the guts to do it before. I'm baking my first loaf tomorrow. Will be using your other video for that.

[@neldahinojosa4890]

Love this vid!!!!

[@sharonjensen6263]

Thanks so much for the video. I got tired of waiting for my daughter to remember to bring me some starter, so I thought I would try and make my own. Great step by step tutorial and information.

[@AO-po8kc]

Best step by step thank you

[@paccc7092]

Thanks for a very informative video about sourdough starter. No one has ever mentioned when discard is usable. I would have used it on first discard! Thanks for covering more information about the starter. This helped so much!

[@zaidagarcia8369]

Thank you 😊 that was very well explained and easy to understand!! I will start this week 😄😄😄🙏🏻😆🎉🎉

[@surayahanaifah5659]

Hi...thank you very much for sharing how to make starter...i am a begginner n.will follow.you..step by step

[@shawnnagarcia1830]

The starter has begun, let's see how this works out!!! Thanks for info.

[@annatobin1783]

It looks so easy

[@Edwana365]

Hello. Thanks for explaining so well.

[@peggegolden1]

Thank you so much. Beautiful and well explained 👏

[@flyfishing1776]

Thank you Blessings

[@isabelladavis1363]

Excellent presentation

[@kathyfann]

Thank You!

[@beatrizsandoval4395]

I started mine at the beginning of the quarantine and I already made a loaf with it. So delicious 😋 oh and I named mine Maximus because of Russell Crowe in Gladiator 😊

[@marshyburrows1094]

Really good tutorial ❤

[@normaclarke4585]

Your video is very good, I understood how to make my stater and to know what levain was, thanks for sharing. ,!!

[@tagakay7894]

Thank you so much!

[@MichiganFan70]

"Let's make some sourdough starter already....geez Liz.".....lmao Great channel....stumbled upon it a few days ago...love it

[@lovelyleann2766]

Hello! I love your channel on homemade yeast. At the moment due to Covid-19 I am an American in Poland and I have being looking to find the right video and I came across yours. You from the start thoroughly explain the areas ad to where to place the yeast for 24hrs. My only issue is here in Poland they have over many, many type of flour ranging from type 450,500 to 2000. I just wanted to reach out to you. Keep up the great job with yeast making. I am still trying the different type of flour here.

[@MyAlbertC]

How can you tell it has raised the yest ?, the glass is very dirty 😅 and you can use gloves when using your hands. Just a suggestion for you, and o yah, you can use plastic spatula when mixing. Didn't know about using metal utensils 🤔

[@thecutecooks7987]

Great Vid!

[@lorde5878]

Thanks for clarifying on what to do with the discard. I wasn’t sure if it’s something people kept or threw away. I know you can make stuff with discard but I just don’t have the time for that

[@ashleyonthefarm]

Hi, this is my favorite starter video and I always go back to it to refresh my memory. But I was wondering, Do you have a video or post that explains why you feed levain all equal parts, but you feed the starter 75g starter, 150g flour, 150 water ? Thanks!

[@helpfulnatural]

I made a sourdough starter in early April and it's doing great, has made some awesome bread and pancakes but it took quite a while to get going. My kitchen must be cooler than I thought. I had loads of hooch on top of it the first week or so. At about day 8 or 9 it finally started rising and getting bubbly. I started with whole wheat and rye flours. And I use bottled purified water, our tap is very clean but has a lot of chlorine so I didn't want to use it. For its weekly feedings I place it in my microwave to get bubbly. It's the warmest and most draft-free place in my kitchen. I also proof my bread in there, works great! :)

[@SugarGeekShow]

Hooch also can mean your starter is hungry! Thank you for the microwave tip!

[@SugarGeekShow]

helpfulnatural awesome! Yeah it’s crazy how much a warm/cold kitchen affects it. My first one wasn’t growing at all on top of the dishwasher and it took me a few days to realize that there was a draft hitting it from the window.

[@helpfulnatural]

@@SugarGeekShow I probably forgot to mention that I did feed it every day the first 9 days or so. But still only got hooch and no bubbles until that 9 day mark. Yea, initially I was putting it in the same cupboard as my homemade kombucha but didn't do well. Maybe too much competition for yeast/bacteria? Now it calls the microwave home when it has been fed. :) BTW, I did use kombucha to get it started and now mix it 1-1 with water. It seems to really like the kombucha! :D

[@sandrarusso1136]

My husband and I started ours 5/9 and we used half bread flour and half brown rice flour. Thought we did something wrong after the 2nd day. WHEW! What a smell! Glad to hear that (and the "hooch" at the top) was normal! We named her Rona. LOL

[@SugarGeekShow]

Yes! No one talks about that nasty smell the first few days lol!! so gross but thankfully it goes away :-D Love her name!

[@SugarGeekShow]

Sandra Russo Rona!! Love it! Yes, it totally smells like dirty socks at first 😂 haha

[@TyOTT-lg2wq]

Thank you very much for sharing your method to make sourdough starter. I forgot to leave wooden spatula inside the jar for almost 2 hrs. I would like to know if I should discard for health since the yeast could eat some wooden material and not good for the health? Please advise. I have spent 7 days already and wouldn't want to discard it . However, as mentioned, my concern about the health as this dough starter can be toxic because I left the wooden spatula inside the yeast container ) on my 7th day for couple hours. Many thanks again

[@manju.12]

What flour are you using to feed your starter to keep maintaining it? Do we continue to feed it bread flour or all purpose? Or do we go back to whole wheat?

[@Jmay411]

I’m going to try adding yogurt tomorrow

[@GiggityGig]

Liz is amazing

[@daleneb24]

I am lost on day 7. How much do you feed your starter after you have discarded it? Is it 75 grams still or 50 grams? I am lost on what you are doing with the discard at this point?? Your instructions till now we’re good then I got lost.

[@mitchellkrupa831]

❤do you have to switch to apt or bread flour or just continue with whole weat flour. Thank you for your response

[@rojodiaz]

Hey!!! Quick question! I live in a warm and tropical climate, so in its first 24 hours looked and smelled like day 4 starter! Super liquid on it a first day! Should I start feeding twice on day 2??? It grew more than twice on the first day!!!!!

[@stacys4893]

Why do you throw away half the starter on day one? Can it be used for a second starter in another bowl?

[@kayte13]

Question. Do we remake the Levain everytime we want to make bread? Also. At the end of videoThe camera shows ou removing 75gm of starter, then adding 150gm flour and 150 gm of water. Is that correct.? Thank you for your video. I have made my starter from your recipe. !

[@adrianapereira1943]

Question! I'm trying to make this, but want to make sure I'm using the right amount. I don't have a food scale, so 150 grams is 10 tablespoons and 75grams is 5 tablespoons correct? So day 1 I'm using 10 tablespoons of both water and flour and then after I'm discarding half and adding 5 tablespoons of each?

[@tgc4204]

at 17:30, you said to put it away. if I put it away in a fridge or at room temp, do I discard half of it and use 1:1:1 to keep it alive. then use the discard to make Levain to make bread?

[@suzancushman3959]

After the starter is made and you are ready to bake can you substitute regular unbleached flour for gluten free flour?

[@raeyasomani8748]

Hi! I absolutely LOVE all your recipes. Just last week I tried your focaccia recipe and it was a big hit!! Just wondering if the line on your container is where it started or...? Also, can we use a mason jar to make the starter? And my whole wheat flour has small flakes in it (not sure if this is normal, so should I just sift it out, or is this an important part in developing the yeast?). Sorry for all the questions... this is my first attempt at making a sourdough starter. Thank you so much, and keep up the awesome in-detail videos!!

[@JaneH3675]

Ok, I started mine wi/ King Authur unbleached all-purpose flour and warm water. Its day 3 and doing great. No scale and not use grams. 4 tablespoons flour and equal filtered water. So much easier than all this weighing junk. Will feed next 7 days and make bread. 👍

[@cynthiaincolorado3373]

Liz, where can I find the worksheets I downloaded the things to download, but there are just recipes and no worksheets for the recipes?

[@SugarGeekShow]

If you used this video to make starter please tell me what you named it in the comments :D I named mine wildayeast!

[@jessicacaza260]

when I put my starter in the fridge, do I have to bring it to room temperature before I feed it and then put it back in the fridge?

[@kathyfann]

Is it helpful to add a tiny bit of anything like yeast or salt or anything

[@coonassprepper5243]

Can I take the starter and freeze dry it and powderize it and at what point should I freeze it?

[@HillTopRooted]

I started my starter 6 days ago. Today it finally started smelling sour but I don’t have many bubbles and it doesn’t appear to be rising. I’m using whole wheat and all purpose to feed once every 24 hours. I keep my AP flour in a container and I fear it may have been bleached. On one hand, I’m thinking of starting over. On another, I’m thinking of switching the feeding today to 35g of wheat and 35 grams of bread flour, unbleached. Would switching mid stride be a problem or should I just scrap it and start from scratch? 😢

[@yayitsmichelle18]

I only have unbleached AP flour right now, as I can’t find any other kind of flour at my supermarkets. I’ve started my starter and have been feeding my starter with that same AP flour. With that said, I have a ~43 day old starter and it has never doubled in size, aside from day 2. The most it has ever risen is ~3/4 in above the rubberband. I’ve put it on a heating pad on the low setting, and it still doesn’t double in size. Do I need to add a wheat flour into the mix to make it grow a bit more?

[@tmanmcvie8467]

its cold

[@nickyg2059]

Hi sweetheart! thanks I’m going to try to make the starter, but I have a question, how many hours in between each day, from the first to the end, can you please answer me please thanks ❤

[@cathychats]

Thanks but I wonder why almost no one talks about the room temperature. I live in the tropics and my kitchen is between 25C and 30C. How can I grow my starter? Do you have any tips?

[@richardgolden9181]

If my levain does not rise do I continue to feed it and the starter? Thank you.

[@victoriac9884]

How would you sanitize your container?

[@suescookery4881]

Hi Liz. My starter doubled in 24 hours...lots of bubbles...is it going to be ok by day 7? thanks

[@dianeconley8499]

Great teaching but how can I mix sugar when I get ready to make my bread

[@ericacalihan8187]

I have started my starter about a week ago and i only got it to rise once. But there is still bubbles. Should I start over or should I keep trying to feed it?

[@katiecauthen8957]

With the half that you remove each time, why can’t you use it to start another container of starter? Can I not be used at all? For anything?

[@fnordfnordsson4385]

You can use it for another starter, but that never ends - now you have twice as much discard every day! But the discard is just flour and water, so you can actually bake with it. Crumpets especially, but pancakes as well.

[@wakeuptoBlessings]

When and how can you divide to make another starter? Can you use discard to make a new starter? I’m wanting to gift some of my starter…

[@cynthiaincolorado3373]

You said I can’t use metal what about a stainless steel bowl and I can’t get the worksheet to print. Is there an issue? My printer won’t print it for some reason.

[@melaniejaegli3056]

Confused at the end you use q metal spoon. Are you only not supposed to use metal in the first 7 days?

[@Molaleni]

20:56 I’ve left mine in the fridge unread for a year and it stayed alive. Also I used regular unfiltered tap water in Philadelphia. And I use metal. You simply can’t fail at this

[@Lia_147]

So I’m on my 3 day mark and my starter barely rose. It rose maybe a little less than an inch. Am I doing something wrong or it just low activity?

[@lailingngan1828]

Hi there, Where can I find the PDF you mentioned earlier in this video, one the we should print out to follow your email video? Thank you. Lai Ling

[@hansenmarc]

Hi SugarGeek. I just started looking, but I’ve found lots of no-discard recipes on KZbin for making sourdough starter. Have you tried any of them? Thank you.

[@miryam5250]

Do I need to use 75 grams of flour and water each time or can I use 30-40 grams ?

[@Davidkevindoyle1963]

I made it also my starter my Levain has tripled in size yay time to make bread🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳

[@SugarGeekShow]

Yay!! Let me know how it turns out 😄

[@malvanlondon8683]

Is wholewheat flour the same thing as wholemeal flour?

[@elizabethkeith9341]

I began my starter at 3pm. How can I get it around to say 7pm/7am when I have to feed it every 12 hours 😬

[@ladygcrochet8540]

So here is another question is it possible for to people start the yeast starter together and then the both of you will have a project that way it just doesn't go to wast text back

[@reemelsaman6461]

do we discard the starter when we feed it after taking some of it to make the leavin or we discard it only at its first 7 days?

[@madlyn792]

Very confusing to me, I was on day 6 and I forgot to discard half before feeding. Now I'm thinking I should throw everything out and start all over. 😩

[@reemelsaman6461]

@@madlyn792 I notice that I asked a stupid question as when we take some of the starter to make a bread we actually DISCARD IT 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 so it's my bad In your situation noo don't throw it, I think you should just discard it the next time and it'll be fine, we discard the sourdough starter just to manage it amount or as I think tho, keep going 🥰♥️♥️

[@pattyob7096]

Congrats! Can we learn about rice flour starters please?

[@SugarGeekShow]

I haven't tried any starter besides Whole Wheat :)

[@helpfulnatural]

There are many starter recipes on KZbin, search for gluten free sourdough starters. Hope this helps. :)

[@hollinaomi]

My starter was looking great. morning after day 3, I saw it didn't rise at all (but it did rise by Day 2). I'm on Day 5 but chose to stick with ww and warm water bc I'm afraid to go with less yeast food since there is no rise. It does smell a bit like acetone and the texture is looser than it was. Should I keep going or?

[@hollinaomi]

so feedback for today... my starter rose almost to the neck of the jar! Def was the right choice. For this feeding, i made sourdough popovers with the discard, and used APF and warm water for this feeding. Hopeful to see tomorrow!

[@lorrainestone]

Where do you put it to bed? I'm new at this?

[@robinraphael3978]

Can you add two different sourdough starter together and make one?

[@SartikaSy]

Can i use all purpose flour?

[@kimberlygraham2877]

What to do if you’ve fed it in the morning & are going to work the day & your starter peaks within 2 -3 hours & you’re not available to make bread for a few more hours & it starts to die back down in that time?

[@BeYou4You]

Will mixing with hands change the temperature of the dough?

[@SugarGeekShow]

BeYou4You nope if anything it will help it, because the yeast likes warmth!

[@springinpages6325]

My kitchen is very warm, the starter had bubbles from day 2. It smells like cheese though and I don't know if that's normal or not :(

[@Navigator777777]

Loved your video but my heart sank when your recommended using the microwave in cooking. You recovered nicely with the discussion of metals. Buy two identical plants. Water one with normal water. Water the other with microwaved water. Cool of course. Microwaved water kills things.

[@ivanaparty85]

My house stays kinda cold so after i feed my new starter, i set the microwave for 1 minute and started it. After it ended i put the starter jar inside it and closed the door. It had enough heat inside to help ferment

[@fabiolac6208]

I have one question? maybe I missed it in the video, but how do I know how much starter should I add on my recipe? is there a specific amount to use?

[@SugarGeekShow]

Hi! Yes you’ll use a specific recipe to make your levain. Here is my sourdough bread blog post that has all that info: sugargeekshow.com/recipe/sourdough-bread/

[@jimlowry4321]

Yes, my question also. How much flour added to the discard starter to make a recipe of bread?

[@evelynthomley7566]

Hi! I'm new to Sourhdoigh and I'm on day 4 of making my own starter. Is it supposed to smell awful? I mean, I know it's not supposed to smell *good* but this just smells, yuck. I've been following your recipe after I messed up my gift stater. Lol. Any advice for a fellow baker?! (Been watching you for years!) ❤😊