In its most favoured form, sourdough is probably familiar to you as a naturally leavened bread. Because it uses a starter, a fermented combination of flour and water as opposed to commercial yeast, it has a notoriously tangy flavour and chewy texture. 

As Karen recommends, “The easiest way to get started on your sourdough journey is to not waste two weeks of your life trying to grow your starter from scratch. There are so many bakers, like myself, who will be more than happy to give you starters or discards. Check local baking groups on FB and you’re bound to find a home baker near you.”

But if you want to make your own sourdough starter from scratch as a fun project to take on with the family, then you can expect the process to take about one to two weeks. According to Karen, “All you need is unbleached flour, water, and a whole lot of patience. Begin by putting equal parts water and flour into a glass jar and wait for enzymatic activity to begin. 20 grams is a good starting number. Then every eight to 12 hours, feed your starter by discarding everything except 20 grams of it, then topping it up with equal parts of flour and water again.” Creating a smaller starter will also benefit you in the long run if you’re hoping to conserve your stash of flour during this time. 

Then comes the float test, Cynthia shares that “To check if your sourdough is ready to use in your baking, spoon some of the starter into a cup of water and if it floats, you can bake with it. If you’re lucky, this could happen on day eight or nine, but at its longest, it could take maybe up to a month.” 

According to Cynthia, “Our humidity and temperature of 28°C to 32°C is actually suited to our advantage as it speeds up the process of fermentation.” Meaning, you can easily store your starter on your countertop. The ideal temperature is around 24°C to 26°C so you should opt for places in your home that aren’t as exposed to heat. 

Karen’s hack around this is to “Maintain your starter at a ratio of one to five to five, so 20 grams of starter, 100 grams of flour, and 100 grams of water. You could also get creative by using chilled water, ice packs, or even a cooler box for more precise temperature control.” 

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Making your own sourdough starter can seem like a Sisyphean task but the key to any good thing is patience. Sourdough starters are fermented, meaning they’re alive and it’s essentially a baby learning the process. 

To know if your sourdough is doing well, Karen says to “Look out for a bubbly starter that rises and falls predictably daily, once you’re there then you know you’re ready to bake. A healthy starter will double in height between four to six hours and it will start to smell slightly sour, but not to the point of being foul or pungent.” 

If your sourdough isn’t showing any of those signs, Cynthia shares that “Instead of bread flour, add some wholemeal flour into the starter as a part of your flour mix to try to encourage some activity and bubbling. It can be a confusing process to make your sourdough starter from scratch but as long as it has no green or pink mould then you’re good to continue on.” 

On the off chance that your sourdough starter has gone bad, learn to recognise mould from hooch. Sourdough hooch is a sludgy brown-black layer of liquid that can occur in your starter, it’s simply a form of alcohol that’s naturally occurring and can easily be poured out before you stir and feed your starter. It’s harmless and doesn’t warrant a restart on the process. But if you see any fuzzy mould or any mould that’s black and blue, then it’s time to throw it out and start on another.

You can use your sourdough discard in place of many recipes. Think crackers, pancakes, crepes, quickbreads, or even muffins. “Don’t throw away your starter discards,” says Karen, “I usually use my discards to make big batches of waffles with my son and freeze them or give them away to friends.” 

Your sourdough starter is a wild form of yeast, so any recipe that requires yeast can be substituted with your starter. “You can use it to make any kind of bread or asian buns that require yeast, or even cakes,” says Cynthia, “and if you don’t have a dutch oven, you could make focaccia bread with your sourdough starter. It only requires a tray.”

If you’re planning to make sourdough bread the traditional way in the form of loaves, Karen and Cynthia recommend getting “A bread banneton, some clean tea towels for covering, dough scraper, mixing bowl, and a lame or sharp razor for scoring.” 

Having a dutch oven would make the baking process a lot easier and fool-proof, as it creates a hot environment for the bread to steam and rises evenly with a perfect crusty finish. “If you don’t have a dutch oven, you can also use my easy hack of using a pizza stone and an overturned mixing bowl to trap steam for baking loaves”, says Karen. Alternatively, you could also get by with a basic sheet pan that’s been preheated in the oven. To mimic the steaming process, spray water down the sheet after it’s been preheated, then spray over your loaf for a good 30 seconds before tossing it in the oven, and again halfway through for about 10 to 15 seconds. 

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