I have tried many Sourdough Starter recipes and have found them impractical and ineffective. The Starter, if it is created at all, is generally weak, or it spoils before achieving functionality at all. Throwing out half of the Starter is wasteful.

This recipe has the starter available for use in an extremely short time and is vigorous and hardy. There are no wasted ingredients or complicated schedules.

I have left this started in the fridge for months without paying any attention to it at all, and it has worked, without fail.

I will be posting various Sourdough recipes over the next while.

I hope you find this information helpful and enjoy the process and the products.

Sourdough – -Starter

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Rest Time:  1 – 4 days

Melt honey into hot potato water in a medium high quality stainless steel or glass bowl.

Allow to cool and add flour, a little at a time and blend very well.

Loosely cover the bowl with a towel and leave in a warm place.

Check daily until the mix is fluffy and bubbly.

Add a mix of 1 c. Flour and 1 c. Water to the bubbly starter.

Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for about 1 week. The starter will develop a hard crust which will seal in the starter to create a desirable environment for the starter to grow healthy wild yeasts.

Use desired amount and replace quantity as above with Flour/Water in a 50/50 ratio.

Store the starter in refrigerator until 12-24 hours before use, then feed with 50/50 flour water mixer and place in a warm place for 12+ hours.

If you would like to use more than is available, add the amount of Flour/Water in a 50/50, flour water ratio which will equal the amount of starter desired and mix very well with the starter, cover and leave in a warm place until it is very bubbly, approximately 1 – 3 days, depending on the temperature and amount of flour and water mix that was added.

Starter can be dehydrated by creating a hard crust as mentioned above.  Then by removing the crust and leaving out to complete the drying.  Store the completely dried starter in an airtight container in a cool dark place.

To use the dehydrated starter, crumble and add to the desired amount of Flour/Water mixture and mix well.  Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in a warm place until it becomes very bubbly, approximately 1 – 3 days.

The starter becomes better with time and care, but is not fragile.  If it appears “dead” or has fluid sitting on top, and you would like to use it, simply give it good stir, add the Flour/Water mixture to feed it, and use as normal,

Notes: 

To give the Starter and extra boost, mix in a tablespoon of creamed, unpasteurized honey periodically.

The starter will eventually begin smelling like nail polish remover.  That is the normal smell of the desirable wild yeasts when they are stressed.  The smell will dissipate once the starter is fed.