Liquid Sourdough Starter by Eric Kayser
If you’re getting your hands wet in the art of bread-making, you will soon find that owning a jar of sourdough starter is a game changer. Because behind every great loaf, there is likely a great starter. So what is a sourdough starter and why would you need it? A starter is what we call a preferment – a mix of water and flour, meant to cultivate and maintain wild yeast and bacteria. When baking breads, this “living” mixture is used as a “head start” for your dough, making it…
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- EASY
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 140g organic rye flour
- 240g filtered water (20C/68F).10g liquid honey (or liquid malt)
- 100 g whole wheat flour (T55 or T65)
- You will also need a clean glass jar, a rubber spatula and a food scale.
Instructions
- 1
Day 1
- 2
In a small bowl, mix together 20g of rye flour with 20g of water (20C/68F) and 5g of honey (or malt).
- 3
Cover with a tea towel, and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
- 4
Day 2
- 5
In a medium size bowl, mix together 40g of rye flour with 40g of water (20C/68F) and 5g of honey (or malt). Add in the starter from the day before and mix (this is called “feeding” the levain).
- 6
Cover with a tea towel, and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
- 7
Bubbles will start to form at the top, indicating the wild yeast is getting active.
- 8
Day 3
- 9
In a bigger bowl, mix together 80g of rye flour with 80g of water (20C/68F). Add in the starter from the day before, and mix.
- 10
Cover with a tea towel, and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
- 11
Bubbles will multiply, and the starter will have a foamy texture.
- 12
Day 4
- 13
In a bigger bowl, mix together 100g of wheat flour with 100g of water (20C/68F). Add in the starter from the day before, and mix.
- 14
The starter is bubbly, frothy and has a sharp sour smell to it. It is ready to be used!
- 15
Grab your final starter vessel (a mason jar ideally), and weigh it on the scale (while empty!).
- 16
Fill the jar with the sourdough starter and weigh it again on the scale. The difference of weight is the weight of your sourdough.
- 17
Maintenance Routine:
- 18
Store your starter in the jar, at room temperature, with the lid just laying on top (not twisted/sealed) so it never stops being inoculated with small amounts of air.
- 19
In general, you will need 100g of starter to bake a 500g bread loaf. This recipe is for a 500g starter, so you will be able to bake 1 or 2 loaves every 3 days.
- 20
This sourdough stays active 3 days, so you need to feed it every 3 days. Whether you use it for baking or not, you need to feed it every 3 days, regardless.
- 21
When feeding it, use 50% rye flour and 50% whole wheat flour.
- 22
To feed it, add 25% of its weight in water and 25% of its weight in flour (rye or white). For example, if you have 300g of starter left, add-in 75g of flour and 75g of water (300g x 25%=75g)
- 23
Always feed it at the same time (adopt a routine, ie. feed it right before you leave for work or come home from work).