How To Make Sourdough Starter + Tips
Channel: ladolcelisa
Date: 2020-07-29

I think we can all universally agree that times have been strange lately. I don't know how you have been passing the quarantine, but less time out and exploring the world meant more time at home for my sister and I. Due to this, we decided to finally tackle a goal of ours, and that was making sourdough bread from scratch at home. In order to do so, we needed to first make a sourdough starter, and so we both made our own, combining  elements from various recipes online. The final result was a big hit for us, and we can happily say we have successfully made a very lovely, active, and nice smelling sourdough starter, which in turn produced beautiful results when it came time to baking our sourdough bread (and also discard crackers, which I really love making). Now is the perfect time to attempt a sourdough starter, as it needs daily feeding, and well, I don't know about you, but I'm home every day now! It wasn't without a few bumps along the way however. There were moments that it wasn't quite coming along the way we wanted, and so with a few tricks, we managed to get our starter actively rising and bubbly, and as I write this blog today, my starter Casanova (yes, I named him Casanova after the famous Italian lover so that hopefully my starter too would be 'active'), is very active, and pleasant smelling, which wasn't always the case in the beginning first few days of making the starter. You can use this sourdough starter to make sourdough bread, but also many other baked goods that you would normally use yeast in. You can also use the discard for recipes as well, so really the results are fruitful and endless. When I was a child my favourite bread was sourdough, and now knowing I can make this beautiful bread at home, using my very own starter, makes me feel quite accomplished. 

You can find my in-depth guide to this sourdough starter on my blog post:
https://ladolcelisa.com/2020/07/29/sourdough-starter-guide-video/

You will also find the detailed feeding schedule there, but if you need a quick reference, here is what each day will look like:

Quick Feeding Chart:

Day 1: 100g whole wheat flour +  130g filtered/bottled water

Day 2: 70g starter + 115g water + 100g flour (50g whole wheat + 50g all-purpose)

Day 3: 70g starter + 110g water + 100g flour (50g whole wheat + 50g all-purpose)

Day 4: 70g starter + 105g water + 100g flour (50g whole wheat + 50g all-purpose)

Day 5: 50g starter + 100g water + 100g flour (50g whole wheat + 50g all-purpose)

Day 6: 50g starter + 100g water + 100g flour (50g whole wheat + 50g all-purpose)

Day 7: 25g starter + 100g water + 100 g flour (50g whole wheat + 50g all-purpose)

*Every day (from day 2 on) discard, add water + flour, mix, put lid on, and set aside for 24 hours at room temperature. For the detailed feeding chart, see blog post below:

https://ladolcelisa.com/2020/07/29/sourdough-starter-guide-video/

For amazon links to certain tools I use, see my blogpost or the links below:

Amazon Canada (kitchen scale) Link:
https://amzn.to/33bAX5h

Amazon USA (kitchen scale) Link:
https://amzn.to/39EYNb1

Amazon Canada (glass jar) Link:
https://amzn.to/30WWeNm

Amazon USA (glass jar) Links:
https://amzn.to/339cj5k

Amazon Canada (small spatula) Link:
https://amzn.to/33aqS8G

Amazon USA (small spatula) Link:
https://amzn.to/3goZacl

Amazon Canada (large spatula) Link:
https://amzn.to/2X9XCv1

Amazon USA (large spatula) Link:
https://amzn.to/33562rm

You can see mistakes I've made along the way, but you can also see the end success. As of today I am constantly making discard crackers with the discard (meaning instead of throwing away the sourdough starter discard, I use it in recipes). I have also made sourdough bread many times with great success, and each time I bake bread, the better it turns out. I did not want to share my starter recipe with you all until I successfully used it, so this is why it has taken me quite some time to get out the recipe. If you would like to see me bake bread, or if you would like any recipes I have used and enjoyed along the way, please ask and I will be happy to share! Before we go over the baking process, I wanted to share my tips for achieving an active sourdough starter, so I hope you enjoyed this video! Please give this a "thumbs up" and subscribe if you would like to see more videos like this :)

Love: Lisa (@ladolcelisa) 
https://ladolcelisa.com