If you read my previous post, then you already know how much I love sourdough. If not, you can check out how I got started here, https://www.creshaslife.com/sourdough-journey/. You’ll also know about the starter I have been using and how I purchased it from someone I have followed on social media for years.

Well, I did a thing I had ZERO intentions of doing…. I created my own starter from scratch. Meet Sunshyne, named that way because she brightens up my life.

I had someone reach out to me with questions about starting from scratch, and because I had no personal experience, I was unsure if I could assist. I had read all of the things people said about starting one. I did provided guidance, but it was weighing heavily on me so much so that I felt compelled to make my own from scratch. I decided to do a small batch because I did not want to waste large amounts of flour. I had some 4 oz Mason jars at home and figured I’d begin there. Through my research I discovered the quickest way to create a starter and get it ready was to use flours like whole wheat or rye. It was just my luck that I already had whole wheat and some organic dark rye flour on hand, so I didn’t even have to go out and buy anything special. Here’s how my journey went:

• Day 1: Added 10 grams of whole wheat plus 10 grams of lukewarm water in the jar, mixed, covered loosely with lid and let sit 24 hours.
• Day 2: Stirred and let sit another 24 hours.
• Day 3: Discarded (removed/threw away) half (10 grams) and fed (added) with 10 grams of dark rye flour and 10 grams of lukewarm water; stirred and let sit 24 hours.
• Day 4: There was about 30 grams of starter in the jar. I discarded down to 10 grams and fed with10 grams of the dark rye flour plus 10 grams of lukewarm water, mixed, covered loosely and let sit 24 hours.
• Day 5: There was about 30 grams of starter in the jar. Rather than discard and throw away, I decided to split into two jars. One jar had 10 grams of starter, and the other had 20 grams of starter.
  • To the one with 10 grams, I fed with 5 grams of whole wheat, 5 grams of dark rye and 10 grams of water.
  • To the one with 20 grams, I fed with 20 grams of organic all purpose flour and 20 grams of water.
• Day 6: Repeat day 5 feeding for both jars.
• Day 7-8: The starters had doubled; repeated the feeding for both jars.
• Day 9: Combined the two starters into one by taking 10 grams from each and fed with 20 grams of all purpose flour and 20 grams of water.
• Day 10: There was 60 grams of starter so rather than discarding, I fed with 50 grams of all purpose flour, 20 grams of dark rye and approximately 70 grams of water.
• Day 11: Discarded down to 20 grams of starter; fed with 24grams of all purpose, 11 grams of whole wheat and approximately 30 grams of water.
• Day 12: Discarded down to 11 grams of starter; fed with 26 grams of all purpose, 14 grams of whole wheat and approximately 35 grams of water.

When your starter doubles within 4-6 hours for three days in a row, it is considered established and ready for use meaning you can use the discard for recipes as well as the starter itself for making bread. I have seen some say it is not safe to use if it hasn’t been 7-14 days. There are so many rules, and I really like to keep the entire process of sourdough calm and worry-free. Once mine was established, I began feeding larger and incorporating all purpose flour. Now I do not use whole wheat or rye, but I can add any of those at any time during a feeding if I’d like.

Mine starts growing within an hour of feeding when fed equal parts flour and water. Sunshyne is bright, strong, resilient and ready to give rise in any loaf I use her in. I am proud of myself for doing this, and it was much easier than I thought it would be. I can’t help but think of where I could/would be in my sourdough journey if only I had created my starter over 20 years ago when I first had the desire to start. I guess I’ll never know because everything happens when it’s supposed to happen. That’s all for now.

Until next time…

It’s Me