Skip to content 
First steps towards making a sourdough loaf
Do you have a sourdough starter? Have you tried making one with no success? Help is at hand! My sourdough starter recipe is so easy to follow.
Eac September the Real Bread Campaign encourages us to eat (and perhaps make) sourdough bread. Real sourdough, we hope, made with just flour, water and salt. Of course, you can make sourdough at any time of year.
Why make sourdough? Yes, it does take time to create a loaf, but the flavour is so worth it. Sour it shouldn’t be. It is also far more easy to suggest and has plenty of fibre.
I’m sharing my recipe for sourdough starter. It is a process that takes 4 days. Once you’ve had your starter a while and keep using it, it will noticeably thicken and become quicker to bubble Even if you have a starter that is quite healthy, it is always a good idea to know how to start again, just in case. For example during the recent hot weather, some starters failed.
You might just want to call your starter a dough monster – with a nice pun in its name.
Simple Sourdough Starter
This recipe will show you how to make a starter. To make a sourdough loaf, please follow this recipe.
Simple Sourdough Starter
Equipment
- 1 container with lid to hold at least 200 ml of liquid
- 1 Jug
- 1 spatula or wooden spoon
- 1 Digital scales
Ingredients
- 200 gr white bread flour
- 200 ml water about 22C or 70F
- 5 ml honey preferably local honey
Instructions
- Use your container for mixing.
Day 1
- Mix 50 gr flour, 50 gr water and 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of honey together. Place the lid lightly on top and leave at room temperature.
Day 2
- Add 50 gr flour and 50 gr water and mix well. Place the lid on top. Leave at room temperature.
Day 3
- Add 50 gr flour and 50 gr water and mix well. Place the lid on top. Leave at room temperature. You should see a few bubbles appearing.
Day 4
- Your mixture should be very bubbly today. If you are going to use it for bread, add 100 gr flour and 100 ml water first thing in the morning. It will be ready to use about 2:30 pm.
- You will now keep your starter in the fridge. Feed it 100 gr or flour and water on the morning of when you want to use it. It will be ready to use about 2:30 pm
Notes
Tilly’s Sourdough Crackers
After making your starter, sourdough crackers are a great recipe to try. Get your starter to a bubbly stage and create some tasty savoury biscuits. My grandaughter Tilly has created a sourdough cracker recipe for you. You can adapt it to add flavours that you prefer.
These are easy enough for anyone to make. Use any shape cutter you wish and adapt the flavours to your taste.
Tilly’s Sourdough Crackers
Equipment
- 1 Mixing bowl medium
- 1 Mixing spoon or spatula
- 1 Digital scales
- 1 Baking Tray
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Cutters Any shape
- 1 Baking parchment
Ingredients
- 230 gr sourdough starter
- 130 gr flour plus a little for rolling
- 50 gr butter salted or unsalted
- 5 gr salt
- 2 pinches coriander seeds optional.
Instructions
- In a bowl, put butter and flour and rub together with your fingers
- Add salt and sourdough starter
- Mix it really well until you can shape it into a ball
- Add a little more flour if needed
- Place on work surface dusted with flour and roll it out until 3 mm thin
- Cut shapes out with our cutters as close as possible to use up all the dough. Put onto the baking parchment on a baking tray.
- Pre heat oven to 200C, 350 F
- Bake until golden brown for about 15 minutes but keep and eye on it.
