If you don’t get your sourdough starter from a friend, bakery, or buy it online, you'll need to make one from scratch. It's pretty simple: all you need is flour, water, something to mix with, and a jar.
But can you use any wheat flour to make your starter? Should you store it in a plastic or a glass jar? Let’s break down what you’ll need and the best practices for getting started with your sourdough starter.
What’s the best flour for a sourdough starter?
You can create an active starter with any unbleached flour, but some flours speed up the process, while others may take a bit longer.
- Rye Flour – This is the quickest way to get a starter going. It’s packed with extra nutrients that really jumpstart the process.
- Whole Wheat Flour – You can use whole wheat flour alone and get almost the same results as rye. Like rye, it has plenty of nutrients that help the starter thrive in the beginning.
- Bread Flour – Also a good option for starting a sourdough culture. However, I’d recommend mixing it with rye or whole wheat during the first week.
- All-Purpose Flour – It works, but keep in mind that it will probably take a bit longer compared to when using rye or whole wheat. Be sure to choose unbleached over bleached.
I’ve made a starter using only all-purpose flour because I wanted to see if it was possible. It took me three tries and 25 days to get it going. While it can be done, I wouldn’t recommend it—it’s neither the quickest nor the most cost-effective method. A mix of white flour (all-purpose or bread flour) and whole wheat or rye is the best option, especially if you’re making a starter for the first time.
Do not use the following flours to start your sourdough culture:
- Self-Rising Flour – This has baking powder and salt, two ingredients you should never add to your sourdough starter.
- Bleached Flour – The bleaching process strips away most of the yeast cells and nutrients. While you could get a starter going with it, I don’t recommend it. The process is slower, and if you live in a hot climate, your starter will spoil before it becomes active, as the minimal amount of yeast won’t be enough to fight the bad bacteria.
Best water to use when making a starter
Tap water works just fine, but it’s better if it's free of chemicals. Check to see if your local tap water is free of chlorine or has a low amount of it, as too much chlorine can be an issue at the beginning.
How can you tell if your water has high chlorine levels? The easiest way is by smell – if you can smell chlorine, it’s too high.
For the first two weeks, if your tap water has a high chlorine content, you can leave it out in an open container for 30 minutes or overnight to let the chlorine evaporate. It is not recommended to boil the water.
Reverse osmosis filters or distilled water are also bad to start a sourdough culture.
Mixing tools
No need to overthink this — just make sure whatever you use to stir your starter is clean, especially in the first few days. If you’re having trouble mixing out flour clumps, try using a fork instead of a spoon or spatula.
What jar to use for a starter?
I recommend using a glass jar — it makes it easy to see your starter’s progress.
A jar with a removable lid works best, but airtight jars with removable rubber locks on the lid can also be used. Cover the jar with its own lid: don’t use paper towels or coffee filters.
Also, make sure the jar is clean before you start. Pour boiling water in it and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then drain the water before adding your starter.
Optional but handy: scale and rubber band
Is a scale helpful? Absolutely, and if you’re serious about baking and sourdough, you should get one before making a starter. Having one is great for precise measurements, especially if you want to bake consistently or develop your own recipes.
If you don’t have one, measuring by cups works ok as long — as you do it accurately. One of the hardest things to measure correctly when using cups is wheat flour, so learn how to properly measure flour when using cups.
As for the rubber band, it’s a simple trick to help you track your starter’s growth. Wrap the band around the jar at the level of your starter right after feeding it, and then watch how much it rises before the next feeding. It’s an easy and precise way to see if your culture is active.
Questions you might have
A cheater sourdough starter is made in just three days using commercial yeast. It's often called a 'cheater wild yeast starter,' but it's not true sourdough. The process is essentially the same as making a poolish starter.
It depends on how much sourdough starter you will keep. I use one that can comfortably hold between 100g and 200g of sourdough starter, considering that it will at least double in size after feeding. Between 500 ml to 1l should be enough for a sourdough starter.
As I’ve said, it is possible to use all-purpose flour to make a starter, but not recommended. It will take it much longer to develop, and the chances it goes bad (develop mold or bad bacteria) before the yeast establishes is very high. The best and cheapest way to make a starter when using all-purpose flour is mixing it with whole wheat flour.
Ready to start your sourdough culture?
CATHERINE NAUGHTON
Hi Tati I've got a liquid 80grm
starter that is organic and I have to begin to feed it, so I add 40grms water and 40grms flour as per package directions, and continue to discard and feed, this is a second pack of same type of
liquid sourdough starter that's waiting to begin to feed it as my first one did double in size and it did float but for about 5mins then sunk. I made bread with this starter but it was very sticky throughout and didn't rise when baked. So can you tell me where did I go wrong as I used a rye and white all purpose flour mix and kept in a warm germinator but still no luck baking
How do you know the difference between bleached and unbleached flour as it dosen't state on flour package.
How long should the float test stay floating??
How can you tell even if starter doubles in size and stays that way for a few hours and then falls back , same day what then do you wait until next day to feed or feed it again after discarding half & do you remove all from jar and keep half and feed and return to the jar.
Regards Catherine
Milk and Pop
Hi Catherine!
You're feeding your starter correctly for what you tell me.
About the floating test, if starter floats it's already good, you don't need to wait for any amount of time. Drop it in the water, if it floats, it has passed the test. 🙂
Regarding bleached x unbleached, it's usually written in the package when the flour is unbleached. Depending on the brand, usually there's also a phone number you can call to get the info.
To check if starter doubles, feed it, put a rubber band around the jar leveling it with the starter. If, when you check, starter fell back already, check the mark it left in the jar to see if it had doubled.
Hope I've helped! Happy baking 😉