Chef John's Sourdough Starter Recipe

Chef John's Sourdough Starter

Recipe by: Chef John

"Here's part 1 of my 2-part recipe for sourdough bread. It takes 4 days to make the starter, but there's really not much to it other than 'feeding' the starter once a day for about 10 days."

Ingredients

Original recipe yields 8 servings

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US
Metric

700 grams bread flour

700 grams filtered water, divided
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Directions

Prep
15 m
Ready In
10 d 15 m

Day 1: Mix 70 grams flour and 70 grams water together in a container with a lid. Container needs to be large enough to accommodate another 70 grams water and flour. Cover loosely so gases can escape. Leave for 24 hours at 70 degrees F.
Day 2: Add 70 grams flour and 70 grams water. Stir. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours at 70 degrees.
Day 3: Remove half (140 grams) of the starter. Add 70 grams flour and 70 grams water. Stir. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours at 70 degrees.
Day 4 through about Day 10: Repeat Step 3 each day until starter smells fruity, yeasty, and is beautifully fermented. You can test this by seeing if the mixture doubles within 2 to 3 hours of feeding.
Refrigerate until needed. Most people recommend you feed the starter once a month or so (Step 3).
To make bread using a refrigerated starter: feed it at room temperature for two days. Use your refreshed starter to make bread on the third day. Remember to set aside 140 grams of starter and feed it again before returning it to the fridge.

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Footnotes

Chef's Notes:
The exact number of grams seen herein doesn't really matter, as long as you're using exactly the same amount of flour and water, by weight.
I use gram weights for flour and water to ensure I'm using exactly the same amount for each. 700 grams of flour equals about 3 cups; 70 grams equals about 1/3 cup. But I do recommend using a kitchen scale to measure grams.
For best results, use bottled water; chlorine can kill the yeast/bacteria.
You can use different kinds of flour. I like half spelt and half bread flour, but this recipe will work with pretty much any combination, including all wheat flour.
Get the recipe for Chef John's Sourdough Bread.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving: 316 calories; 1.5 g fat; 63.5 g carbohydrates; 10.5 g protein; 0 mg cholesterol; 4 mg sodium. Full nutrition

By Patricia Guerra

How much yeast is in a package of yeast?

By Tim Claxton

Can I freeze dough and then bake it later?

By Tiffany J.

I want my bread loaves to have a thicker crust. What can I do?

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Reviews

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10 Ratings

Most helpful positive review

Jawn Wms

12/31/2017

I named my starter "Abreadnego" because it's going in "the firey furnace. *Ba-dum-ching!*

Most helpful critical review

Maureen318

2/23/2018

I usually like Chef John's recipes, but I followed this one to the letter and after 10 days--nothing. No smell, no doubling in size, no nothing. I threw it out. The only thing I can think of is...

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Jawn Wms

12/31/2017

I named my starter "Abreadnego" because it's going in "the firey furnace. *Ba-dum-ching!*

Gary Wodek

1/31/2018

Why do you remove half (140 grams) on day 3 and subsequent days (4 thru 10)?

Megan

10/29/2017

My little pet is doing really well. Haven't named it yet. Very excited to make sourdough for my family. Thanks for the straightforward recipe/tutorial. I came across many on the internet but it...

John

4/19/2018

Has anyone tried making the starter with rye flour? If so, would the amount of water be different?

Eva Klaess Barnett

4/5/2018

I did all this and my sourdough starter is a champ. Named him Lievito Corleone. Unlike some of the drier starters, this takes on a really lovely lactic/acetic balance that makes a subtly sour b...

Qhhunters

1/15/2018

So far so good. I made bread on day 9 and refrigerated the rest of the starter. Prepping to make bread again in 2 days, so the starter is out of the refrig and will feed it for 2 days again.

green cook

4/14/2018

Love this starter, great directions! Just one thing, mine never doubled in the 10 days. Do you think it is still good? I'm going to try it.

Theresa Torrence Allen

4/11/2018

Today I have to make new starter because I messed up my initial one by adding BREAD MAKING ingredients to it. YIKES. This recipe is spot on. I used it to make so many loves of bread that I d...

Maureen318

2/23/2018

I usually like Chef John's recipes, but I followed this one to the letter and after 10 days--nothing. No smell, no doubling in size, no nothing. I threw it out. The only thing I can think of is...

Chef John's Sourdough Starter

Ingredients

Directions