This recipe is courtesy of Patrick Ryan.

Day 1

50g wholemeal flour
50ml water

Place the flour and water into a clean bowl and stir together until fully combined. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

Day 2

To the sourdough starter add:
75g wholemeal flour
75ml water

Stir together until fully combined. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

Day 3

Discard 100g of sourdough starter and add:
100g wholemeal flour
100ml water

Add the flour to the starter, and mix in the water. Cover and leave overnight.

Day 4

Discard 150g of sourdough starter and add:
100g wholemeal flour
100ml water

Add the flour to the starter, and mix in the water. Cover and leave overnight. The starter should start to smell pleastantly sour with small bubbles appearing on the surface.

Day 5

Discard 200g of sourdough starter and add:
150g strong white flour
150ml water

Add the flour to the starter, and mix in the water. Cover and leave overnight. The starter should appear active and full of bubbles.

Day 6

The starter should be quite active now and be full of little bubbles and smell slightly sour.

Discard 250g of sourdough starter and add:
200g strong white flour
200ml water

Add the flour to the starter, and mix in the water. Cover and leave overnight.

Day 7

The starter should now be very active and full of bubbles. The starter is now ready to use. Remember when making your sourdough bread to always retain some sourdough starter which will be fed/refreshed, ensuring you have some sourdough starter for the next dough.

Maintaining your sourdough starter

Hi, I am your sourdough starter: if you look after me I will give you an endless supply of wholesome, tasty sourdough breads. I am pretty easy going and don’t require anything too fancy. A regular diet of flour and water will keep me strong and healthy. You can use me every day if you wish but I understand that you’re pretty busy and you may only get to hang out with me once a week. I get very hungry when left at room temperature, so just pop me into the fridge where I can chill out until you need me. I can’t wait for us to bake breads together.

  • Your sourdough starter culture is a living, bubbling collection of friendly bacteria that will be used to make your dough rise. It is the natural yeast that will be used to make your sourdough bread.
  • Sourdough starter is best stored in a bowl or plastic container, something which can be covered. Make sure to allow room in the container for the starter to grow and rise.
  • To refresh or feed the sourdough starter: whatever weight of sourdough starter you have, add the same weight of flour and the same weight of water. For example, for 200g of sourdough starter, add 200g of flour and 200g water. Stir everything together.
  • If you have too much starter, discard the excess and keep back what you need.
  • If the sourdough starter is stored at room temperature, it will need to be refreshed/fed every day.
  • For the home baker who might only bake once a week, having to feed/refresh your sourdough starter everyday can become quite expensive.Therefore, your starter can be stored in the fridge for up to 10 days at a time and simply taken out when needed.
If using the starter from the fridge…
  • Take the starter out from the fridge the day before you plan to bake. This will allow the starter to come to room temperature. The night before you plan to bake, refresh/feed your starter as per the instructions above. Leave the starter at room temperature overnight. The next morning the starter should be active, full of bubbles and ready for baking.
  •  Take what you need to make your dough. Feed the remaining starter and return it to the fridge.

Test your very own sourdough starter with these white sourdough and semi-sourdough crusty baguette recipes by Patrick Ryan!