Sourdough Starter Day 2 and 3

Hi everyone, I’m Sarah Richcreek, Potter and Domestic Specialist here at Conner Prairie.

I’m here with Sourdough Diaries Episode 2. If you’re anything like me, my sourdough starter hasn’t really done much, which is very normal for this early stage. I’ve been stirring it 3 times a day, with a clean utensil and just taking note that there’s nothing going on yet.

Now you might be asking yourself, why do I have to stir my sourdough starter 3 times a day? Well that’s because not only is this a very great environment for yeast to cultivate and grow, it’s also a really great environment for bacteria to grow. It’s true that there are some good and bad bacterias, but in this case the bacteria that’s going to fall into our sourdough starter is an aerobic kind which grows and lives when oxygen is present. So, when you stir your sourdough starter 3 times a day, we are mixing it into our flour and basically suffocating that bacteria which allows our yeast to thrive and take over.

So for now we’ll continue this process of stirring our sourdough starter for at least 3 times a day and then storing it in a warm, draft-free place. We will begin feeding it once we start to see some activity.

It’s episode 3 and I am excited to share that my sourdough starter has begin to bubble! It was quite active.

I noticed my starter began separating a bit, but not to worry as that’s normal that sometimes the water and the flour begin to separate when there’s activity going on. This means the yeast has started to take over, and it is time to feed it!

(If your sourdough starter is not at this point yet, that’s okay. Just continue to stir it 3 times daily with a clean utensil. A way to know if your starter isn’t working is color change which can typically happen if it is not being stirred enough.)

At this stage, you’ll want to take about half of your sourdough starter and put it in a clean new jar or cup that is bigger in size. Following this step you will feed it again with the same amount of flour and water and store it as before.

From here, we’ll keep stirring our sourdough starter 3 times daily and watch it double in size. We’re getting very close to feeding our starter to a point where we can really enlarge it and start using it.

See you next time for Sourdough Diaries Episode 4!