Simple Sour Dough Starter Recipe

Authentic sour dough is normally flour and water mixed together and then left on the counter to catch wild yeast, floating in the air. This process can take days, maybe weeks before you can even begin to have solid results from your starter.

For our purpose today, and to increase the success of creating a sour dough starter, we will be using a tiny, tiny pinch of commercially produced yeast. This allows you to start baking with your starter within the first 24 hours of creating it. As the sour dough ages, it will catch more of the wild yeast and the flavor will take on that authentic sour dough taste. 

If you are unable to bake your discarded sour dough starter every day, you can put your starter in your refrigerator for several days until you are ready to bake with it. You do not need to feed it daily  when it is sitting in the refrigerator. When you are ready to use your starter, remove it from the refrigerator, feed it that night, and in the morning you can remove the portion that you need for your recipe. 🙂

If your sour dough ever turns colors like red, blue or green. THROW IT OUT and start over. With just a little of attention, your sour dough can last for years and years without using any commercial yeast.

Questions? Contact me at janelles@parsnipsandparsimony.com 
I’m happy to help! 🙂
– Janelle

            Initial sour dough starter                    6 hours later-look at that rise!

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Simple Sour Dough Starter

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup warm water preferably non-chlorinated
• 1 pinch yeast

Instructions

1. In a clean glass jar (don’t use metal anything with it), add flour, water and yeast and mix with a wooden spoon. Dough should be the consistency of pancake batter. Cover with cheese cloth or a light piece of fabric and let sit on the counter. Tomorrow, you’ll take approximately 1/2 cup of the starter out to cook with and then replenish your remaining starter with another 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour. Repeat every day. This will get stronger and MORE ACTIVE each day as it catches more wild yeast.

Recipe Notes

I know that this isn’t going to be authentic wild caught yeast sour dough but we want to jump start this starter and we won’t be adding any more commercial yeast after this.