World's Easiest and Fastest Sourdough Starter
Making a sourdough starter can be a frustrating experience that takes several days; however, I'm going to give you an easier method. A little food science, helps us understand that a sourdough starter and kefir has many yeasts and beneficial bacterias in common. In fact, I've made a successful loaf of bread just using kefir. I think sourdough is the most effective starter for bread for a few reasons, but it proved to be a fun venture. Since kefir and whey contain some of the same yeast and bacteria strains as sourdough, it gives us a quick jumpstart into the world of sourdough. This starter will be ready to use in 24-36 hours!
World's Easiest and Fastest Sourdough Starter
Start
50 grams plain kefir, or 30 grams whey from straining plain yogurt
30 grams flour
First Feeding
80 grams non-chlorinated water
80 grams flour
1. Use a kitchen scale to measure 50 grams plain kefir and flour into a small container. Mix together until flour is incorporated.
2. Cover with a lid and let the mixture sit on the counter for 12 hours.
3. Transfer to a larger container and feed with 160 grams flour and 160 grams non-chlorinated water, or whey. Mix well, cover and let sit on the counter at room temperature for 12 more hours. The container should be big enough that the starter can double in size without overflowing.
4. At this point, your starter should have expanded and be a bit bubbly. You can see the bubbles best on the sides of a clear container. (If it is not active yet, see the next step.). Congratulations! Now you have a magical sourdough starter.
5. If it doesn't seem active yet, go ahead feed with 120 grams non-chlorinated water and 120 grams flour and let sit another 12 hours, covered on the counter.
6. To keep sourdough starter healthy, you will need to go through cycles of feeding and using, feeding and using.
7. See my post here on how to maintain a sourdough starter.
TIPS
Before taking on bread making, I recommend starting with pancakes, waffles, crackers, and crepes while you get the hang of maintaining a sourdough starter.
To use your starter to make bread, it's best to have fed the starter approximately 6 hours before using in a bread recipe. It should be bubbly, active and have doubled, or almost doubled in size.
No discarding sourdough starter here! Use excess starter for pancakes, our favorite waffles, crepes or crackers. I promise, no one will complain! Why waste high quality flour?
You can use any flour you'd like to maintain a starter. Of course, I recommend an ancient whole grain. I usually use Einkorn whole grain flour, but you could use any flour, including whole grain gluten free flours. You can also change up the flavor of your starter by feeding it different flours, for example buckwheat flour to make buckwheat crepes etc.
If you use gluten free flours, I recommend using flours that are whole grain, free of gums and minimally processed; or ideally grind your own grains for freshly milled flour.