Sourdough Keeper

How to complete Sourdough Keeper

You're cultivating a living colony of wild yeast and bacteria from nothing but flour, water, and air, then using it to leaven real bread. It takes one to two weeks of tiny daily effort and permanently changes how you think about bread and fermentation.

1. Day 1: mix 50g whole wheat or rye flour with 50g water in a jar, cover loosely, leave at room temperature.
2. Once a day, discard half and feed with 50g flour and 50g water. Bubbles usually appear by day 3-4.
3. Continue until the starter reliably doubles within 4-8 hours of feeding, typically day 7-14.
4. Confirm it's ready with the float test: a spoonful of active starter floats in water.
5. Bake a basic loaf: mix, stretch-and-fold, bulk ferment, shape, proof overnight in the fridge, bake in a Dutch oven at high heat.

Tips

• A vigorous rise on day 3 followed by dead silence is normal — bacteria bloom first, real yeast takes over by day 6-7. Keep feeding.
• Warmth matters: 24-26C is ideal. On a cold counter everything takes twice as long.
• Use unchlorinated water and unbleached flour; both can slow the culture.
• Your first loaf will probably be dense. It still counts.

What counts as done

A baked loaf risen entirely by a starter you grew yourself, with no commercial yeast anywhere in the process.