Sourdough Roundup
A collection of my favorite sourdough tips and recipes!
As I embarked on my sourdough journey, I found many incredible resources and recipes from more experienced creators. Here are the ones that have become household favorites.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to purchase through my links, at no cost to you.
Getting started with sourdough
First, you will need a sourdough starter.
Option 1: Make one from scratch. This takes time and patience to grow and mature your starter. Farmhouse on Boone has a helpful step-by-step guide.
To be honest, I tried and failed this several times and lost motivation to figure out sourdough altogether… option 2 was a game changer.
And what about a gluten-free sourdough starter? This guide from Vanilla & Bean is a great place to start!Option 2: Get some starter from a friend or neighbor! Post on a local Facebook group and ask if anyone has some organic starter to share. I guarantee several people would be happy to give you some of theirs. If you’re in St. Louis, I am always happy to share mine.
And I have to shout out my friend, Anita - the scrunchy less-stressed mama, who gave me some of her starter and taught me how to make sourdough. She had a “learn to make sourdough” party explaining the benefits of both sourdough and CBD on gut health. If you’re interested in CBD, be sure to check her out!
Option 3: Dehydrated starters. You can purchase bags of dehydrated starter from many places, even gluten-free starter. They come with instructions on how to revive it. In about 5 days, you have an active, mature starter ready to bake with!
As for what to put your starter in, I use a 16oz wide-mouth mason jar to house mine, and a long cake spatula to mix. You can also find helpful kits with bands, jars, lids, and spatulas, like this one.
Next, you need to find one, simple recipe to start with.
I recommend you stick with one recipe until you have made 10 loaves. This will help you understand what you need to adapt to your schedule, environment, and preferences. After those 10 loaves, you can experiment with other ratios, recipes, and add-ins.
Farmhouse on Boone Beginner Sourdough - Recipe and Guide is what I used to get started and it’s been very successful for me.
I still follow the above recipe but have tweaked my ratios to 300g water, 100g starter, 460g flour, and 15g salt. With the humidity of my home in St. Louis, this lower hydration (65%) has given me great rise, shaping, and oven spring. (Don’t worry if that sounded like gibberish. All of these terms are ones you will eventually familiarize yourself with as you experiment)
For my gluten-free friends, this seeded multigrain sourdough recipe from Vanilla & Bean is my easy, tried-and-true favorite! Follow her guide, flours, and recipe to a T and you’ll have the yummiest gluten-free bread you’ve ever had. Her recipe uses whole-grain flowers, giving you the best results and a less gummy texture. I get all of my gluten-free flours through Thrive market (my link saves you 40% off your first order). Also, I bake mine in a cast iron loaf pan, this one is the perfect size.
Helpful Supplies for beginners that will last as you advance:
This handy kit has everything you need to mix, shape, and proof your dough. It’s high quality construction will serve you well. This is the one I have!
I LOVE this one, it is the perfect size for bread making, my viral pot roast, and many other dishes. A must for successful sourdough!
For repeatable results, it’s best to weigh all of your ingredients when feeding your starter and making your bread. I love how slim this one is for storage.
Ingredients I love:
FLOUR: Use organic, unbleached flour for your starter and loaves. Pesticides, glyphosate, and additional refinement can negatively affect your fermentation; avoiding those is better for you anyway.
Costco has a 2-pack of 10lb organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour that works great. It’s what I use, is very economical, and is a popular pick amongst sourdough bakers.
King Arthur also makes a great bread flour that is widely popular, I have found the best price for that to be through Thrive Market (p.s. this link gets you 40% off your first order).
RICE FLOUR: Don’t skip the rice flour for your bannetons. Bob’s Red Mill makes a great organic brown rice flour, which I also get in my monthly Thrive Market order.
WATER: FILTER YOUR WATER! Tap water has sanitizers and softeners that can negatively affect your dough (and health). At the very least, run it through a Berkey filter or grab some distilled water. I use reverse osmosis water for all our baking and drinking. AquaTru makes an affordable tabletop RO filter which your sourdough and health will thank you for.
My favorite sourdough recipes:
This guide and recipe have served me well in learning how to make sourdough. It's easy to follow and doesn’t unnecessarily complicate sourdough.
These will change your perspective on how pancakes should taste for the rest of your life! Worked great as waffles too with no revisions.
Skip the restaurant and make pizza at home! I grabbed a pizza peel and a thick pizza steel to complete our homemade pizza setup.
Hands down the most incredible cookie I have ever made or eaten! The sourdough gives such a unique texture and flavor, a true crowd pleaser!
This is a great way to use up your discard and was an easy 15-minute meal! Its excellent as a breakfast pizza and also as regular “dinner” pizzas.
More recipes to come!
As I experiment with different recipes and techniques I will be adding them to this page. Keep checking back!
