The Good Hearted Woman

Home Cooking & Cozy Living

Sourdough recipes and resources especially for beginners, and folks just getting back into the world of sourdough. Easy, step-by-step directions.

Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake

By 3 Comments

In this moist, buttery Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake, fresh cranberries provide a tart contrast to the sweet vanilla pound cake and double layer of rich, walnut-crumb topping. Perfect for a relaxing weekend morning or afternoon snack.

Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

If you’ve not yet jumped on the Sourdough Train, this Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake might just be the thing that punches your ticket! 

My mom use to mix up a coffee cake on Sunday mornings once or twice a month. It took nearly an hour to bake, and in that time, our house would fill with the scents of roasting walnuts, caramelizing brown sugar, and warm vanilla cake.

There were only two things wrong with Mama’s coffee cake: it took way too long to bake, and there was never enough of that sweet, nutty, crumb topping! 

I can’t change the baking time problem – it’s still going to take almost an hour to bake. But I’ve definitely resolved the crumb dilemma! This recipe makes double the amount of crumb traditionally used. (If you prefer your coffee cake with less crumb topping, it’s an easy fix: just make less of the topping.) 

3 Plates of Cake

This sourdough coffee cake is an excellent way to use up extra sourdough starter, too! It’s easy to make, tastes amazing, and is perfect for any occasion when you want a little something sweet.

You can use a hand mixer if you want, but I prefer mixing this cake entirely by hand. Either way, it will take you about 15 minutes to get it in the oven.

Cranberry Sourdough Coffee Cake

No cranberries? No problem! You can use any berry you want (blueberries work especially well!) or leave the berries out altogether. Any way you make it, it’s going to be delicious! 

Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake
5 from 2 votes

Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake

In this moist, buttery Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake, fresh cranberries provide a tart contrast to the sweet vanilla pound cake and double-layer of rich, walnut-crumb topping.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Total Time1 hr
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake, cranberries, sourdough
Servings: 16 servings
Calories: 339kcal
Author: Renée | The Good Hearted Woman

Equipment

Ingredients

Crumble Topping

  • 2 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans, or filberts, or almonds
  • 2/3 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons butter melted

Cake Batter

  • 1/2 cup butter room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup sourdough starter UNFED
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup milk room temperature
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries room temperature
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F | 176°C.
    Grease a 9" square pan, or spray with cooking spray.

Crumb Topping

  • Chop walnuts.
    I usually chop nuts for recipes by hand, but for this recipe, you want them a little finer. I use a small food processor for this step, processing the nuts a handful at a time, pulsing quickly a few times with each batch. You want most of the walnuts to be finely chopped, but you don't want to make nut butter. It's good to have a few bigger pieces here and there. It gives the Crumb Topping a more interesting texture, too.
    Chopping walnuts
  • Whisk together nuts, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.
    Mixing crumb topping
  • Add vanilla and melted butter and mix until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
    Crumb topping mixture

Cake Batter

  • In a large mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to break down butter.
    It is critical that the butter be at least 65°F [18.3°C] or it will be too hard to mix the cake. Optimally, butter should be about 70°-72°F.
    blank
  • In a large mixing bowl, use a spatula to combine sugar and butter. It doesn't need to be pretty; just mix it in thoroughly.
    Mix butter and sugar
  • Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture one at a time, stirring thoroughly to combine after each addition.
    Mixing in eggs
  • Stir in vanilla and sourdough starter. Set aside.
    Mix in Sourdough
  • In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together 2 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
    Sifted Dry Ingredients
  • Add dry ingredients to Starter mixture and stir to combine. Add milk and mix until smooth.
    Mix in Flour
  • Stir in orange zest and cranberries.
    Add Cranberries to Sourdough
  • [A] Spread one-half cake batter in the bottom of a prepared pan.
    [B] Sprinkle one-half crumble mixture over the top. Press the crumble down very lightly with your hands.
    [C] CAREFULLY distribute the rest of the batter on top of the first crumb layer. The idea is to mix in as little of the crumb mixture into the cake batter as possible.
    I do this by dropping dollops of batter over the top of the crumb layer, and then carefully spreading it to the edges using a frosting spatula or the back of a spoon.
    [D] Sprinkle the second half of the crumble mixture over the top. Press the crumble down very lightly with your hands.
    Butter
  • Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes. Open the oven door and gently cover the cake top with a piece of foil. Basically, just lay the foil over the top.
    This will keep the topping from over browning during the final minutes of baking.
    Close the oven and continue baking for an additional 10-20 minutes (for a total of 45-55 minutes cooking time), or until a skewer comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and cool on rack.
    Coffee Cake - baked

Notes

This coffee cake can be stored at room temperature for several days. It also freezes well. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 339kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 253mg | Potassium: 117mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 287IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Making this Coffee Coffee Cake Recipe: A Closer Look 

Sourdough Coffee Cake Ingredients

I usually chop nuts for recipes by hand, but for this recipe, you want them a little finer. I use a small food processor for this step, processing the nuts a handful at a time, pulsing quickly a few times with each batch. You want most of the walnuts to be finely chopped, but you don’t want to make nut butter, and it’s good to have a few bigger pieces here and there. It gives the Crumb Topping a more interesting texture, too.

Chopping walnuts

Assembling the coffee cake is easy, but Step C does takes just a bit of patience. 

[A] Spread one-half cake batter in the bottom of a prepared pan.

[B] Sprinkle one-half crumble mixture over the top. Press the crumble down very lightly with your hands.

[C] CAREFULLY distribute the rest of the batter on top of the first crumb layer. The idea is to mix in as little of the crumb mixture into the cake batter as possible.

I do this by dropping dollops of batter over the top of the crumb layer, and then carefully spreading it to the edges using a frosting spatula or the back of a spoon.

[D] Sprinkle the second half of the crumble mixture over the top. Press the crumble down very lightly with your hands.

Butter

Stages of a Healthy Sourdough Starter

Use Unfed Starter or Discard for this recipe. 

  • Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface. 
  • Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
  • Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight. 
  • Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
  • Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.

Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake

I’m sharing this recipe on the Weekend Potluck Recipe Linkup.
Check it out for more great recipes!

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake  Cranberry Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake

Wavy Line

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Mom’s Sourdough Hotcakes (Sourdough Pancakes)

By 14 Comments

This is my Mom’s recipe for Sourdough Hotcakes. Crisp, light, and slightly tangy, these delicious Sourdough Pancakes make an easy breakfast or brunch. (They’re also a great way to use your leftover sourdough starter!)

Sourdough Pancakes with Syrup

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

Wavy Line

I guess I was around four the first time I remember having sourdough pancakes.

Warning: Content contains a meandering, flagrantly nostalgic recipe-origin narrative. Read on for the story, or click here to go directly to the recipe.

We were staying up at Mister and Missus Houston’s vacation place up on the mountain between Rhododendron and ZigZag. When you stepped into their little cabin, the first thing you saw was the stone fireplace and the main room, about half the size of our living room at home. From the main room, you could go straight through into the kitchen and eating area, and then turn a corner to the Houston’s bedroom, and the extra bedroom beyond, where my parents slept; or you could go left and up the sturdy wooden staircase that led to the loft, where Karen and I stayed.

Karen was the Houston’s daughter. She was about six or eight years older than me, but since I was the only other kid there, we got thrown in together.

If I remember right, the cabin had been in Missus Houston’s family for many years; generations, even. It was old and snug, and I loved being there. Whenever I hear the song Grandma’s Feather Bed, the big feather bed that Karen and I shared up in the loft is the one I think of. 

The Houston’s cabin had no electricity or central heat, but Missus Houston had one of those big, old-timey wood cooking stoves, and she kept a fire going in it all the time. She would let it die down at night, and stoke it up in the morning. On crisp mountain mornings, the spot right by the stove was always the warmest place in the cabin. 

I can remember smelling the sourdough pancakes long before I tasted them, their scent mingling with maple and sausage and strong black coffee as it wafted up the stairs to us. Karen and I followed the breakfast smells down to find our mothers in the kitchen, pouring pancake batter into a huge cast iron skillet and stacking thick, lace-edged pancakes on a big plate that set on the stove’s sideboard. 

When I sat down to the table, and my mom gave me a plate stacked with three thick pancakes the size of my palm. Silver Dollar Hot Cakes, she called them. Then she turned her fork on its side and cut them into neat little triangles for me. Missus Houston asked if I wanted maple syrup or Marion berry, and like any good Oregonian, I chose Marion berry. There was so much to take in: the mountain and breakfast smells, the giant blue-speckled coffee pot percolating on the stove, the sounds of pancakes sizzling in the skillet and my mother laughing with her friend.

My fork speared one of the little pancake triangle stacks and then the next, and I ate silently, pausing between bites only for a swallow of milk to wash it all down. 

blank

My mother died recently, and a few weeks ago, while sorting through some of her things, I ran across a stack of hand-written recipes. There are a handful of them that I hope to eventually share with you, but her Sourdough Hotcake recipe comes first. Mostly, because I needed to make them. 

Mama standing by the woodstove in her housecoat, spatula in hand, and the smell of sourdough hitting hot oil on cast iron, and the steam rising off the fresh stacks… one bite of these pancakes brings it all back like it was yesterday.

Wavy Line

Mom's Sourdough Hot Cake Recipe

I’ve reduced Mom’s recipe so that it makes about ten 5-inch pancakes instead of twenty. I did this for couple of reasons; mainly, because I rarely have two extra cups of sourdough starter; and also because (these days) we just don’t need to make twenty or so pancakes at one time. However, if you decide to double the recipe, you can add an extra egg if you want to. (Also, if you’re keeping track, there are further directions on the back of the card about adding butter, etc.)

Stack of Sourdough Pancakes
One of the things that often surprises people when they first try sourdough pancakes is how light and fluffy they are. They have a slightly sweet, mildly tangy flavor, and are so worth the effort. Plus, not only are these hotcakes tender and delicious, but they also are a perfect way to use up your sourdough discard!

Stack of Sourdough Pancakes
4.84 from 6 votes

Sourdough Pancakes

Crisp, light, and slightly tangy, these delicious Sourdough Pancakes make a delicious breakfast or brunch. (They're also an easy, practical way to use your leftover sourdough starter!)
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time5 mins
Rest Time5 mins
Total Time20 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Breakfast, Breakfast or Brunch
Cuisine: American, Comfort Food
Keyword: pancakes, sourdough, sourdough baking, sourdough starter
Servings: 10 5" pancakes
Calories: 101kcal
Author: Renée ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Equipment

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Start with leftover starter [Discard] or Unfed Starter. Starter should be healthy, but should not have been fed in the last 12 hours.
    This recipe is very forgiving. Use one cup, more or less.
    Sourdough Discard
  • Sift dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda) together into a medium bowl.
    Add wet ingredients (e.g., sourdough starter, milk, egg, and melted butter) to dry ingredients.
    Pancake Batter in Bowl
  • Whisk to thoroughly combine. The mixture should begin to bubble almost immediately.
    Pancake Batter
  • Preheat griddle or skillet to 325°-350° F. When griddle is hot, spray it with cooking spray or lightly oil it with a neutral oil. (I use extra light olive oil.)
    Pour ¼ cup of pancake batter onto the preheated, oiled griddle or skillet.
    Sourdough Pancake on Griddle, Side 1
  • Flip pancakes over when the top begins to bubble and the bubbles do not fill in.
    Pancake Bubbling on Grill
  • Cook pancakes for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until they cooked through.
    Sourdough Pancake on Griddle, Side 2

Nutrition

Calories: 101kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 308mg | Potassium: 40mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 117IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

What’s the difference between Hotcakes and Pancakes?

Pancakes, by broad definition, include any flat, pan-fried cake that is flipped in order to complete cooking. They are nearly always round (unless you’re into fancy pancake art) and are cooked on an oiled griddle or frying pan. Pancakes may be leavened or unleavened, and can be sweet or savory; a list which includes everything from potato latkes to french crepes.

Hotcakes are a specific type of pancake; however, from what I can tell, what you call your hotcakes depends a lot upon where you’re from. In many parts of the United States, the terms pancakes, flapjacks, griddlecakes, and hotcakes are used interchangeably. 

American hotcakes (or breakfast pancakes) usually include milk, eggs, flour, and fat (i.e., butter, oil, etc.), and they also always includes a leavening agent, making them rise and puff up when cooked. In contrast, when I was researching this, I learned that British pancakes are often unleavened and resemble a crêpe.

All that said, my mother was from Missouri, and was particular about things like this. She would tell you that the recipe shared here is for Hot Cakes [two words] and they look and taste nothing like their flat, thin pancake cousins. 

Frankly, you can call them whatever you want; because whatever they are called, they’re always delicious! 

blank

Stages of a Healthy Sourdough Starter

Use Discard or Unfed Starter for this recipe. 

  • Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface. 
  • Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
  • Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight. 
  • Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
  • Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.

Sourdough Hot Cakes on a plate

Sourdough Starter: If you do not yet have a sourdough starter, there are a number of ways to get one; including making a rye sourdough starter [ready to use in 5-7 days] or starting one from dried starter flakes [ready to use in 10+ days].

Sourdough Pancakes for Brunch

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

Mom's Sourdough Hot Cakes (Sourdough Pancakes)   blank  blank 

Wavy Line

Easy Sourdough Recipes & Advice for Beginners

Kaylen's Bread [Easy Sourdough]

Rye Sourdough Starter

Lazy Sourdough Caretaker's Guide

Mom's Sourdough Hotcakes

Buttery & Flaky Sourdough Biscuits

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

Photo Credit: www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk

Reactivating Dry Sourdough Starter

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle

Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Donuts

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Rye Hearth Bread

Photo Credit: adamantkitchen.com

Date Molasses Sourdough Pancakes

Photo Credit: www.theschizochef.com

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Photo Credit: www.farmhouseonboone.com

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

By 41 Comments

These Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones smell like heaven, and they taste even better! Perfectly delicious ANY time of year! 

Sourdough Scone

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

These Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones smell like heaven, and they taste even better! Plus, while they’re baking, your house will smell warm and cozy and utterly spectacular!

I’m not usually a Pumpkin Spice Girl. I don’t rush out when the first leaf of Autumn hits the ground in search of Pumpkin Spice Pringles and the like. (Yes. They are a real thing.) Honestly, I can take it or leave it, beverage or otherwise. But give me something baked and flakey and all dolled up in a delicious glaze of warm, cozy spices, and I am all in. 

POST UPDATED: April 5, 2020. This post was originally published October 15, 2013. 

blank

So What Exactly is a Scone, Anyway?

Scones are a moist, delicious marriage between biscuit and muffin. Scones can be sweet or savory, and they are most often eaten for breakfast or brunch. 

Americans inherited scones from the English. English scones lean toward the biscuit side; cut round, with a denser texture, and maybe a little less sweet. American scones, on the other hand, tend more toward a muffiny texture; a little lighter and a bit sweeter. They are often baked in wedges, as are those in this recipe.

(We won’t even talk about Utah scones. Are they delicious? Yes!!! But “scones” might be pushing the definition.)

blank

Tips for Making Perfect Sourdough Scones

  • Use Sourdough Discard or Unfed Starter for this recipe. When using Discard for this recipe, it should must be from a healthy, vigorous Starter that is regularly fed. If using Unfed Starter, it should be healthy, vigorous starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. (DO NOT use neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in weeks.)
  • Use very cold (or frozen) butter. Cold butter is what yields those lovely, delicious layers in the dough.
  • Grate or shred your butter instead of cutting it. This will allow you to work your butter into the dough easily and avoid overworking it when you add the wet ingredients.
  • Do not play with the dough! Mix your scone dough just until it all comes together. It is just fine if the dough is lumpy.
  • Refrigerate the dough for 15-20 minutes after you form the scones and before you bake them. This will keep them from spreading out all over the pan while they are baking.  
Shredded Butter

Grating or shredding your butter (instead of cutting it) allows you to work it into the dough more easily and avoid overworking it when you add the wet ingredients.

This simple sourdough scone recipe is a perfect way to use up your sourdough discard. Sourdough adds a subtle, tangy flavor to your scones, and gives them amazing lift in the process. 

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scone

blank
5 from 11 votes

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

A moist, tender marriage of biscuit and muffin, these Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones are perfect any time of year!
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Total Time55 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Breakfast, Brunch
Keyword: baking, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, scones, sourdough, sourdough baking
Servings: 8 scones
Calories: 405kcal
Author: Renée | The Good Hearted Woman

Equipment

Ingredients

Sourdough Scones

Pumpkin Spiced Glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon canned pumpkin
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 tablespoon milk
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Sourdough Scone Dough

  • Stir together flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
    Dry Ingredients
  • Using a grater, shred the butter.
    Mix the shredded butter into the dry mixture using a fork, pastry blender, or your fingers. (OR, Cut the butter into ¼ cubes and blend together.)
    The mixture should look like very coarse crumbs.
    Shredded Butter
  • In a separate bowl, mix sourdough starter, pumpkin, molasses, orange zest, and vanilla.
    Wet Ingredients
  • Stir wet mixture into dry mixture in the bowl. Once it is somewhat mixed in, turn the contents of the bowl out onto a clean board.
    The mix may seem a little dry at first. Knead it a few times before you decide to add milk.
    Scone dough before kneading
  • Gently knead the dough on the board, adding milk if necessary, just until it holds together in a soft ball.
    The dough should soft like a biscuit dough.
    Once you've kneaded it enough for it to pull together, Just form a ball and leave it alone. The less you work with it, the tenderer your scones will turn out.
    Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
    Scone dough on board after kneading
  • Form a 9-inch wheel with the dough dough.
    Scone dough on board
  • Transfer the wheel of dough to the prepared baking sheet.
    With a long knife, cut the dough wheel into eight pieces, like a pizza.
    Separate pieces so that they are ½-inch away from one another.
    Cutting Sourdough Scones
  • Brush the top of the wheel with milk.
    Scones w Milk glaze
  • Put the scones on the baking sheet in the freezer.
    Set your oven to 400° F.
  • When the oven is fully up to temperature, take the scones out of the freezer.
    Put the scones into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
    Sourdough Scones Baking in Oven
  • Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes.
    Scones cooling
  • In a small mixing bowl, combine Pumpkin Spice Glaze ingredients. Mix until smooth.
    Pumpkin Spice glaze Ingredients
  • Drizzle the glaze over the scones.
    Glazing Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Notes

SOURDOUGH STARTER: Use Sourdough Discard or Unfed Starter for this recipe.
  • Discard should must be from a healthy, vigorous Starter that is regularly fed.
  • Unfed Starter should be healthy, vigorous sourdough starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. (DO NOT use neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in weeks.) 
PUMPKIN: You can use home-cooked pumpkin, but you may need to add a little milk or extra flour to the mix to adjust for the difference in moisture content.

Nutrition

Serving: 1scone | Calories: 405kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 394mg | Potassium: 199mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 3029IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Glazed Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Cycle of a Healthy Sourdough Starter

Use Sourdough Discard or Unfed Starter for this recipe. 

  • Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface. 
  • Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
  • Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight. 
  • Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
  • Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.

If you aren’t up to making bread, you can always use up extra Starter (i.e., Discard) by making pancakes, waffles, etc.

Glazed Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough #Scones - They smell like heaven, and taste even better! Perfectly delicious ANY time of year! Tweet & Share!

Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Scones | The Good Hearted Woman

DID YOU KNOW?

National Pumpkin Spice Day happens every year on October 1st, unofficially ushering in what has become known as Pumpkin Spice Season, or the period of time that stretches from the moment the first leaf falls each autumn until crack of dawn on Black Friday. 

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones | Sourdough Baking   Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones | Sourdough Baking

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones | Sourdough BakingWavy Line

Easy Sourdough Recipes & Advice for Beginners

Kaylen's Bread [Easy Sourdough]

Rye Sourdough Starter

Lazy Sourdough Caretaker's Guide

Mom's Sourdough Hotcakes

Buttery & Flaky Sourdough Biscuits

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

Photo Credit: www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk

Reactivating Dry Sourdough Starter

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle

Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Donuts

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Rye Hearth Bread

Photo Credit: adamantkitchen.com

Date Molasses Sourdough Pancakes

Photo Credit: www.theschizochef.com

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Photo Credit: www.farmhouseonboone.com

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Kaylen’s Bread (Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe)

By 128 Comments

This Easy Sourdough Bread recipe is perfect for beginning bakers and old sourdoughs alike! (Recipe makes a long-rise dough, and requires only sourdough starter: no added yeast.)

Easy Sourdough Bread

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.
My First Loaf of Sourdough Bread

My First Loaf of Sourdough Bread

Some years ago, when I first embarked my own sourdough baking journey, I took a deep-dive into the science of sourdough. I studied as much as I could, and got a feel for the process by testing out all the best beginner bread recipes I could find.

From that experience, plus advice from experts and lots of trial and error, I created this easy, beginner sourdough bread recipe – one that can be easily repeated over and over again with consistent, delicious results. 

If you fall in love with sourdough baking, this may not always be your forever-sourdough recipe: you’ll probably find bigger, better, crustier loaves to bake. Artisan loaves. Breads with Attitude. But this recipe is a wonderful, forgiving beginner recipe with a high rate of success – Everything you want in your first loaf!

You Always Remember Your First Loaf

Since this post was first published in 2013, I’ve received hundreds of pictures and messages from excited new sourdough bakers who have made my bread recipe. I am so proud of and honored by everyone who has shared pictures of their “first loaf” with me over the years! 

Happy baking, and I hope you love this bread as much as we do! 

P.S. If you make a loaf of Kaylen’s Bread, be sure to tag it with #thegoodheartedwoman #GHWfirstloaf #KaylensBread

Wavy Line

POST UPDATE: March 30, 2020
[Originally published September 17, 2013]
This post has been so popular over the years that, with the recently renewed interest in sourdough baking (in particular sour dough that does not require any additional yeast), I decided it was long overdue for a complete overhaul.
For longtime readers: The recipe is basically still the same, but I’m constantly fine-tuning the process. I’ve added some new information, as well as images for each step. 
Wavy Line

Your Go-To Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe

Compared with many sourdough bakers, my skill level barely scratches the surface. That’s probably one of the reasons I keep going back to this recipe over and over again.

This Basic Sourdough Bread recipe is easy and straightforward, and it consistently bears excellent results (even when I forget it for an extra hour or five). Moreover, the bite is amazing: chewy and tender, with a mild, pleasant sourdough tanginess. In a nutshell, it’s one of the best all-round breads I’ve ever made. 

Easy Sourdough Bread

Wavy Line

What is True Sourdough, and Why Do I Care?  

This bread is a true sourdough bread, which means that it does not rely on the addition of any extra yeast. It depends solely upon the natural yeast in the Starter for leavening.

True sourdough bread is significantly slower to rise than dough that relies on added traditional yeast to do the heavy lifting. For example, from the time you stir first the ingredients through the final post-baking rest time, this Easy Sourdough Bread takes a minimum of nine hours to make. 

Don’t stress about the time element, though. Sourdough is both easy to work with and very forgiving. Once you get the rhythm and flow of the sourdough baking process, you’ll be able to throw a loaf of this bread together with only about 20 minutes of actual hands-on time. The rest of the time, you’ll just be waiting around for it to do its thing.

About the Rising Times in this Recipe

When you stir up a batch of sourdough bread dough, your dough goes through a number of phases on its way to becoming bread; most notably, the bulk fermentation (first) and proofing (second) rise times. 

BULK FERMENTATION: This bread recipe requires a minimum 6-hour bulk fermentation (1st rise); however, I personally recommend allowing it to rise at least 8 hours before moving on to proofing (2nd rise), when you form your loaf or boule. A longer rise will yield a chewier crust, and intensify the sourdough flavor in your bread. 

PROOFING: Proofing (2nd rise) can take anywhere from 2-3 hours on the countertop to 12 hours overnight in the refrigerator. 

My personal preference is to proof overnight in the fridge and bake my bread first thing in the morning. This gives me a house that smells like fresh bread all day, and I don’t have to heat the kitchen up during the day. 

Easy Sourdough Bread

How (and Why) to Fold Sourdough Bread Dough (Instead of Punching It)

This Sourdough Bread recipe calls for you to “fold the dough” a couple of times during the bulk fermentation (first rise), and I thought it might be helpful to some people if I explained what that means. (If you are a seasoned dough-folder, you can skip this section.) The folding helps to encourage those long gluten strands, and create those lovely sourdough bubbles.

Many, if not most, bread recipes call for you to punch down the dough after rising. Punching down the dough does a number of things. Most importantly, it removes some of the gas bubbles from the dough and redistributes the yeast cells, sugars, and moisture so that they can ferment and rise again during the proofing stage.

Folding yields similar results: it too expels the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation, strengthens the dough by stretching the gluten strands, and redistributes cells, sugars, moisture and heat spots in the dough to even out the rising.

Punching dough down will result in a fine crumb, which is desirable when making sandwich breads or pastries. Folding, on the other hand, will give you a loftier rise and a looser crumb – resulting in all those lovely little air pockets in our sourdough and artisan breads that we love so much. 

Folding dough is a relatively easy process:

How to Fold Bread Dough - Steps

Sometimes, because this dough is so sticky, it works easier “fold-and-stretch” your dough right in the bowl, instead of folding it on the countertop. If that works better for you, go for it.

Wavy Line

blank

Below you will find my recipe for Basic Sourdough Bread. The links I used for guidance can be found at the bottom of the post. You may find them helpful as well. 

blank
4.94 from 16 votes

Basic Sourdough Bread

Super-basic. No bells, no whistles - just bread.
Prep Time8 hrs
Cook Time30 mins
Rest Time30 mins
Total Time9 hrs
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Bread
Keyword: baking, bread, sourdough, sourdough bread
Servings: 18 Slices
Calories: 130kcal
Author: Renée | The Good Hearted Woman

Equipment

Ingredients

Sourdough Bread Dough

Additional Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons extra-light olive oil or other neutral cooking oil, for oiling bowl
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Feed your starter 12-24 hours before beginning.
    Rye SOurdough Starter - Day 4

AUTOLYSE (Mix Dough)

  • In a large stand-mixer bowl, mix together water, flour, syrup or honey, starter, and salt thoroughly with wooden spoon.
    Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes, and up to an hour.
    Measuring the Starter: The vigor of your Starter will affect its density. Stir Starter down before measuring, especially if use a measuring cup. (I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to get more consistent results.)
    Sourdough - First Mix
  • While dough is resting, lightly coat a medium-sized bowl with olive oil. The bowl needs to be a big enough to allow the dough to double in size.
    I use about two tablespoons of oil to coat the bowl the first time.
    blank

KNEAD

  • Put the mixer bowl on the stand-mixer. Knead dough with bread hook for 10 minutes.
    blank
  • NOTE: This normally is a very sticky, soft dough. However, depending on the actual hydration of your starter, you may find that you need to add a little more flour to get things started.
    I often end up adding an extra 1/2 cup during the kneading step. Try not to add more than 1/2 cup of flour, though. You can work in a little more flour during the folding process if you need to.
    blank

BULK FERMENTATION (1st Rise)

  • Remove dough from mixer, place on a well floured board, knead by hand a couple of times, and shape into ball.
    After you form the ball, it should kind of slowly settle onto the board, like an old man into a lounge chair. It won’t hold its shape for a long time, but it also shouldn’t just melt into a puddle. You need to find a happy medium. 
    blank
  • Put dough ball into the oiled bowl, smooth-side down first. Then flip it smooth-side up so that all sides of the dough are covered with oil.
    Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place.
    blank
  • Allow dough rise at least 6 hours, folding every 30 minutes for the first 2 to 2½ hours.
    To fold, turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat down to remove most of the air bubbles. Fold as illustrated and return to bowl, smooth side up.
    Cover and proceed with the rising process.
    Re-oil the bowl with a tablespoon or two of oil the first two times you fold the dough.
    The folding at the beginning of this step helps to align those long gluten strands, and create those lovely sourdough bubbles.
    You should notice a discernible change in the texture of your dough after folding the first couple of hours. By the end of this step, your dough should feel more "stretchy" and less "sticky" than when you started.
    Sometimes, because this dough is so sticky, it works easier to "fold-and-stretch" your dough right in the bowl, instead of folding it on the countertop. If that works better for you, go for it.
    How to Fold Bread Dough - Steps

PROOF (2nd Rise)

  • After the dough has risen for at least 6 hours (folding every 30 minutes for the first 2-2½ hours), form bread dough into a boule* and place it on a square of parchment paper.
    Place the dough, parchment and all, back into the bowl.
    *A boule is a round bread loaf.
    blank
  • Cover loosely with a damp towel and allow to rise for 1½- 3 hours, or until it has approximately doubled.
    If it is late in the day and your bread needs more time to rise, you can slow the process by allowing it to rise in the refrigerator overnight, and then baking it first thing in the morning.
    blank
  • In the last 30 or 40 minutes of the last rise, move your oven rack to the bottom third of oven.
    Put an empty cast iron Dutch oven with lid in the cold oven.
    Preheat to 500°F [260°C] for 40 minutes.
    blank

SLASH

  • Remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven. Remove the lid from the Dutch oven and put the boule in by picking up the corners of the parchment and gently setting it in.
    Be very careful - the Dutch oven and lid are very hot!
    With a wet, serrated knife, cut a couple of slashes on the top of the boule. (I often forget to do this step, and everything still turns out just fine.)
    blank

BAKE

  • Put the lid back on the Dutch oven. Put the Dutch oven back into the oven.
    Immediately reduce oven temperature to 450° [232°C], and bake for 13-14 minutes with the lid ON.
    [Image: After first 13-minute baking time]
    If you don't have a cast iron Dutch oven, you can use a baking stone. If you use a baking stone, cover the boule with a big roaster lid or something like that. The idea is to create some steam for the first part of the baking process- this is what gives it that awesome chewy crust.
    blank
  • Remove the lid and bake for another 13-14 minutes with the lid OFF.
    blank
  • Using the parchment corners, carefully remove bread from the Dutch oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.
    DO NOT slice the bread until it has set for 30 minutes - this resting time is part of the baking process.
    blank

Notes

Weigh your ingredients: doing so will yield more uniform results.
UNFED Starter [as called for in this recipe] is Starter that is due to be fed right before you begin making the bread. It should have been fed in the last 12-24 hours. Unfed Starter is mature, active, and hungry for food.
For comparison, FED Starter is Sourdough Starter that has been fed very recently compared to when you begin making the bread recipe. It isn't as hungry. 
For more information, see Stages of Sourdough in post.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 130kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 195mg | Potassium: 28mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Like each baker, every loaf has a personality all its own. The loaf of bread pictured here below was made using the exact same techniques and recipe as the one above the recipe, with just one small variation. Instead of proofing on parchment and going directly from there to the Dutch oven, it was proofed in a bowl lined with a floured tea towel, and the turned out onto parchment just before baking.

Sourdough Bread

Wavy LineWho is Kaylen, and Why is this Her Bread? 

The original spark that set off my interest in sourdough baking was ignited by my BFF, Jenny. Jenny has an amazing daughter, Kaylen, who has some medically serious digestive issues. Gluten is not at all Kaylen’s friend, but she missed real bread “that does not taste like sand” [Kaylen’s words]. Jenny asked me about sourdough bread after reading that it might be able to help those who are gluten-intolerant. 

One study using sourdough bread made with specific strains of bacteria found that it could reduce gluten intolerance in people sensitive to wheat gluten. While that doesn’t mean that people diagnosed with gluten intolerance can eat sourdough bread with impunity, it does suggest that the bread is more easily digested than other breads made with wheat flour. (Reader’s Digest)

Remember that long rise I mentioned earlier, when I explained what true sourdough is? Well, it is during that long rise that the wild yeast and bacteria in a sourdough starter break down some of the carbohydrates and proteins in the flour, which (in theory) makes true sourdough bread more tolerable for folks with gluten sensitivity than bread leavened with traditional yeast. 

When Jenny asked me to bake some sourdough bread for Kaylen, I was all in. (I’ve known Kaylen since she was six and love her like my own daughter: of course I’m going to bake her bread.) After developing a new Sourdough Starter and working out the kinks in my recipe, I carefully made Kaylen a loaf, using a minimum 14-hour rise and not adding any additional flour (during folding) after Hour 4.

After I dropped off her first loaf of bread, here’s what I found on Facebook when I got home:

EASY SOURDOUGH BREAD - Want to make someone feel really special? Want to feel great yourself? Give a loaf of homemade sourdough bread!!

Want to feel really happy? Give someone you love a loaf of fresh bread!!

Made me cry. You just don’t get a better feeling than that, you know? 

Wavy Line

Stages of a Healthy Sourdough Starter

Use Unfed Starter for this recipe. 

  • Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface. 
  • Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
  • Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight. 
  • Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
  • Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.

If you are curious about why this recipe uses UNFED Starter instead of FED Starter, you might find this conversation on The Fresh Loaf helpful. 

Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe

References for this recipe include:

If you have additional questions about the recipe, just leave a comment and I’ll reply asap. Be sure to check out the comments below, too. We’ve had so many people share their sourdough knowledge here, and there is a lot to be learned from their experience. Like most of us, I’m here to learn, too. 

blank

Want to make this adorable Redwork chicken tea towel? Check out our easy DIY tutorial! [Free Pattern]

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

blank   blankEasy Sourdough Bread | The Good Hearted Woman

Wavy Line

Easy Sourdough Recipes & Advice for Beginners

Kaylen's Bread [Easy Sourdough]

Rye Sourdough Starter

Lazy Sourdough Caretaker's Guide

Mom's Sourdough Hotcakes

Buttery & Flaky Sourdough Biscuits

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

Photo Credit: www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk

Reactivating Dry Sourdough Starter

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle

Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Donuts

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Rye Hearth Bread

Photo Credit: adamantkitchen.com

Date Molasses Sourdough Pancakes

Photo Credit: www.theschizochef.com

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Photo Credit: www.farmhouseonboone.com

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

How to Make Rye Sourdough Starter [100% Hydration]

By 31 Comments

Rye Sourdough Starter is – by far – the easiest sourdough to start. All you need is rye flour and water.

How to make Rye Sourdough Starter [100% Hydration Starter] Rye sourdough starter is – by far – the easiest sourdough to start. All you need is rye flour and water. | The Good Hearted Woman

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

My mother kept a sourdough starter when I was young, and the pancakes and bread she made are now a treasured food memory. It’s time to continue the tradition. 

Wavy Line

IMPORTANT NOTE: It takes about 5 days to establish a new Rye Sourdough Starter. Once established, Starter can easily be converted to a white or whole wheat flour starter: it all depends on what kind of flour you choose to use going forward.

How to Make Rye Sourdough Starter

Rye Sourdough Starter is – by far – the easiest sourdough to start. All you need is rye flour and water.

Wavy Line

What does 100% hydration mean? 

This Rye Sourdough Starter is a what is referred to in the sourdough world as a “100% hydration starter.” A 100% hydration sourdough starter is a sourdough culture which is kept and fed with equal weights of water and flour. (For example, 2.25 ounces water to 2.25 ounces of flour.) 

By contrast, a 166% hydration starter is fed with equal volumes of flour and water. For example, 1/2 cup of water (4 ounces) to 1/2 cup flour (2.25 ounces). 

A Note about Water: When I made this starter the first time, I used plain old tap water, and everything bubbled up just fine.

Nevertheless, many sourdough professionals discourage the use of tap water in favor of distilled water, as the chlorine and other chemicals found in treated water can kill the microorganisms that need to flourish to create sourdough. 

I now use distilled water for all my sourdough, but I wanted to share my experience with tap water because unless your city uses an excessive amount of chlorine in your water supply, it’s not a  deal-breaker. (If you would rather use tap water, but want to remove at least some of the chlorine, there are a couple of ways you can dechlorinate water at home.)

Wavy Line

Keep your Starter Cozy, Not Sweltering

According to those aforementioned sourdough pros, 70°-80° F [21° – 27° C] is the ideal temperature range at which to keep your sourdough starter.

If I am actively using my starter on a regular basis, I keep it on my kitchen counter near my stove. (I’ve also had good luck in the past keeping it on top of the fridge.) If I am taking a break from sourdough baking, I let my starter chill in the fridge.

If kept below 70°F [21°C], the natural yeast in the starter incubates very slowly; above 80°F [27°C], the starter will tend to ferment alcoholically, which is not desirable. NEVER leave the starter in direct sun.

Troubleshooting: If you ever forget your starter in the back of the fridge and it looks scary when you take it out, be sure to check out The Lazy Caretaker’s Guide to Sourdough.

Wavy Line

Get a kitchen scale! 

If you don’t already own a kitchen scale, now might be the time to get one – and this is coming from someone who usually measures everything by pinch and palm! 

I honestly don’t know how I ever lived without a good kitchen scale. Weighing the water and flour for your sourdough starter keeps the hydration consistent, which in turn gives you more consistent results in your cooking and baking. (I don’t even use measuring cups anymore when I make bread – I weigh everything!)

Yield: 1 Rye Sourdough Starter

How to Make Rye Sourdough Starter

Rye SOurdough Starter - Day 4

Rye Sourdough Starter is – by far – the easiest sourdough to start. All you need is rye flour and water.

[100% Hydration Starter]

Prep Time 25 minutes
Additional Time 5 days
Total Time 5 days 25 minutes
Difficulty Easy

Materials

Tools

Instructions

Day 1 - - 2 ¼ ounces rye flour + 2 ¼ ounces water

Using a wooden spoon, mix the rye flour and water in a mason jar or non-reactive bowl. Cover loosely and place in a dark place at 70°F for 24 hours. (I put mine up against the counter right next to my stove.) Rye Sourdough Starter - Day 1 Your unfermented Starter will be the consistency of thick cook dough. It will loosen up over time.

Day 2 - - 2 ¼ ounces rye flour + 2 ¼ ounces water

Add the rye flour and water to the starter. Mix with a clean wooden spoon for 30 seconds until the flour has been incorporated. Cover loosely and place in a dark place at 70°F for 24 hours. Rye Sourdough Starter - Day 2

Day 3 - - 1 ⅛ ounces rye flour + 1 ⅛ ounces water

Add the rye flour and water to the starter. Mix with a clean wooden spoon for 30 seconds until the flour has been incorporated. Cover loosely and place in a dark place at 70°F for 24 hours. Rye Sourdough Starter - Day 3

Day 4 - - 1 ⅛ ounces rye flour + 1 ⅛ ounces water

If bubbles have started to form and the flour has begun to ferment, discard ⅔ of the mixture in the jar. Add the flour and water to the remaining ⅓ and mix for 30 seconds until the flour is well incorporated. (If the mixture has not started to ferment repeat step 3.) Rye SOurdough Starter - Day 4

Day 5

The starter should be mature by this point and is ready to use. Use the starter as needed. After use, see feeding instructions. blank If you want to convert your starter to a white flour or whole wheat Starter, you may begin feeding it with all-purpose flour from this point on.

Notes

Weekly feeding (or every time starter gets used):

Healthy Starter can be refrigerated for up to a week between feedings. (Honestly, I often leave it FAR longer with no problems.) However, most sourdough experts recommend feeding Sourdough Starter at least twice a week for best results.

This is a 100% Hydration starter. A 100% hydration sourdough starter is a sourdough culture which is kept and fed with equal weights of water and flour.  (If you don’t have a kitchen scale, that equates to about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of water for every cup of flour.)

The amount you feed your sourdough starter depends on how much of it you have to start with. You want to approximately double your starter each time you feed it. So, for example, if you have 8 ounces of Starter, you will feed it 4 ounces of water and 4 ounces of flour.

If, however, you have more starter on hand than you anticipate using for baking, you can toss (or share!) a cup or more of Starter and then double what remains.You always want to have at least 8 ounces of Starter after baking to keep the process going.

  • Always use a wooden spoon to stir when you feed your Starter. (Never allow metal to come in contact with your sourdough starter.)
  • Always leave enough room in your Sourdough Jar for the Starter to triple in size! (It usually only doubles, but you want to leave some wiggle room!)
  • Allow the starter rest in a dark 70°F place for 12 hours and then place in the refrigerator if you will not be using it in the next 24 hours.

Recommended Products

This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running.

Did you make this project?

THANK YOU for being a reader and supporter of The Good Hearted Woman.  Be sure to Pin this post!

© The Good Hearted Woman, Harmony Cat LLC
Project Type: Baking / Category: Bread

What should I do with my Starter if I want to bake with it? 

First, you need a mature Starter. Then you need to determine if your recipe calls for Fed, Active, Ripe, Unfed Starter or Discard. (For example, my Easy Sourdough Bread recipe calls for Unfed Starter). 

Stages of a Healthy Sourdough Starter

  • Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface. 
  • Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
  • Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight. 
  • Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
  • Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.

NOTE: Many recipes, including most bread recipes, call for feeding your starter the night before and using it in the morning. When you do this, you are technically using Ripe or Unfed Starter, depending upon the vigor of your starter and how much time elapses between last feeding and usage. 

DID YOU KNOW? You don’t need a special recipe to sourdough starter. Nearly all of your favorite yeast bread recipes can be adapted to use sourdough starter, as can many quick breads. 

Wavy LineCovering your Starter

I thought I’d close this post with an important piece of advice: NEVER use a solid lid to cover your Sourdough Starter! 

The natural fermentation process creates gas, and that gas need to have a place to go, so you need to cover your container with something that will allow some of that gas to escape.

I have successfully used all of the following methods: 

  1. Rubber Band and a clean cloth. Not pretty, but it works. 
  2. Mason jar ring and a piece of clean cloth. I usually use muslin in this case. 
  3. Pickle Pipes (or other lid designed for fermentation)

I discovered Pickle Pipes about a year ago, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! For the money, they are (IMHO) the best solution for the job. (Just to clarify, this is NOT a Sponsored post.)

    • Pickle Pipes feature one-way airlocks that vent gas automatically so they require no burping or babysitting.
    • Prevent spoilage by releasing the gas that builds up during the fermentation process.
    • Some people like to call them Pickle Nipples, which is fun to say. (Try it 3 times fast… and GO!)
    • They prevent oxygen and airborne contaminants from getting inside.
    • They are food-safe. (e.g., BPA-free, no phthalates)
    • They are Dishwasher-safe.

Pickle Pipes

Wavy Line

Easy Sourdough Recipes & Advice for Beginners

Kaylen's Bread [Easy Sourdough]

Rye Sourdough Starter

Lazy Sourdough Caretaker's Guide

Mom's Sourdough Hotcakes

Buttery & Flaky Sourdough Biscuits

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

Photo Credit: www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk

Reactivating Dry Sourdough Starter

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle

Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Donuts

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Rye Hearth Bread

Photo Credit: adamantkitchen.com

Date Molasses Sourdough Pancakes

Photo Credit: www.theschizochef.com

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Photo Credit: www.farmhouseonboone.com

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

How to make Rye Sourdough Starter [100% Hydration Starter] Rye sourdough starter is – by far – the easiest sourdough to start. All you need is rye flour and water. | The Good Hearted Woman  How to Make Sourdough Starter
Sourdough StarterWavy Line

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

 

UPDATED: Originally published September 14, 2015

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle with Caramelized Cipollini & Sautéed Mushrooms

By 16 Comments

Perfect for Oktoberfest (or Any-fest!), the recipe for this amazing Rye Sourdough Spaetzle – with Caramelized Cipollini, Sauteed Mushrooms, and Tabasco Shallots – comes to us courtesy of Chef Ryan Mead of Portland’s Bent Brick.

Perfect for Oktoberfest (or Any-fest!), the recipe for this amazing Rye Sourdough Spaetzle - with Caramelized Cipollini, Sauteed Mushrooms, and Tabasco Shallots - comes to us courtesy of Chef Ryan Mead of Portland's Bent Brick. | The Good Hearted Woman
This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

I’ll be honest: I’ve been holding on to this recipe for almost two years now because I wanted to run it during Oktoberfest season. This amazing dish, which I first sampled while on a Portland Food Blogger Progressive Dinner, was created and generously shared with me by Chef Ryan Mead of The Bent Brick in Portland.

Chef Mead’s recipe was made to feed a multitude, so I’ve adjust both amounts and process to better suit home cooks.  There are a number of steps to this recipe, but it goes together surprisingly quickly, and the results are outstanding. If you try it once, it is sure to become an annual Oktoberfest (or Any-fest) tradition.

The sourdough does take some planning, so be sure to start it about a week ahead of time. (Want to make it tonight? Just make some using regular spaetzle batter or boil up some frozen spaetzle.)

Once you are ready to make the rye sourdough spaetzle batter, just follow the easy workflow found at the bottom of this post. It takes just 30 minutes from stovetop to table!

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle | The Good Hearted Woman

I do hope you will take the time to make this fabulous dish; and once again, thanks to Chef Ryan and The Bent Brick for their generosity.

30-minute Spaetzle Workflow

  1. Fill a large sauce or soup pan pan halfway with water, and set on stove on high.
  2. Make the spaetzle batter.
  3. While the water is heating, slice the shallots and and toss in Tabasco-vinegar marinade.
  4. Cut the cipollini into petals and begin sautéing.
  5. Slice mushrooms and begin sauteing in separate pan. (Yes, you will now have 3 pans going on the stove!)
  6. Complete both sauteed mushrooms and caramelized cipollini and set aside to cool.
  7. When the water has boiled, begin cooking the spaetzle.
  8. Quick-cool spaetzle in ice bath and drain.
  9. Toss with sauteed mushrooms and caramelized cipollini, garnish with arugula and Tabasco shallots and serve.

Attention: Seasoned Sourdoughs – If you have an existing sourdough starter, use it!  There is no need to create a new starter just for this recipe. 

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 12 votes

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle

An uptown spin on a traditional German noodle dish.
Prep Time30 mins
Sourdough Fermentation Time7 d
Total Time30 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Main Course, Pasta, Side Dish
Cuisine: German
Keyword: Oktoberfest
Author: Ryan Mead - The Bent Brick, Portland, Oregon

Equipment

Ingredients

You will also need:

  • Sauteed mushrooms instructions follow
  • Caramelized Cipollini instructions follow
  • Tabasco Shallots instructions follow
  • Handful of arugula

Instructions

  • In a mixing bowl, combine the starter, whole egg, egg yolk and salt. Mix on low speed until the eggs are combined.
  • With the mixer running slowly add the flour. When the flour has been fully incorporated place the mixer on medium speed and whip for 3 minutes. The batter should be the consistency of thick pancake batter when you are done. Don't overmix.

Cook the Spaetzle

  • Bring a large pot salted water to a boil. (Use about 2 teaspoons of salt per gallon of water.)
  • Using the spaetzle making tool of your choice, add batter to the boiling water a little at a time.
  • Do not put too many noodles through the spaetzle tool at once or they will clump together and get gloppy.
  • Cook noodles for 2-3 minutes, until they float to the top of the boiling water. (Do not overcooked, or they will get mushy.)
    Rye Sourdough Spaetzle | The Good Hearted Woman
  • Place cooked noodles in a colander and run them under cold water (or better yet, throw them into an ice water bath) to stop the cooking process.
  • Set aside and continue process until all noodles are cooked.

Finishing up:

  • Toss cooked rye spaetzle with prepared caramelized cipolini and sauteed mushrooms. Garnish with Tabasco Shallots and arugula, Serve warm.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

If you don’t have an “official” spaetzle tool, there’s no need to run out and buy one. You basically just need something with small holes in it that will allow the batter to drop down and into the boiling water in little drops, and many tools that are likely already in your kitchen will work just fine. (If you come up with a new idea, please share it with me and I will add it to my list!)

  • Potato ricer
  • Colander and spatula
  • Large flat cheese grater
  • Plastic bag – just poke a few holes in one corner and squeeze the batter through.
Caramelized Cipollini for Rye Sourdough Spaetzle | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 12 votes

Caramelized Cipollini

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Author: Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound cipollini cleaned & cut into petals
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons bourbon

Instructions

  • Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. When the butter begins to slightly brown, add the cipollini and cook over medium heat until they caramelize, about 15 minutes.
  • Once the cipollini are caramelized add the bourbon and picked thyme. Cook for an additional 3 minutes.
  • Place the cipollini on a parchment lined sheet tray and cool.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Cipollini (pronounced chip-oh-LEE-nee) are small, flat, pale onions. They are sweeter and have more residual sugar than garden-variety white or yellow onions, but not as sweet as shallots. Their shape lends them well to roasting, and their sweetness makes a lovely addition to recipes that include caramelized onions.

Caramelized Cipollini for Rye Sourdough Spaetzle | The Good Hearted Woman

If you look closely at this picture, you might be saying, “Hey! That doesn’t look like thyme in there, Renée!” Well, you’d be right. I decided to put in some rosemary instead, and guess what!?! Loved it! That’s what home cooking is all about – taking a recipe and making it your own!

Cipollini are harvested in the fall, but can be somewhat difficult to find the rest of the year. You may be able to find them in specialty markets or Whole Foods. (I found mine at New Seasons.) If you can’t find them (or don’t want to bother) simply substitute a sweet onion for this step.

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 12 votes

Sauteed Mushrooms

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Author: Renée ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1/2 lb fresh mushrooms sliced
  • salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
  • Add sliced mushrooms and sauté, stirring with a wooden spatula and keeping them moving until they are dark brown, about 5 minutes.
  • Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Set aside.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Wavy Line

Tabasco Shallots for Rye Sourdough Spaetzle | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 12 votes

Tabasco Shallots

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Author: Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

  • 2 medium shallots sliced very thin
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Tabasco or Sriracha
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  • Toss ingredients in a bowl.
  • Season with salt.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

What's on Your Oktoberfest Menu?

Hot German Potato Salad

Sweet, sour and deliciously savory, this traditional Hot German Potato Salad will make your tastebuds go Oom-pa-pa!

Crispy Sauerkraut Fritters {Easy Air Fryer Recipe}

These Crispy Sauerkraut Fritters with Bacon, Sausage and Cheese are the perfect appetizer for all your fall
celebrations!

Rotkohl {German Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage}

Each mouthful of this traditional Prussian Rotkohl {German Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage} is a symphony of smokey, sweetly spiced notes with just a hint of sour for balance.

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle with Caramelized Cipollini & Sautéed Mushrooms

Perfect for Oktoberfest (or Any-fest!), the recipe for this amazing Rye Sourdough Spaetzle – with Caramelized Cipollini, Sauteed Mushrooms, and Tabasco Shallots – comes to us courtesy of Chef Ryan Mead.

Easy Apple Strudel {Apfelstrudel}

Fresh, crisp, and sweetly spiced, this Easy Apple Strudel {Apfelstrudel} is fancy enough for the most elaborate Oktoberfest menu, yet simple enough for any night of the year.

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

Perfect for Oktoberfest (or Any-fest!), the recipe for this amazing Rye Sourdough Spaetzle - with Caramelized Cipollini, Sauteed Mushrooms, and Tabasco Shallots - comes to us courtesy of Chef Ryan Mead of Portland's Bent Brick. | The Good Hearted Woman

Wavy Line

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Sourdough Starter: Care & Feeding {Lazy Caretaker’s Edition}

By 16 Comments

Sourdough Parenting 101: How to care for and feed Sourdough Starter; plus, how to revive a sad, neglected starter. (Don’t worry – it happen’s to the best of us!) 

Care & Feeding Sourdough Starter | The Lazy Caretaker's Guide to Reviving Neglected Sourdough Starter

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

Over the years, I’ve had an on again, off again relationship with my Sourdough Starter. Sometimes I treat it like the Queen at High Tea, sticking to a precise schedule and attending to its every bubbling need. Other times, I completely ignore it: I once forgot it in the back of the fridge for almost six months. Still, it persists.

My sourdough use waxes and wanes in bouts that can last weeks, or even months. In waxing cycles, when I am baking bread nearly every day, a loaf rarely hits the cooling rack before someone slices off an end. We have homemade bread for our sandwiches and for our soup. We take it in our lunches and feast on it warm with slathers of peanut butter and sprinkles of sugar.

But then I lose interest, and months can go by before I even give it a second thought again. Then Oh, what great consternation arises among certain citizens of our household! I get this a lot: “Mom, that jar of sourdough looks disgusting! If you aren’t going to use it, then just throw it away!”

Never! I know good sourdough parents don’t have this problem. They feed their starter regularly, and they bake a loaf every three days like clockwork.

This post isn’t for them.

Wavy Line

Sourdough Parenting 101

This post is for the rest of us. The negligent. The distracted. The throngs of home bakers who avoid sourdough altogether because they instinctively know that the waning times will come to them as well, and they just don’t want to deal with the guilt. 

Guess what? No one needs to feel guilty. Because a good Sourdough Starter will stay alive in the fridge with very little maintenance for extremely long periods of time, and can easily be activated when you want to use it. (OK, not really “right when” you want to use it: you need to plan about a day or two in advance.) 

Why do I need to feed my Sourdough Starter? 

Sourdough starter can live forever – as long as you regularly give it a little attention. In other words, you need to clean their home occasionally and feed your sourdough starter regularly. 

Sourdough starter is actually full of living colonies of yeast and lactic acid bacteria. These beneficial microbes consume the carbohydrates and proteins in the Starter. During this process, they ferment and convert those starches into CO2. It is this CO2 gas that provides leavening in your sourdough bread. 

When these microbes run out of food, they get hungry and start to slow down. If you leave them alone too long, the whole colony will die (and take your neglected Sourdough Starter out with it). 

(NOTE: I have yet to completely kill a Sourdough Starter; and believe me, I’ve tried.)

How often should I feed my Starter?

Healthy Starter can be refrigerated for up to a week between feedings if you are not using it for other things. (Honestly, I often leave it FAR longer with no problems.) However, most sourdough experts recommend feeding Sourdough Starter at least twice a week for best results. 

When you feed your Starter, always use a wooden or non-reactive spoon to stir it. Never allow any kind of reactive metal to come in contact with your sourdough starter. (Stainless steel is fine.) 

How much should I feed my Starter? 

The amount you feed your sourdough starter depends on how much of it you have to start with. You want to approximately double your starter each time you feed it.

For example, if you have 8 ounces of Starter, you will feed it 4 ounces of water and 4 ounces of flour. 

I keep a 100% Hydration Starter. A 100% hydration sourdough starter is a sourdough culture which is kept and fed with equal weights of water and flour.  (If you don’t have a kitchen scale, that equates to about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of water for every cup of flour.) 

Always leave enough room in your Sourdough Jar for the Starter to triple in size! 

What if I don’t want to double my Starter? Do I have to throw away the discard? 

Heavens, No! You can make all kinds of yummy things with extra sourdough starter! 

Mom's Sourdough Hot Cake Recipe

These sourdough pancakes are a great way to use extra sourdough starter (i.e., Discard).

If, however, you have more starter on hand than you anticipate using for baking, you will need to toss (or share!) a cup or more, and then double what remains. You always want to have at least 8 ounces of Starter after baking to keep the process going. 

After you feed it, allow the starter rest in a dark, warm place (70°F) for 12 hours, and then place in the refrigerator if you will not be using it in the next 24 hours. 

Wavy Line

What should I do with my Starter if I want to bake with it?

First, determine if your recipe calls for Fed, Active, Ripe, or Unfed Starter. (For example, my Easy Sourdough Bread recipe calls for Unfed Starter)

Stages of a Healthy Sourdough Starter

  • Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface. 
  • Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
  • Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight. 
  • Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
  • Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.

If you aren’t up to making bread, you can always use up extra Starter (i.e., Discard) by making pancakes, waffles, etc.

Always reserve at least 8 ounces of Starter to feed and keep the process going. 

Wavy Line

What if I totally neglected my Sourdough Starter? What if it’s all covered with grey ick? Can I save it? 

So, you just found your forgotten jar of Sourdough Starter in the back of the fridge, sad and neglected under a little puddle of hooch. Don’t worry – it happen’s to the best of us. 

Here’s how to bring that sad, neglected Starter back to life. 

Reviving Neglected Sourdough Starter

How to Wake a Sleeping Starter 

Before you can try to revive your Starter, you need to do some triage. Open your jar and look inside.

  • A – If mold is aggressively growing, if it has a distinctly pink tinge, or if it smells rotten or putrid, toss it. There is no saving it. Then get a fresh, clean jar, and start making a brand new Sourdough Starter.
  • B – If it looks gross but doesn’t smell horrible, continue to Step 1. 
  1. Drain off any hooch from your old Starter. (Hooch is the grey-black liquid that is probably sitting on top of your Starter. It’s basically sourdough poop.)
  2. Using a stainless steel spoon, carefully spoon off the top layers of Starter. You want to try to completely remove the top layer and get down to the cleaner, dormant layer without contaminating it too much with the gross stuff on top. 
  3. Determine if your Starter has totally gone bad, or if it is salvageable. (90% of the time, if it gets past the initial triage, you can save it.) Smell the stuff at the bottom of the jar. It should smell decidedly sour, but not rancid or spoiled. You know the difference. If it smells putrid, chuck it. 
  4. If at least a tablespoon of your Starter is salvageable, put as much “good starter” from the old jar as you can into a fresh, clean jar.
  5. Stir in one half as much flour and water as you would normally feed a healthy Starter. For example, if you have a cup of salvageable starter, stir in 4 ounces of water and 4 ounces of flour. (I always use a kitchen scale when I feed my Starter.) If you have only a tablespoon of starter, it’s going to take you a little longer to build it back up, but you can do it. (Wilbur, my 100-some year old starter, was revived from less than a half teaspoon of dried flakes!)
  6. Allow fed Starter to sit at room temperature again for 8 hours. 
  7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 one or more times, until your Starter is bubbly, percolating and ready to use.

The total “revival” process usually takes 24-48 hours hours. After that, you will should have an active, bubbly Starter that you can either put it back in the fridge and ignore it again until next time. Or, you can continue to wake it up by feeding it every 8 to 12 hours for a day and get ready to bake!

[Read more about how to revive old sourdough starter here.]

Once your Starter is vigorous and active, you can go back to feeding it once or twice a week. After every feeding, allow it to sit out for 12 hours before putting it back in the fridge. 

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

Care & Feeding Sourdough Starter | The Lazy Caretaker's Guide to Reviving Neglected Sourdough StarterWavy Line

A final note for all you Artisan Sourdough Bakers out there who feed your starter regularly: I know you’ve been cringing your way through this entire post! Please be kind in your comments. We all know that this is not the optimal way to take care of sourdough starter. But for those of us who are on-again, off-again in our baking and find ourselves with neglected sourdough starter, this protocol is better than a kick in the head, as my Dad used to say. 

Easy Sourdough Recipes & Advice for Beginners

Kaylen's Bread [Easy Sourdough]

Rye Sourdough Starter

Lazy Sourdough Caretaker's Guide

Mom's Sourdough Hotcakes

Buttery & Flaky Sourdough Biscuits

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

Photo Credit: www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk

Reactivating Dry Sourdough Starter

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle

Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Donuts

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Rye Hearth Bread

Photo Credit: adamantkitchen.com

Date Molasses Sourdough Pancakes

Photo Credit: www.theschizochef.com

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Photo Credit: www.farmhouseonboone.com

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

How to Reactivate Sourdough from Dried Sourdough Starter Flakes

By Leave a Comment

My mother kept a sourdough starter when I was young, and the pancakes and bread she made are now a treasured food memory. Rehydrating sourdough starter from dried flakes is one way to keep the tradition alive. 

Sourdough Starter from Dehydrated flakes

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.Wavy Line

Some years back, my BFF Jenny gave me a copy of “The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast,” by Caleb Warnock & Melissa Richardson. The book is all about starting and using Sourdough Starter in baking as a health consideration, the basic premise being,

Commercial yeast is so foreign to our bodies that many people are allergic to it. But natural yeast converts dough into a digestible, vitamin-rich food that’s free from harmful enzymes and won’t spike your body’s defenses.

The authors explain that almost all yeast used in baking today was created in a lab, stating “for the first time in 6,000 years, humans are eating bread that is not made with natural yeast.” In other words, according to the authors, it isn’t the gluten that is causing so many to develop Celiac and other related digestive diseases; it is the synthetic yeasts that we ingest that are predisposing our bodies to gluten intolerance. 

One study using sourdough bread made with specific strains of bacteria found that it could reduce gluten intolerance in people sensitive to wheat gluten. While that doesn’t mean that people diagnosed with gluten intolerance can eat sourdough bread with impunity, it does suggest that the bread is more easily digested than other breads made with wheat flour. (Reader’s Digest)

[While I can’t speak to the greater Celiac community, I can say that in this individual case, this theory ended up playing out true. Despite having a lifelong Celiac diagnosis and never tolerating commercial breads, Jenny’s daughter is safely eating and enjoying real bread again – long-rise (13+ hours), natural sourdough bread, that is. Read all about it in Kaylen’s Bread.]

Post Updated March 30, 2020: (Originally published August 27, 2013) 

Wavy Line

The first thing you need to do when you decide to start baking with sourdough is make (or get) a sourdough starter.

There are a may ways to procure a sourdough starter, including:

  • Get some from your Nana: ready use in no time. 
  • Make a Rye Sourdough Starter: ready to use in 4-5 days. (NOTE: Rye sourdough starter is – by far – the easiest organic sourdough to start. All you need is rye flour and water.)

And finally, 

Where to Get Dried Sourdough Starter Flakes

  • Order Free Online: “Friends of Carl” will mail you Carl Griffith’s 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter in dried form for the cost of a self addressed stamped envelope. For details, visit Friends of Carl.
  • Buy Dried Sourdough Starter Online: There are any number of purveyors of sourdough starter online. Breadtopia Marketplace, for example, will shipped to you dried (dormant) or in the actual living form.
  • Buy Caleb’s Book: To aid readers in the process, when you buy “The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast,” Caleb will mail you dry sourdough starter for the price of a self-addressed, stamped envelope. I mailed my request off to Caleb and had these little babies in hand a week later. 

Wavy Line

Starting a Sourdough Starter from (a Very Small Amount of) Dried Sourdough Starter Flakes

Starting sourdough from dried flakes was a whole new experience for me, so I thought I’d go through it for you day by day, in case you are confronted with the same dilemma I was, in that I had just a very small amount of sourdough flakes with which to begin. 

Week 1

Dry Sourdough Starter

They look kinda lonely all by themselves in that great big jar!

The directions in the book say that I need about one tablespoon of starter to “get started,” but Caleb only sent me about ½ a teaspoon, so I’m just going to push through and see what happens. Keep in mind that I’ve never used dehydrated flakes to start sourdough, so what comes next is learning experience. 

Here’s how the first week went:

Day 1 - Soaking

Day 1 – After 2 hours of soaking, my flakes look exactly the same. (I tilted the jar slightly during the soaking time so that all the flakes were submerged, so adequate water was not the problem.)

Day 1 – As instructed in The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast, I soaked my starter flakes in a tablespoon of water for a few hours. And nothing happened. I mean nothing! 

The flakes got a little soggy, but there was none of the breaking down I was told to look for, and certainly not any “milky water.” Just shrimp color flakes.

At this point, I decided they looked too lonely at the bottom of that big jar anyway, so I moved them into a cozy little bowl (it’s about four inches in diameter). Then I waited for another few hours, probably six or eight total. Still nothing but soggy flakes. So I took my finger and kind of smooshed them onto the side of the bowl to break them up some, and went on to the next step, which was to add flour.  (I used all-purpose flour.)

Having had plenty of time to consider what to do next, I consulted Paul at Yumarama, who advised,

“I’d suggest in your case with the very small amount of flakes to start pretty small in the wetting and feeding quantities. You don’t want to overwhelm the reduced number of yeasty critters right at the start.”

I had already added a tablespoon of water and didn’t want to take any out for fear of taking some of the cultures of too, so I left the water alone and just added one teaspoon of flour, which still seemed like a lot for my little less-than-half-teaspoon of starter flakes. Then I covered it loosely with plastic wrap and set it on my counter. 

Here’s what it looked like (for reference, the little bowl is 3 inches in diameter):

Sourdough Starter - Day 1

Sourdough Starter – Day 1

Day 2 – No changes.  None.

Day 3 – Still no changes. I start to get a little worried. Maybe I put in too much flour. Maybe there’s too much water. Maybe I should have put it in the fridge. Maybe it needs to be warmer. Even though there is a ton of flour in there, I sense that I need to feed it, so a put in another 1/4 teaspoon of flour.

Day 4 – No changes, except I am worrying more.

Day 5 – I “think” there is something happening! Just maybe. No visible changes yet, but it just feels different.

Day 6 – Yay!  I can see tiny little bubbles!!! I think it is possible I have not killed it! I am so excited!!! I am supposed to feed it every 3-4 days, so I add another 1/2 teaspoon of flour, but no extra water.

Sourdough Starter - Day 6

Sourdough Starter – Day 6, before adding more flour.

Sourdough Starter - Day 6

Sourdough Starter – Day 6, after adding more flour

Day 7 – More bubbles!  And even more exciting, my little bowl of starter is starting to smell like sourdough!!  Oh, I am so exited!

Sourdough Starter Day 7 - More bubbles!!

Day 7 – More bubbles!!

Week 2

Back when I was a little girl, somewhere between Mr. Ed and Charlotte’s Web, I fell in love with the name Wilbur. I’ve always wanted to give the name to a pet, but I’ve never had one for whom it seemed right – until now. 

You see, according to all the sourdough people I’ve read, maintaining a sourdough starter is kind of like keeping a pet, in that it requires ongoing care and attention, regular feeding, a certain amount of air, and a clean, comfortable place to live. So I’ve named my starter Wilbur. I just thought you should know. 

Day 8 – Not as many bubbles today, and I’m wondering if maybe I need to feed Wilbur more. Normally on feeding days, you are supposed to add enough to double your starter. For example, if you have a cup of starter, you are supposed to add a cup of water and a cup of flour. But with these small amounts, I’m not sure I should be doing that – I’m still concerned about overwhelming those little critters – so I add 1 teaspoon of water and one teaspoon of flour.

Day 9 – Smells like sourdough. Not much happening though.

Day 10 – No activity, so I decide it’s time to feed him again. For the first time, I double the amounts, adding one tablespoon of flour and one tablespoon of water.

Sourdough Starter - Day 11

One hour after adding 1 T. water and 1 T. flour, my starter is happily bubbling away!

Day 11 – Not much happening. Bubbles are confined under a thin layer of water.

Day 12 – Remember that scene in Charlotte’s Web where Fern has to move Wilbur out of the house and into him pen in the yard? That was today. Wilbur is finally big enough to move to a new home – a vintage canning jar with a very loose lid. I moved him, fed him and said a little prayer. From now on, I am going to try to feed him every Sunday and Thursday.

Sourdough Starter in Vintage Jar

Wilbur is getting settled in his new home.

Day 13 – Bubbling away in the fridge!

Day 14 – Still bubbling!

Lesson: Stick with it, even when it seems as though you aren’t making any progress. 

Epilogue: Wilbur grew up to make many, many loaves of delicious sourdough bread. 

Wavy Line

Feeding & Maintaining Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starter can live forever – as long as you regularly give it a little attention.

Healthy Starter can be refrigerated for up to a week between feedings. (Honestly, I often leave it FAR longer with no problems.) However, most sourdough experts recommend feeding Sourdough Starter at least twice a week for best results.

This is a 100% Hydration starter. A 100% hydration sourdough starter is a sourdough culture which is kept and fed with equal weights of water and flour.  (If you don’t have a kitchen scale, that equates to about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of water for every cup of flour.)

The amount you feed your sourdough starter depends on how much of it you have to start with. You want to approximately double your starter each time you feed it. So, for example, if you have 8 ounces of Starter, you will feed it 4 ounces of water and 4 ounces of flour.

If, however, you have more starter on hand than you anticipate using for baking, you can toss (or share!) a cup or more of Starter and then double what remains.You always want to have at least 8 ounces of Starter after baking to keep the process going.

Always use a wooden spoon to stir when you feed your Starter. (Never allow metal to come in contact with your sourdough starter.)

Allow the starter rest in a dark 70°F place for 12 hours and then place in the refrigerator if you will not be using it in the next 24 hours.

Wavy Line

What should I do with my Starter if I want to bake with it? 

First, you need a mature Starter. Then you need to determine if your recipe calls for Fed, Active, Ripe, Unfed Starter or Discard. (For example, my Easy Sourdough Bread recipe calls for Unfed Starter). 

Cycle of a Healthy Sourdough Starter

  • Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface. 
  • Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
  • Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight. 
  • Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
  • Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity

If you aren’t up to making bread, you can always use up extra Starter by making pancakes, waffles, etc.

When baking, always reserve at least 8 ounces of Starter to feed and keep the process going. 

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

Wavy Line

Easy Sourdough Recipes & Advice for Beginners

Kaylen's Bread [Easy Sourdough]

Rye Sourdough Starter

Lazy Sourdough Caretaker's Guide

Mom's Sourdough Hotcakes

Buttery & Flaky Sourdough Biscuits

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

Photo Credit: www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk

Reactivating Dry Sourdough Starter

Rye Sourdough Spaetzle

Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Donuts

Photo Credit: www.baking-sense.com

Sourdough Rye Hearth Bread

Photo Credit: adamantkitchen.com

Date Molasses Sourdough Pancakes

Photo Credit: www.theschizochef.com

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Photo Credit: www.farmhouseonboone.com

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!
Work with Us!
Privacy Policy