The Easiest Sourdough Starter (No Discard)

If you're familiar with Shaye Elliott from The Elliott Homestead then you probably already know what I'm about to tell you. And if you heard it from her but haven't tried it for yourself yet for whatever reason, I'm telling you it's so worth it: Shaye has found the Holy Grail of all sourdough starters!

I stick this thing in the back of my fridge and essentially forget about it until it's running low (which can take weeks or months depending on how often I'm baking) and then I finally feed it just to start the whole process of neglect over again. That's the best part, the second best part is there is no discard (none, zilch, nada) so I don't have to come up with or look up creative recipes to bake every day in order not to waste a whole ton of flour. What flour goes in here gets used all within the standard process of baking with the starter itself.  

Making the Sourdough Starter from Scratch

Day One

add 45 grams of warm water 
and 60 grams of unbleached flour
to a bowl, mix together, then pick up the starter with your hands and roll it around
let sit in the bowl covered for 48 hours at room temperature 

Day Three

add 30 grams of warm water
and 60 grams of unbleached flour
mix together in the same bowl
let sit in the bowl covered for 24 hours at room temperature 

Day Four

add 30 grams of warm water 
and 60 grams of unbleached flour
mix together in the same bowl
let sit in the bowl covered for 24 hours at room temperature

Day Five

take 10 grams of the starter from the bowl (add to a new bowl)
add 30 grams of warm water 
and 60 grams of unbleached flour
mix together in the new bowl
transfer to the container you'll be using for your sourdough starter and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature

repeat the process from day five as many times as needed until the starter starts to show signs of bubbling in the container within 6 hours (it could be on day five, it could be a few days later) then refrigerate 

Converting from a Wet Sourdough Starter

start with 20 grams of the wet starter
add 50 grams of warm water 
and 100 grams of unbleached flour
mix together in a bowl then transfer to the container you'll be using for your sourdough starter and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature
repeat process for a day or two then refrigerate

Feeding/Refreshing the Sourdough Starter

30 grams of sourdough starter left in the container 
add 1 part water to 2 parts flour (example: 30 grams of warm water and 60 grams of unbleached flour)
mix together, then pick up with your hands and roll it around
let sit in the container covered for 12 hours then refrigerate

The Levain
(this is how you prep the sourdough starter before you're ready to bake with it)

30 grams of starter 
130 grams of warm water
120 grams of unbleached flour

mix in a bowl with a fork and let sit covered at room temperature for 6-12 hours
(I usually let mine sit overnight)
then follow whichever baking recipe you'd like!

Natasha MacIsaac