Sour Dough Starter 101

We’ve all been seeing the huge trend on homemade sourdough and thought to over selves that looks so hard…I could never do that. I am here to share YES YOU CAN with Sourdough Starter 101 to dispel the sourdough myths and show you tips to get started!

Get the recipe and full instructions on the blog below and also watch the live demonstration with Megan Reuther on Hello Iowa!

Megan Ruether from Hello Iowa and Rebecca Zoet with This New Old House ready to bake some sourdough bread! Love our hand made aprons. You can shop apron designs on This New Old House’s online store here.

#1 – First let’s talk about the starter dough. Here’s my starter dough, I have two of them. I started my starter from scratch, there are kits you can buy, or find a friend that you can get a split from! For the starter dough you will to feed it everyday to keep it active. Discard half and add in ½ cup of flour and ¼ cup of warm water around 100 degrees. Stir and cover.

The sour dough is fully active in about 4-12 hours. It will more than double in size and be bubbly!

This is what your active sourdough should look like when you are ready to bake bread.

#2 – These are the tools that I have, but started with just basics in my kitchen – a proofing bowl to do the last rise on your bread, some dough cutting stools, a dough stirrer, and my favorite tool the sour dough scorer for all the pretty bread designs!

#3 – Let’s talk about the bread making process. I have an easy “every day” sour dough recipe that I use. It is only 4 ingredients ¼ cup of starter mixed with 1 1/3 cups + 2 Tbsp warm water about 100-110 degrees, 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt and 4 cups + 4 Tbsp bread flour.

First you mix these ingredients all up in your stand mixer until the dough forms a ball and is “shaggy.” You are going to put this in a covered bowl for 30-45 minutes for the first rise.

Shaggy dough stage.

You are going to put this in a covered bowl for 30-45 minutes for the first rise. After this first rise, you’ll take it out and do a first knead and put it back in your covered bowl for 8-12 hours for the bulk rise.

Smooth dough ball after first knead.

Sourdough pre-rise.

You cannot rush the 8-12 hour bulk rise process. The dough needs to at least double in size!

Doubled in size after bulk rise.

#4 – After that bulk process is done, you’ll take the dough out for another knead, let rest on the counter for 5 minutes, and put in your proofing bowl seam side up for another 30 minutes – 1 hour until roughly doubled in size again.

#5 – After this rise you are now ready for the fun part. We are going to dump our dough out onto a parchment paper and score our design! There are so many designs you can do, we are going to do a simple crisscross pattern today.

#6 – After scoring is done, put in your Dutch oven in your oven that is pre-heated to 450 degrees for 20 minutes with the cover on. After 20 minutes, take the cover off and reduce the oven heat to 400 and bake for another 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top. And then tah-dah…you have beautiful delicious warm fresh bread that you made. Breadmaking is such an art, so rewarding, so good for you. Just try it and you will be hooked, I promise!!!

Rebecca Zoet is a lifestyle blogger and social media influencer in Adel, Iowa with a following of over 75,000 social fans in the Midwest, nationally and around the world.  Their family general contracted their new home with lots of vintage character in the beautiful countryside of Dallas County seven years ago and that’s when This New Old House was born from Rebecca’s passion of mixing old with new styles!  You’ll find content from Rebecca on everything from home décor, holidays, party planning, gardening, cooking, baking, canning, beekeeping and smalltown Iowa adventures.  Her brand is a mix of the modern-day Martha and Magnolia of the Midwest. Follow Rebecca and This New Old House for more ideas + inspirations!