I have a confession to make.
I neglected my sourdough starter.
Like…really neglected her. 😂
Life got a little crazy recently, and I ended up away from home for about a week while my son was in the hospital. Somewhere in the middle of worrying about him, talking with doctors, sleeping away from home and everything else that comes along with life suddenly changing your plans, it never even crossed my mind that my sourdough starter was sitting on my kitchen counter waiting to be fed.
For four days.
Oops.
By the time I remembered her, there wasn't exactly anything I could do about it.
So, when I finally made it home, one of the many things waiting for me was a very, very sleepy sourdough starter.
Not bubbly.
Not growing.
Definitely not looking like she was ready to make me a beautiful loaf of bread.
She was basically like, Oh, NOW you remember I exist? 😂
Fair.
But here's the important part:
She wasn't dead.
Sometimes Sourdough Just Needs a Little Time
I started feeding her again.
Feed. Wait. Discard. Feed again.
Nothing terribly exciting happened at first.
But slowly, I started seeing bubbles again.
Then a little more activity.
Then she started rising.
And after a few days of regular feedings, there she was—awake, bubbly, happy and ready to make bread again.
And the whole thing got me thinking about something I hear all the time:
“I'd love to make sourdough, but it seems so intimidating.”
I get it.
Boy, do I get it.
Spend five minutes searching sourdough online and suddenly you're reading about feeding ratios, hydration percentages, dough temperature, fermentation charts, stretch-and-fold schedules and approximately 847 different opinions about what you're doing wrong. 😂
It can make four ingredients feel like a science experiment.
But here's the thing I've learned:
Sourdough really doesn't have to be that complicated.
Flour. Water. Salt. Starter.
That's it.
Those four simple ingredients can make an absolutely beautiful loaf of bread.
Yes, there's a little learning involved.
You'll learn what your starter looks like when it's happy. You'll learn how your dough feels when it's ready. You'll eventually start noticing that a loaf behaves differently on a warm afternoon than it does when your kitchen is chilly.
And yes, occasionally you'll make a loaf that comes out of the oven looking absolutely nothing like the beautiful loaf you pictured in your head.
Welcome to sourdough. 😂
Eat it anyway.
Butter fixes a multitude of sins.
The biggest thing I wish more people understood when they're starting is that sourdough isn't about following the clock perfectly.
It's about learning to watch your dough.
So, if you've wanted to try making sourdough but have convinced yourself it's too complicated, I'm going to give you a very simple place to start.
So…Want to Grow Your Own?
Maybe you've watched me bake sourdough and thought, I'd really like to try that.
Or maybe you had a starter once and, well...
She didn't make it. 😂
No judgment around here.
The good news is you don't have to buy a starter, hunt down a sourdough friend willing to share theirs, or find a 150-year-old starter supposedly carried across the Oregon Trail by somebody's great-great-grandmother.
You can grow one yourself.
All you really need is flour, water, a jar and a little patience.
That's it.
You're basically making a tiny flour-and-water pet.
And yes, you'll probably name it.
Because that's just what we do. 😂
Copper Sky's Simple Sourdough Starter
For a beginner starter, I like keeping things small. There's no reason to go through half a bag of flour while you're waiting for your starter to establish itself.
You'll Need
- A clean glass jar
- Unbleached All-purpose or bread flour
- Whole wheat flour, optional but helpful for getting things moving
- Room-temperature spring water
- A kitchen scale
- A loose-fitting lid or jar cover
And about a week or two of patience.
Notice I didn't say exactly seven days.
Your starter doesn't own a calendar.
Day 1 — Let's Make a Starter
In your clean jar, combine:
25 g whole wheat flour (Optional)
25 g unbleached all-purpose or bread flour (50 g if not using whole wheat flour)
50 g room-temperature spring water
Mix everything together really well.
You want all of the flour hydrated with no dry pockets hiding at the bottom.
Loosely cover the jar and leave it somewhere comfortable at room temperature for about 24 hours.
That's it.
You officially have a sourdough starter.
Granted, right now it's basically wet flour with aspirations. 😂
But we're getting there.
Day 2 — Have a Look
You may see bubbles.
You may see absolutely nothing.
Both are okay.
Keep 50 g of your starter and discard the rest.
Add:
25 g whole wheat flour (optional)
25 g all-purpose or bread flour
50 g water
Mix, loosely cover and let it hang out for another 24 hours.
Remember, whole wheat flour is optional.
Make sure your water to flour ratio is equal.
Dawn's Note
That word discard bothers a lot of beginners.
You're not doing anything wrong.
Keeping the starter small and discarding some before feeding prevents you from ending up with a five-gallon bucket of starter and needing a second mortgage to support your flour habit. 😂
Once your starter is established, that discard can also become pancakes, crackers, cookies and all kinds of good stuff.
During these very early days, though, I wouldn't worry about saving it.
Days 3–5 — Things May Get Weird
Continue the same routine every 24 hours:
Keep 50 g starter.
Feed it 25 g whole wheat flour + 25 g all-purpose/bread flour + 50 g water.
Mix. Cover. Wait.
Somewhere around this point, you might suddenly see a ton of activity.
Bubbles everywhere. Maybe it doubles.
And you'll think:
LOOK AT ME. I AM A SOURDOUGH PERSON.
😂
Not so fast.
Early starters often have an initial burst of microbial activity before the stable sourdough culture has established itself.
Then something particularly rude may happen.
It seems to stop.
Don't panic.
You probably didn't kill it.
Keep feeding it.
Days 5–7…and Maybe Beyond
This is where patience becomes more important than following a calendar.
Continue your daily feeding routine and start paying attention to what your starter is doing.
Eventually you'll begin seeing a more predictable pattern:
You feed it.
It develops bubbles.
It rises.
It reaches its peak.
Then it slowly falls again.
That's what we're looking for.
And it might take seven days.
It might take ten.
It might take two weeks.
Your kitchen temperature, flour, water and environment all play a part.
This is another one of those times when I want you to remember:
Watch what it's doing more than you watch the clock.
How Do I Know When It's Ready?
I wouldn't declare your starter ready just because it doubled once.
Instead, look for consistent, predictable activity after feeding over several feedings.
It should smell pleasantly tangy or yeasty rather than rotten, show bubbles throughout, and rise reliably after you feed it.
Once you've got that happening consistently?
Congratulations.
You grew wild yeast in a jar.
Which sounds significantly more impressive than I mixed flour and water together for a couple weeks. 😂
Now you're ready to start learning how to make bread.
What If I Forget to Feed It?
Well...
Apparently, I'm qualified to answer this one. 😂
Once your starter is established, it's surprisingly resilient.
If you're baking frequently, you may choose to keep it at room temperature and feed it regularly.
But if you're only baking occasionally, your starter can live in the refrigerator, where everything slows way down and it doesn't require the same daily attention.
And if life gets busy and your starter becomes sluggish, that doesn't automatically mean you've killed it.
Give it some fresh flour and water. Give it another feeding. Give it some time.
Mine spent four days forgotten on my counter while life had my attention elsewhere.
A few days of regular feedings later?
Bubbly little drama queen is back. 😂
That said, there's a difference between hungry and unsafe. If you see fuzzy mold or pink/orange discoloration, don't try to nurse that starter back to health. Toss it, clean everything well and start again.
And now?
You know how.
Welcome to Your Sourdough Journey
I think this might actually be my favorite thing to share with someone who's curious about sourdough.
Not a perfect loaf.
Not complicated scoring.
Not hydration percentages or fermentation charts.
Just the beginning.
Flour. Water. Time.
That's where every sourdough loaf starts.
Your starter won't behave exactly like mine. Your kitchen isn't my kitchen. And somewhere along the way you're probably going to wonder if you've killed the poor thing.
You probably haven't. 😂
Keep learning.
Keep feeding.
Pay attention to what it's telling you.
And eventually you'll open that jar and find it full of bubbles and think:
Holy crap. I made that.
Then we'll talk about making bread. 😉
Pull up a chair. Pour yourself something warm.
I'm glad you're here.
— ❤️Dawn