Last Updated on April 19, 2026 by Deliciously Organic Editor
It’s been so fun to provide you with sourdough recipes, and many of you have asked for an easy sourdough starter recipe, so here is a step-by-step tutorial along with printable instructions!
Here are the ingredients and tools you will need to make your sourdough starter:
Whole wheat flour (just a 1/2 cup)
All-purpose flour (I prefer organic)
Water
Glass jar or sourdough crock
A spoon and fork
Clean cloth
Kitchen scale
Now it’s time for the tutorial! (The printable recipe is below the tutorial)
Day One: Place 60g whole wheat flour and 60g water in a mason jar and stir with a fork to combine. Place a towel over the jar and leave it out at room temperature (around 72-82 degrees F) for 24 hours.
Day Two: Check the starter to see how it’s doing. You might see a few bubbles, but you might not. No need to worry! If there is any liquid on top, simply pour it off and then place the cloth back on the jar and let it sit for another 24 hours.
Day Three: Remove 1/2 of the starter from the jar and add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day Four: At this point, you should start to see some bubbles. This is good! It means the fermentation process has begun. And, if you don’t see many at this point, it’s ok. The bubbles will come!
Remove half of the starter, add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter and stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day Five: Remove half of the starter, add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter and stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day Six: Remove half of the starter (about a 1/4 cup at this point), add 60g all-purpose flour and 60g water to the starter and stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day 7: At this point there should be lots of bubbles and the texture will be spongy and/or fluffy. It should have a pleasant aroma. If you see all of these things, your starter is ready to use.
If your starter isn’t ready yet, don’t worry, just continue to feed the starter (60g of flour and 60g of water) each day until you see these signs. It could take a week or two longer.
And, as I mention in the video, it’s important to not let your starter get larger than 2 cups in volume. When it gets to about 2 cups, remove half of the starter, and then feed with your usual 60g flour and 60g water. You can give some of the discarded starter to a friend who wants to make some sourdough bread, or use it in a sourdough recipe.
Here are some fun recipes you can try once your starter is ready!
Fermented Sourdough Bread
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Sourdough Brioche Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Easy Sourdough Starter Recipe
Keep in mind – If you accidentally add a gram or two of excess water, just add an additional 1-2g of flour to even things out. Getting off by a gram or so every once in a while won’t ruin your starter.
- Prep Time: 7 days
- Total Time: 168 hours
- Method: Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Day One:
- 60 grams whole wheat flour
- 60 grams water
Day Two:
- No ingredients are needed
Day Three:
- 60 grams all-purpose flour
- 60 grams water
Day Four and Beyond:
- 60 grams all-purpose flour
- 60 grams water
Instructions
- Day One: Place the flour and water in a mason jar and stir with a fork to combine. Place a towel over the jar and leave it out at room temperature (around 72-82 degrees F) for 24 hours.
- Day Two: Check the starter to see how it’s doing. You might see a few bubbles, but you might not. No need to worry! If there is any liquid on top, simply pour it off and then place the cloth back on the jar and let it sit for another 24 hours.
- Day Three: Remove 1/2 of the starter from the jar and add 60g of all-purpose flour and 60g of water to the starter. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Four: At this point, you should start to see some bubbles. This is good! It means the fermentation process has begun. And, if you don’t see many at this point, it’s ok. The bubbles will come! Remove half of the starter in the jar and add 60g of flour and 60g of water. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Five: Remove half of the starter in the jar and add 60g of flour and 60g of water. Stir with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Six: Remove half of the starter (about a 1/4 cup at this point in the jar and add 60g of flour and 60g of water. Stir it with a fork until the flour is completely incorporated. Place the cloth back on the top of the jar to cover and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Day Seven: At this point there should be lots of bubbles and the texture will be spongy and/or fluffy. It should have a pleasant aroma. If you see all of these things, your starter is ready to use. If your starter isn’t ready yet, don’t worry, just continue to feed the starter (60g of flour and 60g of water) each day until you see these signs. It could take a week or two longer.
- After the starter is ready to use, continue to feed your starter each day, cover with a cloth and leave at room temp until it’s time to feed the next day. When the starter gets to be about 2 cups, it’s a good idea to remove half of the starter from the jar (you can use this in a sourdough recipe, give it to a friend who wants to start baking sourdough, or discard). Then, simply feed your starter with the regular 60g of flour and water.
- If you need to leave town, or you don’t want to use the starter for a while, loosely screw a lid on the jar and place it in the fridge. It’s a good idea to feed the starter once every other week when it’s not in use. Then, when you’re ready to use the starter again, remove it from the fridge and feed the starter for 2 days before using. If it has liquid on top, just discard the liquid and feed the starter again.
For the all purpose flour–I assume I can use all purpose einkorn flour?
I haven’t tested this recipe with einkorn, but you can give it a try!
Thanks for this easy to read recipe! I am on day two with my starter and the top of it looks dry? Should I add more water? Thank you!! 🙂
Adding 1-2 grams of water might help if it’s looking dry.
I’m wondering if I can make this starter using 1:1 gluten-free all purpose flour?
I haven’t tested this with other flours so I’m not sure what would lend the exact same result.
Is it supposed to smell bad on the 2nd day. It smells like something rotting?
Yes, it won’t smell great at first. Overtime, it will kinda smell a little like wine
After day 7 if it’s not ready do you continue to discard half and feed or just feed it?
What if you are wheat intolerant? I have been staying away from it for about 4-5 years.
Even the home ground wheat I used to mill to make my own bread.
Does the process of fermentation help for those of us who do not tolerate it?
I answer this question in this post: https://deliciouslyorganic.net/category/index-categories/sourdough-recipes/
I too would like an answer to this question. I followed the link and found recipes only. I have Celiac Disease and Hashi’s and don’t dare allow gluten in my diet. I find it rather disturbing to find a recipe with whole wheat flour in your list after stating to in the early modules to remove it and other grains. Color me confused Carrie.
Here’s what I say in the post:
“As I’ve mentioned before, a grain-free diet isn’t meant to be lifelong. Once you’ve taken the proper steps to heal, you can slowly add properly prepared grains back into your diet with the help of your nutritionist or holistic practitioner.
Fermented sourdough bread can often be tolerated by those with gluten sensitivities and can be a good first bread to try after you’ve been avoiding grains for a long period of time.
The process of slow fermentation allows the bacteria to break down the carbohydrates and gluten and also neutralizes the phytic acid, making it easier for the body to digest. And, sourdough bread contains healthy resistant starch and doesn’t raise blood glucose levels as much as conventional wheat bread.”
Adding back properly prepared rice and fermented sourdough was a huge goal of mine when I was walking through my healing journey. After 5 years of being on a strict grain-free, nutrient-dense diet, I was able to add these 2 foods back. You said that these recipes are “in my list”. Yes, I have 5 sourdough recipes out of the hundreds of recipes on my site, but I’m not aware that I have any of these recipes linked to anything inside the Thyroid course. If I do, please let me know and I’ll make that edit.
If you have additional questions about this, come ask me during one of our weekly FB lives. I’m happy to share more details!
Can’t wait to follow this as I have tried so many other teachers suggestion. Two are well known British Bakers. I needed something more simple as I continue to fail at making a starter. There are many different opinions on -type of water -room temperature -type of flour -ratios Yada yada!!! Am off to start yours!!!
I have a recipe for sourdough chocolate cake. How might I need to adjust the recipe If I ferment it for 72 hours before baking?
There are too many variables with sourdough recipes to give any kind of blanket answer. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
Do you not use organic whole wheat flour? Only organic all purpose flour?
I only use organic all-purpose for the starter.
Can you please tell me, what is doce with the 50% removed in step 3
I have been feeding a sourdough starter using Einkorn flour. It was doing good until this past few days (day 20) when the odor was not pleasant at all, so i decided to start over. Your amounts are slightly different from the Einkorn starter from other websites but I know that Einkorn flour is a bit different. It is very good for people with gluten sensitivities. The biggest difference is in most recipes the liquid that accumulates at the top of the jar is mixed back in (hooch) and the discard is put in another jar to use with recipes that do not require yeast. I have made several recipes with the discard starter and most have been successful. I am looking forward to trying your procedure.
Why is this recipe using measurements in grams and not ounces? Sorry, but to me its not user friendly as this is a US based website.
All sourdough recipes are in grams for accuracy. Just switch the measurement on your scale to grams. It’s actually very easy! 🙂
phytic acid killer for IBS with thw white flour.
DANGER!!!
That’s why fermenting is so great. It reduces the physic acid and also breaks down the gluten and sugars.
This may be silly, but when you remove 1/2 of the starter, do you add it back, discard it, start another one? Very new to this and want to give it a shot!
Thank you for asking this. I am hoping she answers. I had the same question!
You discard it, and then add the ingredients as listed. The videos show how to do this. Hope that helps!
WHY must you discard this? I find it extremely wasteful to discard part of the sourdough….can’t you use it for something else? Old time sourdough recipes NEVER discarded sourdough! It is too wasteful, and these days no one can afford to waste any food. (neither, for that matter, could they in “the old days”.)
Hello, love these recipes. I had hashimotos that turned into thyroid cancer along with the chronic urticaria (hives) and celiac. Can I substitute with gluten free flours in place of the wheat flours?
Thank you
I don’t have a gf sourdough starter recipe, but I know Culture’s for Health has a good one!
I started my starter using 60grams flour and water. Then for feedings I was taking all but 60 grams of the starter out and feeding again the 60 grams flour and water. Is that wrong because you just say removes half. So I will. TRy doing this. I’ll just measure out half by weight and feed. I’m on day 11 and I’m finally getting it to double. I was following this recipe but it said to satart feeding every 12 hours but I think that was too frequent. Switching back to every 24 hours has made my starter more alive
I just estimate the “removing of the half” and don’t measure it out. We are all in different climates, temps, etc. which can affect the starter. So, if you find every 24 hours is best, do that!
Same question as Stacey…what do you do with the discarded starter each day?
My Wife Sharon, Loves your recipe, Thank You!!!
I’m so glad! 🙂
My starter on day 7 still is very runny, not fluffy and not doubled in size.
Should i keep feeding it daily as previous days (first discarding half), or feed without discarding any, like in your video?
If it’s not bubbly yet, then keep feeding it daily until it is.
What’s the reason for using part whole wheat flour to start and why would not use organic? Wheat is such a touchy subject so just trying to understand the reasoning behind the base of the starter. Thank you!!
It helps build a robust starter. All ingredients on my site are organic. I just don’t put that word in front of each ingredient because it would be a bit cumbersome. 🙂
I have been wanting to try making sourdough for the past year, and I decided last Sunday to just go for it. I followed Carrie’s directions and everything went exactly as she said it would.
I got a bit discouraged because it was bubbly around day 3, then died off, but apparently this is normal. By end of day 7 my starter looked ready to use! I am keeping it fed daily and hoping to make my first bread this weekend. Thank you Carrie!!
I’m so glad it turned out well for you!
Good Afternoon, trying your starter. It is day 6 and I forgot to remove half of starter before adding the flour and water. What do you recommend I do.
Also, after day 7 do I continue to discard every day that I add flour and water?
Thank you,
Angela
I’d just continue today as if nothing had happened. Sourdough is pretty forgiving like that. 🙂 It might take a few extra days until your starter is completely ready, but it should be fine. Steps 8 and 9 in the directions tell you how to feed moving forward after day 7.
I have whole wheat einkorn flour and organic all purpose flour …wlll this work÷
I recommend following the recipe as written.
I’m on day 3 and it smells pretty bad, should I start over?
It usually smells weird at the beginning, so I’d keep going.
I’ve tried this starter, but it didn’t taste sour.
How do I achieve the sour taste?
I’m on day 7 and there is a lot of liquid on top. Is this normal? Can I add just a little extra flour to balance this out? The starter is very light and fluffy, just with extra water on top 🤷♀️ I have been very exact with my measurements, so I don’t understand why there’s so much extra water!? Help!!!
This usually means that it needs to be fed more often. I’d feed it twice a day for a few days and see if they helps.
hi, im on day 1. im looking ahead & when you say remove half the starter to mix another 60/60 into half of it, do you pour the half you removed back in? you say to put a towel over & thats it but do i pour back in the half i took out?
HI, please disregard my earlier question, i watched another video & i see now to discard the part that’s taken out. So now, on Day 7, if its not ready, am i to remove half before feeding it or do i just feed it from here on out? thanks so much!
You can feed it from here on out!