Rye Sourdough Starter

Sourdough, "sleeping" in the fridge

I’ve recently discovered the joys of baking with sourdough, again. And for the first time, I’ve made bread that is ALL sourdough, rather than adding in a little bit of yeast as well. Sourdough baking is a bit fiddly – it’s not something you can do in a hurry, and it really does require some time and care. But it isn’t hard! Anyone can do it! I promise!

It all started (this time) when I was going to clean out my jar of *very* old wheat starter from the fridge. I started rinsing the jar with hot water and about half way through, it started to look.. well, pretty good. So I fed it for a few days and oh yes – it was alive and well. At the same time, I started a new rye starter which also turned out to be really good. I find wheat a lot harder to get along with, so I really recommend ordering a starter from somewhere. I got mine from here.

Anyway – let’s talk about a rye starter. You can make one with just flour and water but I’ve had much more luck with this one which uses a little bit of honey and yogurt to get it going. I got this recipe from a fellow blogger, and it’s really quite foolproof. Do use a fairly big jar – you can see mine in the photo and when it was at it’s most active, it would bubble almost to the top. Don’t forget to save a bit of starter in the fridge. Feed it a little bit every week and let it sit out in room temperature over night to get bubbly again before moving it back into the fridge.

Rye Sourdough Starter
(printable recipe)

On day one
1 tbsp honey
150 ml fine-milled rye flour
150 ml tepid water
3 tbsp yogurt (about 10% fat, Mediterranean style)

Whisk it together and pour into a fairly large jar. Cover with a lid, but not completely. Keep in a warm place in your kitchen.

On days 2-4 (or 5)

Add a large spoon of fine-milled rye flour and the same amount of tepid water, and stir well. The starter should bubble and star to smell a bit sour but nice and fresh.

Continue like that – the starter will be ready to use on day 5 or 6.

Recipe in Swedish:
Rågsurdeg