442 starter recipes

Potato sourdough starter made with active dry yeast, flour, sugar, and raw potato in a crock. Feeds daily and improves with age for tangy, robust sourdough bread.

Two-ingredient sourdough starter made with just flour and water, left to ferment for 4-5 days. The simplest way to capture wild yeast for homemade sourdough bread.

Plain sourdough starter made from just flour and water. No commercial yeast needed. Mix, wait four to five days, and you have a wild-fermented base for bread.

Potato flake sourdough starter: a simple three-ingredient base of water, sugar, and instant potato flakes left to ferment for 3 to 4 days. The sweet, old-fashioned starter used in friendship bread and soft white loaves.

Old-fashioned milk-and-flour sourdough starter with no commercial yeast. Two ingredients capture wild bacteria for tangy bread. Patience required.

Yeasty sourdough starter is the shortcut version: unbleached flour, a packet of dry yeast, and water mixed into a thick batter and left warm for a day. A fast track to bread baking when you don't want to wait two weeks for a wild starter.

Hops yeast starter brews a traditional wild-yeast bread starter from hops, malt flour, brown sugar, and water. The pre-commercial baking technique used by pioneers and old-time home bakers.

Sourdough starter from scratch in two days using water, active dry yeast, sugar, and flour. The fast-start version that skips the wild-yeast wait, refresh with flour and water as you use it.

A simple three-ingredient cheesecake crust starter: flour, sugar, and chopped nuts. The foundation for nutty, buttery cheesecake bases without relying on graham crackers or cookies.

Wild yeast sourdough starter made from leftover potato water and unbleached flour. The old farmhouse and camping method, no commercial yeast required.

This was the sourest sourdough I'd ever eaten but it was to die for.

Marinated mushroom salad in a tangy mustard-herb vinaigrette with white wine vinegar, parsley, and chives. A French-style cold appetizer that improves after hours of marinating in the fridge.

This basic recipe requires a carefully scalded container.

Sturdy gingerbread house dough made with shortening, dark corn syrup, and warming spices. Holds its shape for construction. The classic holiday project base.

-Bread Machine CB: A true sourdough starter is nothing more than the flour and milk or water which sits at room temperature for several days and catches live yeast bacteria from the air. Most starter recipes today include yeast as an original ingredient as it is much easier and less time consuming. In addition, many sourdough bread recipes also indicate usage of yeast itself as it does provide a higher rising, lighter loaf. A sourdough starter should be kept in a glass or plastic bowl which has a tight fitting lid. I recommend a bowl instead of a jar as you can "feed" your starter right in the bowl easily.

Brandied fruit starter with pineapple, peaches, apricots, and maraschino cherries soaked in brandy and sugar. A living friendship cake starter you keep and share.