140 starter recipes

Overnight starter pizza dough baked on a stone for a chewy, blistered crust with real pizzeria flavor. Just flour, water, yeast, and salt. Save a piece of dough as your next starter.

Farmer's yeast starter, the old-fashioned way. Hops, potatoes, honey, and whole wheat flour build a wild, lively starter for hand-raised loaves. Refrigerator-keeper.

Cold pumpkin spice soup with canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, molasses and pumpkin pie spice. Chilled no-cook fall starter that tastes like pumpkin pie in a bowl.

Mary Rogers's sourdough biscuits use an overnight starter sponge for a tender, tangy biscuit with a soft crumb. A pioneer-style overnight rise that beats any quick biscuit hands down.

Curried squash soup blends butternut squash with curry powder, cumin, garlic and chicken broth for a velvety low-fat fall starter. Naturally gluten-free, freezer-friendly, ready in under an hour.

Chilled carrot soup blended with orange juice, fresh nutmeg and chicken broth. A bright, low-calorie warm-weather starter served cold with an orange slice and mint. Six ingredients, blender-easy.

Authentic Italian bread is a two-day, two-loaf recipe built on an overnight starter with barley malt and a single teaspoon of yeast. Crackling crust, open chewy crumb, and the deep wheaty flavor of slow fermentation.

Sri Lankan clay pot curd, traditional set yogurt made from just milk and a spoonful of starter, cultured overnight in a clay pot for a thick, creamy curd. Drizzle with treacle for a classic dessert.

Make creamy homemade yogurt without a yogurt maker, just milk, a spoonful of live yogurt as a starter, and your oven with the light on as a cozy incubator. Lightly sweetened with vanilla, set in hours.

Friendship brandied fruit is a perpetual fermented fruit compote built over months by adding peaches, pineapple, cherries, sugar, and brandy to a starter. Spoon over ice cream, pound cake, or yogurt for an instant dessert.

This is a delicious starter from my book named 'The Curry Crunch' where mildly spiced king prawns are coated with bread crumbs and fried. The king prawns used in this recipe weigh approximately 50g each.

Sourdough muffins made from an overnight sponge starter mixed with flour, sugar, and melted shortening. A simple way to use sourdough starter in muffin form.

Jellied consomme: a chilled, clear beef broth set with unflavored gelatin and spiked with sherry. An elegant retro summer starter served in cups with curried whipped cream.

Chilled strawberry and white wine soup blended from fresh berries, lemon zest, and dry white wine. Elegant five-minute summer starter served cold in chilled bowls.

Homemade yogurt using a microwave with just skim milk and a spoonful of active yogurt as starter. A three-ingredient method that needs no special equipment beyond a microwave.

This quick and tantalizing chicken stock is the perfect starter for soups and gravy.