43 yeast starter recipes

A milk-based sourdough starter jump-started with yeast: flour, water and yeast left to ferment, then enriched with milk, sugar and flour. Keep it in the fridge and feed it after each use for ongoing baking.

White flour sourdough starter made with just water, flour, yeast, and sugar. Ready in 2-3 days and keeps indefinitely with regular feeding.

Rye bread sourdough starter with an onion twist, ready in 48 hours. Rye flour, yeast, water, and a halved onion develop a pleasingly sour, beery aroma for bread baking.

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.

Three-ingredient whole-wheat sourdough starter made with whole-wheat flour, active dry yeast, and lukewarm water. Ferments in 18 to 24 hours at room temperature.

Original yeast-based Amish Friendship Bread starter that ferments for 10 days, then divides into portions to share or bake. The Pennsylvania Dutch tradition starts here.

Yeasted anise biscotti from Genoa, made with a sponge starter for a lighter, bread-like crumb. Twice-baked with butter and aniseed, these are nothing like ordinary biscotti.

Simple sourdough starter made with unbleached flour and active dry yeast mixed into a thick batter and fermented for 24 hours. The foundation for sourdough breads and pancakes.

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.

Feed this sweet, yeast-based starter with flour, sugar, and milk every few days to keep it alive. Use it for Amish friendship bread or share with friends to start the tradition.