Welcome To The Zoo
Congratulations, you are a zookeeper.
These sourdough starter posts will help you create, maintain, and bake bread and pizza with a sourdough starter. Use the tips below to improve your starter’s performance when baking bread—as I like to say, a healthy sourdough starter means great bread!
First, create your sourdough starter. Then check out my sourdough starter maintenance routine to keep it in tip-top health. From there, bake your first loaf of sourdough bread using my Beginner’s Sourdough recipe. And finally, don’t forget you can use your sourdough starter discard to make wonderful things in the kitchen!
Over 10 years of real-world use in my kitchen.
Have a starter problem? I (probably) have the solution.
My advice on baking in the winter: how to keep your starter vigorous, dough warm, and prevent underproofing.
My advice on baking in the summer: how to keep your starter healthy, dough cool, and prevent over-proofing.
A look at how I currently feed (refresh) my sourdough starter for maximum strength and flavor.
Learn to use the Brod & Taylor dough proofer (or any proofer) to encourage strong fermentation.
What’s the difference between a sourdough starter and a levain? And when do I use a levain?
A roundup of the most-asked questions surrounding a sourdough starter.
How to maintain a smaller sourdough starter to reduce discard waste.
A few methods for safely storing your sourdough starter, from 1 week to 1 year, and beyond.
An example schedule on how to maintain your starter during the week and bake bread on the weekend.
A guide to feeding (refreshing) your sourdough starter each day.
Using a low hydration starter to make sourdough bread.
It all begins here. Learn to easily make a sourdough starter from just flour and water.
A post on how I focused on the basics of fermentation to make my sourdough bread even better.