Getting Started with Sourdough

Start with the Right Mindset

As you get started with sourdough breadmaking, it’s important to start with a low-drama mindset. You aren’t trying to produce picture-perfect whole-grain bread the first time. The goal is to learn how to make bread by starting with a manageable loaf of bread (which happens to use bread flour and/or all-purpose flour), notice what made it work, and then make small changes to the recipe until you get the version of bread you are after for your family.

Understand the Process of Making Sourdough Break

1. Make and name the starter
2. Then make the bread
3. Maintain the starter by feeding it or refrigerating it
4. About once a week, you should decide what you want to do next: make more bread, or keep your starter in the fridge for the week.

Sourdough Ingredients

Most basic sourdough breads require four simple ingredients: starter, water, flour, and salt. If you’re like me, you are interested in sourdough for its nutritional value. Since the most nutritious bread is whole grain, that’s where you want to start. But I don’t recommend starting with whole-grain flour. It’s too easy to turn whole-grain bread into a rock-like consistency. My suggestion is to master the basics with a mix of unbleached bread flour and unbleached all-purpose flour. Once you have cooked a good loaf or two with those, start to substitute the all-purpose flour for your favorite whole grain. I’ve gone into a little more detail about flour in my Essential Sourdough Ingredients and Equipment post if you want to deep dive.

Sourdough Breadmaking Supplies

At the most basic level, you need a mixing bowl, a spatula, and a bread pan or Dutch oven. You need some kind of container for the starter. I recommend a mason jar. Parchment paper also helps transfer everything. You probably have all of that in your house already. A kitchen scale is very helpful if you have it. I started off without one, but that was one of the micro-adjustments after my first couple of loaves that did seem to help. I’ve gone into more detail about the gear you could buy here. But getting started, you really don’t need much.

Let’s Get Started

Once your starter is ready, it’s time to make your first loaf of bread. What’s great about sourdough is that it’s not going to taste bad. It might be a little chewy, a little dense, or a little flat. But it’s not going to taste bad. You can always tell your family you made flatbread and toss some olive oil and herbs over it. As you start, pay attention to how it looks and feels so you can get a sense of what works and what doesn’t. When you’re ready, let’s make your first loaf of bread.