6 Gen Starters
Thomas Merino
Looking for an easy, sourdough starter recipe for beginners? Adapted from my bestselling book Artisan Sourdough Made Simple, follow my no-nonsense, step-by-step guide for practical tips, tricks, and ongoing care- anyone can do it.
Before you begin: Establish a feeding schedule. Meaning, feed your starter at the same time each day. This will establish consistency, which sourdough starters love. Consider feeding your starter in the morning when you wake up.
TIP: Looking for a warm, 75 F spot? Place your starter on a cookie sheet inside the oven (turned off) with the light on for only 1-2 hours (it can get hot in there, so keep you eye on it!). Center rack is best. You can also use a proofing box set to your desired temperature, or a microwave with the door ajar and light on.
This is mold. I would discard the whole thing and start over. Mold is hard to avoid sometimes, especially in warm weather. Very frustrating. If possible, be sure to scrape down the sides of the jar after each feeding (a mini rubber spatula is perfect for this) as mold loves to grow on the top and sides of the jar. Additionally, you can experiment with shortening the feeding times from 24 hrs to 12 hours, stirring regularly. Take notes and keep and eye on it.
Not to sound like a total novice but I am assuming you have to take into consideration the beginning weight of your jar/ container that your starter is stored in so you are taking out only the right amount of weight of starter and not basing your discard measurements on total weight of the whole container. Can you clarify?
Whichever option you choose, achieving the correct texture is the most important: it needs to be semi-thick like pancake batter, not thin and watery. You can easily adjust the consistency adding more/less flour or water until it looks right.
Congratulations! You can store your sourdough starter at room temperature or in the fridge, depending on how often you bake. And yes: you will need to keep feeding it until ready to use. Your feeding schedule is directly linked to how you store your starter. To get started, I recommend reading this article for more detailed info: -sourdough-starter-my-best-tips-tricks/
Hi there! You are correct. No gasket. I do not use it at all. I close the lid with the latch only. If I want a little air in my jar, I simply rest the lid on top of the jar (without clamping the latch down). Hope this helps.
PS: If your starter is alive, but not very active at this point, there are a few things you can do: Make sure you are feeding it at the same time each day (try in the morning), allow it to rest in a warm spot (75 F is ideal) and/or switch to bread flour for an enzyme boost.
I regrettably started the starter at 6pm (not a good time for me). I wanted to set my schedule to feed at 10am. Does that mean I have to continue the process and start feeding at 6pm everyday or should I wait until 10am the next day to start feeding again?
I followed this recipe and it took mine a bit longer to rise (about 14 days). Before that, mine had not risen at all. What I changed that helped mine was instead of using water from the sink, I used fridge water. After 2-3 feedings this way it doubled quickly!
I am so excited to have found your page and the step by step instructions. I have wanted to try and make sourdough bread, but I have been intimidated by the process. The instructions you have given, make me feel like I can do this.
A stir plate, which can easily be made at home, is highly recommended to continually add oxygen to the starter, which is crucial in growing the yeast cell population in a starter. If a stir plate is not available, simply giving the vessel a shake every now and again is better than not adding oxygen at all.
Volume: Determining volume can be a very involved process. The volume of the starter in relation to the number of viable yeast cells added, termed the inoculation rate, will determine the growth potential for the yeast starter.
Warm starters or starters with volumes more than 5% of the main batch volume need additional preparation. First, allow the fermentation to basically complete and then chill the starter by placing it in the fridge until it is near the temperature of the wort it is intended for. Decant the liquid and pitch only the yeast cake.
Select type of starter, action, or condition Assistant actions Assistant starters Condition operators Device actions Device event starters Device state conditions Device state starters Home actions Home state conditions Home state starters Time actions Time conditions Time starters search State / Event (starter)
Condition
Command (action) Supported Fields Description and A compound condition to represent logical AND of all the child conditions. assistant.command.Broadcast message assistant.command.OkGoogle okGoogle assistant.event.OkGoogle query device.command.ActivateScene activate Activate or deactivate a scene. device.command.AppInstall newApplicationName Install an application on the given device. device.command.AppSearch applicationName Search for the given application. device.command.AppSelect applicationName Select the given application. device.command.ArmDisarm arm
armLevel
cancel Set the alarm level of the device. device.command.BrightnessAbsolute brightness Adjust device absolute brightness. When brightness is set to any value greater than 0, if the device is off, it powers on, and the [`OnOffState.state`](./on_off_state) changes to reflect that the device is on. Likewise, when brightness is set to 0, the device powers off and the [`OnOffState.state`](./on_off_state) changes accordingly. device.command.BrightnessRelative brightnessRelativePercent
brightnessRelativeWeight Adjust device relative brightness. When brightness is set to any value greater than 0, if the device is off, it powers on, and the [`OnOffState.state`](./on_off_state) changes to reflect that the device is on. Likewise, when brightness is set to 0, the device powers off and the [`OnOffState.state`](./on_off_state) changes accordingly. device.command.Charge charge Start or stop charging. device.command.ColorAbsolute color.name
color.spectrumHSV.hue
color.spectrumHSV.saturation
color.spectrumHSV.value
color.spectrumRGB
color.temperature Sets the color to the specified hue. When the color is set on a device that is off, the device powers on, and the [`OnOffState.state`](./on_off_state) changes to reflect this. Likewise, when brightness is set to 0, the device powers off and the [`OnOffState.state`](./on_off_state) changes accordingly. device.command.Cook cookingMode
foodPreset
quantity
start
unit Start or stop cooking. device.command.Dispense amount
item
presetName
unit Dispense items. device.command.Dock Dock the device. device.command.EnableDisableGuestNetwork enable Enable or disable the guest network. device.command.EnableDisableNetworkProfile enable
profile Enable or disable a network profile. Secondary user verification with PIN must be used. A user's home security can be considered affected if other security devices are disabled via these commands. device.command.Fill fill
fillLevel Fill or drain the device. device.command.FindMyDevice silence Locate the target device by generating a local alert. device.command.HumidityRelative relativeHumidityPercent
relativeHumidityWeight Adjust the humidity level relative to the current value. device.command.LightEffectColorLoop duration Cycle the device through a set of colors. device.command.LightEffectPulse duration Light intensity increases from mid-level brightness to maximum brightness and then decreases to mid-level brightness with a total cycle time of one pulse per second. During each cycle, maximum brightness should last 200ms and mid-level brightness, excluding the transition period, should last at least 500ms. device.command.LightEffectSleep duration Over a span of time, gradually decrease the device's brightness and, optionally, alter the color temperature. device.command.LightEffectWake duration Over a span of time, gradually increase the device's brightness and, optionally, alter the color temperature. device.command.LockUnlock lock Lock or unlock the device. device.command.MediaNext Skip to next media item. device.command.MediaPause Pause media playback. device.command.MediaPrevious Skip to previous media item. device.command.MediaResume Resume media playback. device.command.MediaShuffle Shuffle the current playlist. device.command.MediaStop Stop media playback. device.command.Mute mute Mute or unmute the given device. device.command.NextInput Switch to the next input. device.command.OnOff on Turn the device on or off. device.command.OpenClose openDirection
openPercent Set the open-close state of the device device.command.PauseUnpause pause Pause or unpause device operation. device.command.PreviousInput Switch to the previous input. device.command.Reboot Reboots the device. device.command.RelativeChannel channelCount Adjust the current channel by a relative amount. device.command.ReturnChannel Return to the previous channel the user was on. device.command.ReverseFan Reverse the direction of the fan. device.command.RotateAbsolute rotationDegrees
rotationPercent Set the absolute rotation of the device. device.command.SelectChannel channelCode
channelName
channelNumber Set the current channel to a specific value. device.command.SetFanSpeed fanSpeed Set the fan speed. device.command.SetFanSpeedRelative fanSpeedRelativePercent
fanSpeedRelativeWeight Set the relative speed for the fan. device.command.SetHumidity humidity Set the humidity level to an absolute value. device.command.SetInput newInput Set the media input. device.command.SetVolume volumeLevel Set the volume of a given device. device.command.StartStop start Start or stop the device. device.command.StopLightEffect Stop the current light effect. device.command.ThermostatSetMode thermostatMode Set the target operating mode for a thermostat device. device.command.ThermostatTemperatureSetpoint thermostatTemperatureSetpoint Set the target temperature for a thermostat device. device.command.ThermostatTemperatureSetRange thermostatTemperatureSetpointHigh
thermostatTemperatureSetpointLow Set a target temperature range for a thermostat device. device.command.TimerAdjust duration Adjust the timer duration. device.command.TimerCancel Cancel the timer. device.command.TimerPause Pause timer. device.command.TimerResume Resume timer. device.command.TimerStart duration Start a new timer. device.event.AnimalCatDetection A cat has been detected by the camera. device.event.AnimalDogDetection A dog has been detected by the camera. device.event.AnimalOtherDetection An animal has been detected by the camera. device.event.DoorbellPress A doorbell has been pressed. device.event.FaceFamiliarDetection A familiar face has been detected by the camera. device.event.FaceUnfamiliarDetection An unfamiliar face has been detected by the camera. device.event.MotionDetection Motion has been detected by the device. device.event.MovingVehicleDetection A moving vehicle has been detected by the camera. device.event.PackageDelivered A delivered package has been detected by the camera. device.event.PersonDetection A person has been detected by the camera. device.event.PersonTalking The sound of person talking has been detected by the device. device.event.Sound A sound has been detected by the device. device.state.AppSelector currentApplication For devices which are able to switch between applications. device.state.ArmDisarm currentArmLevel
isArmed For devices such as security systems that support arming and disarming, this indicates whether the device is armed or disarmed. device.state.Brightness brightness The brightness setting for a device. device.state.Channel For devices that support channels on a media device. device.state.ColorSetting color.colorTemperature
color.spectrumHsv.hue
color.spectrumHsv.saturation
color.spectrumHsv.value
color.spectrumRgb The state of a color setting. device.state.Cook currentCookingMode
currentFoodPreset For devices that can cook food according to various food presets and supported cooking modes. device.state.Dock isDocked For self-mobile devices that can be commanded to return for charging. device.state.EnergyStorage descriptiveCapacityRemaining
isCharging
isPluggedIn The state of an energy storage device such as a battery, including the amount of energy it is storing, whether or not it is charging, and whether or not it is plugged in. device.state.FanSpeed currentFanSpeedPercent
currentFanSpeedSetting For devices that support setting the speed of a fan. device.state.Fill currentFillLevel
currentFillPercent
isFilled For devices that support being filled, such as a bathtub. device.state.HumiditySetting humidityAmbientPercent
humiditySetpointPercent For devices that support humidity settings such as humidifiers and dehumidifiers. device.state.InputSelector currentInput Enables querying devices which are able to switch inputs.Media inputs can have dynamic names per device that represent audio or video feeds. These feeds can be hardwired or networked, but they should be named and reasonably persistent. This does not support arbitrary ephemeral feeds, such as a searchable networked library. Paired, named Bluetooth sources are supported. Sources can have multiple names, so user-created and discovered names are supported, as well as default names; for example, 'hdmi_1'might also be 'DVD player,' or 'usb_1' might also be 'Hard drive'.Media inputs can be ordered to support 'next' and 'previous' commands.Note: InputSelector does not support query grammar. device.state.LightEffects activeLightEffect For devices that can support complex lighting commands to change state, such as looping through various colors. device.state.LockUnlock isJammed
isLocked For devices that support locking and unlocking, and/or reporting a locked state. device.state.MediaState playbackState For devices that play media, the state of the media, such as whether or not it is playing. device.state.MotionDetection motionDetectionEventInProgress For devices that can detect motion. device.state.OccupancySensing occupancy For devices that can detect occupancy, whether through PIR, ultrasonic, or physical contact sensing. device.state.Online online For devices that support online and offline state, and/or report online and offline state. device.state.OnOff on The basic on and off functionality for any device that has binary on and off, including plugs and switches as well as many future devices. device.state.OpenClose openPercent For devices that support opening and closing, and in some cases opening and closing partially or potentially in more than one direction. device.state.Record isCurrentlyRecording For devices that support recording to media. device.state.Rotation rotationDegrees
rotationPercent For devices that support rotation, such as blinds with rotatable slats. device.state.RunCycle currentCycleRemainingTime
currentTotalRemainingTime For devices that have an ongoing duration for their operation which can be queried.Devices like these will report their total number of cycles at the start of operation, and each cycle the device is currently in while running. device.state.SensorState currentSensorStateData.key
currentSensorStateData.value.currentSensorState A measurement produced by a sensor. FOr example, the amount of smoke measured by a smoke detector, or the amount of carbon monoxide measured by a carbon monoxide detector, and so forth. device.state.StartStop isPaused
isRunning For devices that support starting and stopping operations.Starting and stopping a device serves a similar function to turning it on and off. It indicates that devices function differently when turned on and when started. Certain washing machines, for instance, are able to be turned on and have their settings modified before actually starting operation. device.state.TemperatureControl temperatureAmbient
temperatureSetpoint Controls temperature for a device other than a thermostat (for example, an oven), either within or around the device. device.state.TemperatureSetting activeThermostatMode
thermostatHumidityAmbient
thermostatMode
thermostatTemperatureAmbient
thermostatTemperatureSetpoint
thermostatTemperatureSetpointHigh
thermostatTemperatureSetpointLow For devices that support temperature points and modes. device.state.Timer timerPaused For devices that support timer capability. For instance, a smart sprinkler controller or smart light switch may have a built-in timer. This can be used to query the device about how much time remains on the timer. device.state.Volume currentVolume
isMuted For devices which are able to change volume (for example, setting the volume to a certain level, mute, or unmute). home.command.Notification body
members
title Send a notification to the specified home members. home.state.HomePresence homePresenceMode not A condition to represent logical NOT of another condition. or A compound condition to represent logical OR of all the child conditions. time.between Represents a time range. time.delay Adds a pause in the automation execution. time.schedule Represents a time schedule event.