In this post:

Recipe of Sourdough Leaven
List of Ingredients
Instruction
How to Store the Sourdough Leaven

Bread is flour and water.

I’m always impressed how it is simple and genious at the same time. So I invite you to share this delight with me. But first some words about ingredient quality and so on.

Flour

Sourdough leaven can be both wheat and rye.
I use a whole grain flour in most cases and this gives a good result.
My choice is whole grain flour Luomu Grahamjauho by Pirkka. Such type of flour is rich in useful elements and very tasty.

Water

I live in Finland and we have high quality tap water.
But in my opinion this water is too soft for baking bread. So I use mineral carbonated water for both sourdough leaven and baking needs.

Environment

There are several approaches to the removal of sourdough leaven. It seems like the difference is due to the temperature at which the leaven develops.

One time there was a three-liter jar of sourdough leaven in my refrigerator. I fed it every few days and sometimes didn’t know what to do with it. Additionally the leaven by itself was not as good as I would have liked. The reason of this fact you will see below.

A little bit later, there was a smaller jar in my kitchen cabinet. I fed this leaven once a day and its quality also left much to be desired. By this time I’ve found out that strong and delicious sourdough leaven needs ~1-1.5% of old culture for every feeding. Thereunto the part of leaven is just 3-4% of the whole bread weight. In practice it means ~10 g of fresh strong sourdough leaven for an ordinary loaf.

But then I’ve understood that if the room temperature is about +19 °C in winter time (for my home it’s normal) these approaches don’t work well.

Nevertheless now my leaven lives in a small yogurt jar: it consists of ~ 50 g fresh and strong leaven . I bake with it about 2-3 times a week, so it works best for me. And by the way as I experiment a lot with sourdough starter and in order not to get confused, I give them names.

Sourdough leaven

how to improve your pastry: Meet this is CHRIS

Equipment

two small yogurt jars
500 ml jar
measuring table spoon

Ingredients for One Feeding

2 tbsp water
2 tbsp whole grain flour

Method

Day 1
Mix well water and flour in a small jar. Cover loosely with a tissue and leave it in a warm place (kitchen cabinet is good) for 24 hours. At the end of this period the mixture, let’s call it sourdough leaven now, will smell like a winery. Have you ever visited a winery?

Day 2
Add to the same jar 1 tsp of water and 1 tsp of flour. Mix well, then cover. Put an elastic band on the jar according to the level of the leaven, it helps to control the situation.
Set aside for 24 hours.

Day 3
Transfer leaven to a large jar, add 2 tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of flour. Wait for 24 hours.

Day 4
In a small jar mix 1 tbsp of leaven, add 2 tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of flour. Mix well, cover, adjust the rubber band and set aside for 24 hours. Discard of the rest leaven.

Day 5
Make sure the leaven is doubled in size. In this case transfer the leaven in a large jar, add 2 tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of flour to the same jar. Otherwise repeat the instruction of the 4th day.

Day 6

Add 3 tbsp of water and 3 tbsp of flour to the same jar. After 12 hours the leaven is doubled or even tripled. So it’s ready for soughdough bread making.

Since that moment feed your sourdough leaven every 12 hours by formula: 1 tbsp of leaven, 2 tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of water.

Update December 2025
Now I want more precision, so I’ve switched to using scales. My leaven now follows the formula: 5 g leaven, 25 g flour, and 25 g water.

Prorably the whole sequence of the method looks complicated at first glance but I assure you: it is enough to bring the leaven to working mode, and then you will spend no more than 2-3 minutes a day on maintaining it.

How to Store the Sourdough Leaven

Store the sourdough leaven in your kitchen cabinet and feed it daily if you plan to bake frequently. Otherwise, keep the leaven in the refrigerator and feed it once a week. For example it works well during a vacancy.

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