In February 2019 I mixed a handful of rye flour and some water in a plastic tub, in my own kitchen, and left it on the radiator. A week later it smelled like pears and old trainers, which is exactly how a good starter should smell. That tub is now two large crocks in the Ferro bakehouse, and the starter in them has been fed every single day since.
A starter is a culture of wild yeasts and bacteria living in flour and water. It is what makes sourdough rise, and it is also what gives sourdough its flavour. Each starter is different, shaped by the flour it eats, the temperature it lives at and the room it lives in. Ours is a little sour and a little fruity, and it makes a very dark crust.
Feeding by hand
We feed the rye starter twice a day and the wheat starter once. Feeding means taking most of the starter away and replacing it with fresh flour and water. The part we take out goes into the next loaf. The part we leave behind carries on, as it has for seven years.
It sounds simple, and it is, but it never stops. Someone has to feed it on Christmas morning and on every bank holiday. When Ferro closed for ten days in 2023 for a new floor, I took both crocks home on the bus. The woman beside me asked what was in the bag, and I said, truthfully, a pet.
What happens if you forget
You can leave a starter for a week in the fridge and it will be fine. Leave it for a month and it will be sluggish but alive. Leave it for a year and it will smell terrible, but a few days of regular feeding can often bring it back. It is much more robust than most bakers will admit.
That is the reason the class we teach in November starts with a jar of the Ferro starter that you take home. Most of the people who take it have never looked after anything that needs feeding every day, and most of them are surprised by how much they enjoy it.
If you want to try it, ask at the counter. We will give you a jar for nothing and a sheet that tells you what to do. The only thing we ask is that you tell us how it goes.
