Stock photo of fresh homemade bubbly sourdough starter in a glass jar, a fermented mixture of water and flour to use as leaven for bread baking.
By Baylor Hawks ’22
Ohio University
Baking during quarantine is basically a rite of passage during these trying times; but what if there is no yeast left in the stores? How will you achieve that radical rise in your loaf without the necessary micro-bacteria? Well, I am so glad you asked.
Baking yeast is relatively easy to make at home, and there’s tons of recipes online for making it yourself.
I like to think this one is the easiest! You’ll need equal parts water and flour. White flour is fine but has a higher chance of failing. I prefer whole wheat flour because of zinc and other nutrients.
Take your starter and mix it together thoroughly, and then let rest in a loosely covered bowl in a WARM but not HOT area. Feed your starter twice daily with equal parts flour and water—like a teaspoon or a tablespoon; let’s not get crazy.
In about three to five days you should see bubbles forming in your starter, and you should test the starter by gently taking a piece and seeing if it floats in room-temperature water. If it does, congrats on your bread starter! If it doesn’t, your starter likely failed. Its pretty hard to fail at making this starter, but, hey, failure is okay, just get back up and try again! 🙂
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