Where To Get Sourdough Starter If You Don't Want To Make It From Scratch

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The sticky world of sourdough can seem overwhelming at first. There's so much talk of flour, feeding, folding and looking after countless jars of goop. Then there's all of that confusing discard nonsense. So while you can make sourdough starter at home using flour and water, it is a bit of a process. It can take nearly a week to properly prepare, and you need to be careful about all those feeding times and temperatures. A much easier solution is to buy some starter, or get it from someone who already has one.

You can buy starters online, and many bakeries will sell them too, but your first port of call should be to ask your friends or neighbors. After the sourdough craze that started during the pandemic, it should be fairly easy to track down a starter from someone you know.

If you like to bake, then adopting a good sourdough starter is a decision you're not going to regret. Turning out warm loaves of fresh, bubbly bread with your own two hands is a fulfilling, if not addicting hobby, that you're just going to want to get better and better at.

If none of your friends are willing to give up part of their precious starter, or they're simply not bread bakers, then it's definitely worth talking to the staff at a local bakery. If you live somewhere that's a sourdough stronghold, like San Francisco, a lot of places might be willing to just give out a little of their starter for free, or maybe they'll even trade it to you or charge a small fee.

If you do need to shop online, go to a trusted source. Sourdough starters need to be temperature controlled and you want to make sure you know how old the starter is and that there aren't any added ingredients. It also makes life a lot easier when the starter is active and fresh — that way you don't need to worry about rehydrating it. If the starter is inactive when you get it, meaning that it hasn't been fed in over 24 hours, then you need to bring it back to life. King Arthur Baking Company sells a pot of live starter online, and you can even get heritage sourdough starter online from a San Fran company via Amazon. There are many options.

To feed your new starter, basically, you just need to mix about ½ cup of it with an equal amount of water and about one cup flour. Then leave it in a warm spot and check it again about eight hours later. If it's bubbly and expanded in size, it's good to go. If not, repeat the process. Eventually, you can start storing the sourdough starter on the counter or refrigerate it until you're ready to use it. You'll be whipping out loaves of freshly baked sourdough bread in no time.