Yeast Water Sourdough Starter

You might have heard of people making sourdough starters from raisin water or even grated apple. This technique utilises the natural yeasts in dried and fermenting fruit to kick start a sourdough starter.

It's a different type of sourdough starter that can be really interesting to make, if only for experimental purposes. It's a great sourdough activity to do with your kids.

You can make yeast water in just a few days and then use this yeast water to kick start a sourdough starter. It can be fun to create a starter this way, but your sourdough starter will still require time to mature, just like a regular sourdough starter.

I have experimented a lot with yeast water and have found that while it makes a very bubbly and seemingly strong starter after just a week, it does still require twice daily feeding to reach maturity (same as a sourdough starter made the regular way).

This yeast water sourdough starter was made with yeast water that had fermented for one week. While it looks strong and mature, it produced bread with a very under fermented crumb.

Can you make a sourdough starter from yeast water? Yes you can make a sourdough starter from yeast water. You need to use the prepared yeast water instead of regular water when making a sourdough starter. You would make it by following the instructions below:

1. Combine 50g of yeast water with 50g of flour and allow to sit for 12 hours.
2. Then after 12 hours, you'd remove 50g and then feed the remaining 50g of starter with 50g of regular water and 50g of flour.
3. Repeat this process every 12 hours until the starter is mature.

Recipes for Yeast Water Sourdough Starter You can use a sourdough starter made from yeast water in any sourdough recipe. You do not have to change anything. You just need to be aware of the strength of your starter – the same as you would for a regular sourdough starter.

Recipes that work really well with a yeast water sourdough starter: • Coffee & Maple Infused Date Sourdough Bread • Lemon & Blueberry Sourdough Bread • Honey Oat Sourdough Bread