No Yeast? No Problem!
Photo from @gfjules.
Can’t find any yeast at the grocery store?
All you need is flour, water, and a container to start making your own yeast at home! Although you are technically making sourdough starter (yeast mainly used for sourdough), you can still use it in other recipes to make them rise and add a unique (sourdough-like) taste! I would say that is still better than dense bread or pastries with no yeast at all.
Here’s a simple guide on how to create your own starter!
Materials
Flour (unbleached)
Water (filtered or distilled)
Glass or plastic container (mason jar)
Instructions
1. Add flour and water
Take your container and add in equal parts flour and water by weight. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, that’s roughly 3 parts flour to 2 parts water. Don’t forget to use filtered or distilled water since the chlorine in tap water can prevent the yeast from growing. Any sort of flour will work as long as it is unbleached. If this is your first time, all-purpose flour is usually the easiest to use.
2. Mix it together until smooth. Cover loosely with a lid and let it sit.
Depending on the temperature of your home, you may need to create a warmer environment for your yeast. You can either place it in a warm spot of your home (for me it’s on the windowsill when it’s daylight but not in direct sunlight) or in the oven with just the light on.
3. Mix
Within the first 24 hours mix 2 to 3 times.
4. Feed
After 24 hours, it is time to add more! Every time you feed your starter, you are helping it grow and create more activity (a.k.a. the bubbles you see in yeast). You will need to discard half of your current mixture before you add more. If you don’t do this at each feeding you will eventually find yourself with way too much starter. Don’t worry! There are plenty of recipes online to use your discard. Add in the same amount you added in step 1, equal amounts of flour and water by weight or roughly 3 parts flour and 2 parts water. Give it a good mix, cover it loosely, and let it sit in a warm spot again.
5. Repeat
Keep discarding and feeding your yeast once a day until you finally see bubbles forming. But even when you see the first signs of bubbles, your starter is most likely not strong enough to use yet. I would recommend giving it a couple more days to create a stronger starter. This whole process should take about a week.
USAGE
It is best to use your starter when it is at its peak. Its peak would be after you feed it and it starts expanding and creating bubbles. Use it before the activity slows and it starts deflating again. When you use it in recipes other than sourdough, you will usually substitute 1 cup of starter for 1 packet of yeast. Sometimes it varies depending on your recipe, but through trial and error you will get more familiar with your yeast and know how much to use in recipes. You will also need to subtract some water and flour from the original recipe since your starter itself contains water and flour. How much you need to subtract depends on how much starter you are using in the recipe.
Tip: Use a rubber band to mark how much your starter has risen!
Time to feed it!
Rising
At its peak!
Time to feed it!
More bubbles = more activity
Storage
You can keep feeding and using it every day if you are a frequent baker. If you do not bake as much, you can keep it in the refrigerator and only need to feed it once a week. All you have to do is feed it, close the lid, and put it in the fridge. When you want to use it, take it out, stir it, and place it in a warm spot for it to start up again. Depending on how many days it was in the fridge, you will most likely need to feed it once or a couple times when it gets back to room temperature and wait for it to bubble before using it.
conclusion
Congratulations! You have created a starter that you can use when you bake! It is ok if you do not want to make sourdough. I have used it to make normal bread and cookies myself. But you know how sourdough is kind of sour? Your baked goods might have that slight sourness too. For some recipes I could taste the “sourness” but for some recipes it did not affect the taste. You can keep using this starter again and again, replenishing it each time you feed it. If you want to know more about yeast and sourdough starter, there is plenty of information online!
