Starting a Sourdough Starter with Local Stoneground Flour

Why Local Stoneground Flour Gives You a Head Start

A sourdough starter is simply flour and water left to ferment, but the flour you choose decides how quickly and reliably that happens. Stoneground flour — particularly wholemeal from a nearby mill — carries far more than starch. The grain's outer layers, kept intact by slow stone milling, hold minerals, enzymes and the wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria that live on the surface of the wheat. Roller-milled white flour has had most of that stripped away, so it feeds a starter thinly and slowly.

Heritage wheats matter too. Older varieties such as Maris Widgeon, Chiddam White and Squareheads Master tend to be taller, lower-yielding and grown with fewer inputs, and many are milled whole. Their flavour is deeper and nuttier, with a gentle sweetness that comes through in the loaf. You do not need a rare wheat to begin — any fresh stoneground wholemeal will do — but buying from a local mill usually means fresher flour, and fresh flour is active flour.

What You Need Before You Begin

Nothing expensive, but a few things worth getting right.

• A jar — 500ml to 1 litre, wide-mouthed, glass. You need room for the starter to double and then some.
• Stoneground wholemeal flour — at least 1kg to start with, ideally organic and as fresh as you can find. Rye, or a rye-and-wheat mix, will ferment more briskly if you are impatient.
• Filtered or stood water — chlorine and chloramine stall fermentation. Run a jug through a filter, or leave tap water in an open jug overnight.
• Digital scales — accurate to 1g. Sourdough is a ratio game, and cups will not do.
• A thermometer — 20–24°C is the sweet spot. A cold kitchen in February will slow everything down; a warm spot near the boiler will speed it up.
• A loose lid or cloth — the starter needs air, but you do not want it drying out or catching flies.

The First Five Days: A Simple Feeding Rhythm

Keep the method boring and the results will be consistent.

Day one. Weigh 50g of stoneground wholemeal into the jar, add 50g of filtered water, and stir with a clean spoon until no dry flour remains. Scrape the sides down. Cover loosely and leave at room temperature.

Days two to five. Once a day, at roughly the same time, discard all but 50g of the mixture, then feed 50g flour and 50g water. Stir, cover, leave. Discarding feels wasteful, but it keeps the acidity manageable and the food-to-microbe ratio healthy. Keep the discard in the fridge — it makes excellent pancakes.

From about day four, if your starter is rising and falling within a few hours, move to a 1:2:2 feed — 25g starter, 50g flour, 50g water — and feed twice daily. Warmer kitchens will need this sooner than cool ones.

Reading the Signs

Expect a burst of activity on day two or three that then dies away. That first rise is usually bacterial rather than yeasty, and it is not the starter you are waiting for. The real thing looks like this:

• A domed rise of 50–100%, followed by a gentle collapse, with bubbles through the mixture.
• A smell that settles into yoghurt, beer or slightly sour apples. Early cheesy or acetone notes mean it is hungry.
• A spongy, web-like texture when you stir it.

Grey liquid on top — hooch — is just alcohol from a hungry starter. Pour it off or stir it in, then feed. If nothing happens for days, warm it up a degree or two, switch to rye or a fresher bag of flour, and feed more often. Patience beats fiddling.

Keeping It Going Without Fuss

Once your starter doubles reliably in four to six hours, it is ready. Feed it at the same ratio, use it at its peak, and keep the jar clean around the rim. If you bake weekly, store it in the fridge and feed it once a week, letting it come back to room temperature before use. If you bake less often, feed it monthly — it will be sluggish, but recoverable after two or three warm feeds.

Refresh your flour supply from the same mill when you can. A starter drifts towards the flour it is fed, so a consistent local stoneground wholemeal gives you a consistent loaf.

Baking Your First Loaf With It

For one medium loaf, mix 100g active starter, 400g stoneground flour, 280g water and 10g salt. Rest for an hour, then fold the dough every 30 minutes for three hours. Shape, prove in the fridge overnight, and bake in a hot covered pot at 240°C for 20 minutes, then uncovered at 220°C for a further 25. Cool it completely before slicing — it is still setting inside.

Note the date and the room temperature each time you bake. Within a few weeks you will have a starter that behaves like a familiar friend, and a loaf that tastes unmistakably of where you live.