For a long time, I had been confused about the subject of yeast. The only yeast I knew about was the little packet of active dry yeast or rapid rise yeast that I would sprinkle into my dough. But then I started collecting 19th century cookbooks and found recipes that called for “one gill of fresh yeast” among the other ingredients.
Once I finally figured out what a gill was, though, (about a half a cup,) I was even more confused. I would have to use how many little instant yeast packets to equal a whole half a cup?!
After doing some more research on period cooking, though, I found several recipes for how to make homemade yeast that helped to solve the mystery a bit. Most involve the use of hops or potatoes added to boiling water and flour. The problem with all of those recipes, though, is that they all call for adding “a bit of good fresh yeast” to the mixture – which was exactly what I didn’t have!
And then, just a couple weeks ago, I read a book that cleared up more of the mystery for me (and solved my problem of how to make my own yeast.) The book is The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread, written by Jessie Hawkins of the Vintage Remedies School of Natural Health. This book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the subjects of bread, grains, gluten, modern vs. traditional bread, etc. (Update: The book is out of print now, but you can still sometimes find used copies.)
A Brief History of Homemade Yeast
Once of the most helpful bits of information I found by reading this book was the section on the history of bread and yeast. I learned that modern baker’s yeast, as we know it today, didn’t even exist until 1868. Before then, bread and other baked goods were leavened by other types of wild yeast (or with massive quantities of eggs.)
Even once baker’s yeast became available, though, it was too expensive for some to afford and it was a gradual process for housewives and bakers to get used to this “new-fangled” way of making bread, so many cookbooks published after 1868 still include recipes that call for homemade yeast.
“Emptyings”
In addition to the recipes for making yeast with hops or potatoes, I also saw several references to using “emptins” in old recipes as a leavening agent. These “emptins” or “emptyings” were just as their name implies – the emptyings of leftover dough and batter added to a crock or jar.
Descriptions I’ve read about emptyings seem to be pretty similar to the flour-water mixture for a sourdough starter with scraps of extra dough added to feed the starter. The main difference I’ve seen is that several instructions for how to make emptyings call for using milk rather than water.
I’m not at all an expert on the history of yeast, and this is a topic I’ve only just begun to learn about, but my guess is that “emptyings” and “sourdough” may be related or at least similar. In all of the 19th century recipes I’ve seen and in the entire database of the Historic American Cookbook Project, I have yet to find one recipe that uses the word “sourdough,” but I have seen several recipes that refer to using a sourdough-type leavening.
(Update: I’ve learned from talking with the interpreters at Old Sturbridge Village that one reason why sourdough yeast isn’t mentioned in old cookbooks could be because it wasn’t a preferred flavor for bread at the time, or at least not in the New England area. Since the flavor of sourdough can vary depending on where you live, it’s possible that that’s one reason why it was more popular in the West in places like California. Early 19th century taste might have preferred bread made with yeast that was made from hard cider, beer, or some of the other homemade recipes using potatoes, hops, etc. so that might explain why sourdough isn’t mentioned in cookbooks of the period.)
Making a Sourdough Starter
Once I realized that I could use a sourdough starter for the “homemade yeast” required in so many old recipes, I was immediately interested in learning how to make my own. Making my own sourdough starter had always seemed to intimidating to me, though, which, of course, is why I had been procrastinating starting one for so long.
When I read The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread, though, the process seemed a bit more simple and less intimidating. After all, people have been making sourdough starters for a long, long time without any complicated instructions for how to do it. So, I figured I might as well give it a try. Though I’ve seen many different sourdough starter recipes online, I decided to go with the simplest method of using only flour and water.
Here’s what I did:
Materials and Ingredients
- Quart-Sized Wide-Mouth Mason Jars – I’d definitely recommend getting wide-mouthed ones. They make stirring the starter so much easier.
- Water – For best results, the water should be filtered water or spring water. Chlorine will kill the good bacteria the starter needs to survive.
- Flour – I used an organic unbleached all-purpose flour
. (Many people say that using whole wheat flour can give an “off” flavor to the starter.)
- Cheesecloth for covering the jar. (Fruit flies love hovering around sourdough starters, so you want something that will keep them out but still allow air into the jar.)
Method for Making Homemade Yeast with a Sourdough Starter
- Day 1: Put about 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water into the mason jar. (These measurements don’t have to be exact.) Mix them thoroughly together. The mixture should feel like a thick pancake batter. You don’t want something as thick as biscuit dough, but you don’t want something really thin and runny either. You should feel a bit of resistance when you stir it. If it’s too thick or thin, you can add more water or flour as needed. The consistency seems to be more important than the actual measurements. Once you’ve mixed the flour and water, cover the jar with cheese cloth.
- Day 2: About 24 hours later (it doesn’t have to be exact), feed the starter by giving it around another 1/2 cup of flour and as much water as it needs to reach the same thick batter consistency as the first day you mixed. The starter might have a few bubbles in it by this point. Stir and cover again.
- Day 3: By now, if not sooner, the starter should be looking quite a bit more bubbly, and the top might look almost frothy. Feed again the same as on Day 2, stir, and cover again.
- Day 4 and following: Keep feeding the starter about every 24 hours. It should look actively bubbly. By now, it might be ready to bake with. A lot really depends on the climate of where you live, the temperature inside your house, and the type of starter you have – each region has it’s own unique strains of bacteria so starters in different regions might act differently.
I probably tried baking with mine a bit earlier than most instructions for making sourdough would tell you to do. I was too impatient and too excited to wait, though, so I just went ahead and baked with it. And it worked! My bread rose well enough – maybe not as well as it would have risen if I had waited a little longer, but it was still a perfectly edible loaf of bread.
So, when in doubt, I’d say just try to bake with it and see what happens. The end result might not be perfect the first time, but it will probably still be pretty good 🙂
Once your starter is established, you can probably get away with feeding it a little bit less. I haven’t been feeding mine every single day, and it’s still surviving fine. I’ve been using it quite a bit in different baking experiments, so I’ve kept my starter out on the counter, but if you aren’t planning to bake more than once a week, it’s best to keep it in the fridge so you don’t have to feed it as often and so it doesn’t grow to massive proportions and overflow the jar. If you keep it in the fridge, though, you just have to plan ahead and take it out the day before you want to bake and feed it to make sure it’s active enough.
I’m loving being able to try so many “new” old recipes now that call for cups of homemade yeast. I’ve even branched out now and tried making a cake with my sourdough starter (and it was absolutely delicious! 🙂 )
I was fully expecting my first experiment with sourdough to be a failure, and I was prepared to try it over again several times before I had any success, so I was incredibly surprised and happy when my starter seemed to work right the first time around!
Update 10/22/13: My sourdough starter is still working well, and I’ve been using it regularly to make bread and pancakes.
Update 10/17/16: My starter is still active and working well over three years later!
Update 4/09/20: A couple of years ago (I don’t remember the exact date) my starter developed a bit of an off smell (a little like nail polish remover) probably because I hadn’t fed it often enough and it was summertime so it was more active with the warmer weather and required more regular feeding. Rather than trying to save it, I decided to use my backup sourdough starter (which was actually part of the original starter, so in a sense I’m still using the same starter even though the backup was in the freezer for awhile.) Once the backup starter thawed from the freezer, I started regular feeding (I usually feed mine four days a week) and it’s been going strong for me for the past couple of years.
For more information about maintaining your starter and for sourdough troubleshooting tips, check out my other sourdough posts.
- How Often Should You Feed a Sourdough Starter?
- Tips for Using and Maintaining a Sourdough Starter – Part 1
- Tips for Using and Maintaining a Sourdough Starter – Part 2
- How to Make A Backup Sourdough Starter
You can also try my favorite sourdough bread recipe:
And, since the flavor of homemade yeast can vary depending on where you live and the particular strains of wild yeast in that area, if you decide that you don’t care for the flavor of your homemade yeast, you can also find traditional sourdough starters online to use for your homemade baking.
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can this yeast be used for pizza dough?
Yes, it could be if you you have a recipe that calls for using sourdough yeast.
1) I live In India and the summer is here so I still do the 6 -7 days for the starter dough.
2) Once I use 1/2 cup for bread how do I feed the starter to store it. If I do not intend to bake for next few weeks or month, could I keep it in the fridge without feeding or do I feed once or twice a week.
3) what If i substitute 11/2 cup whole wheat flour)atta and the the rest 11/2 cup the all purpose flour would it work.
I am looking forward to start on the sourdough starter and baking my own bread without a bread machine.
Thanks
V
Hi V, here are some answers to your questions:
1) Since it’s summer where you are, it’s possible that your starter might not take quite as long to be active. I would recommend checking it every day to see how it looks. It should look bubbly and should have a tangy smell.
2) You can keep your starter in the fridge for several weeks or a month without having to feed it. If you wanted to leave it for longer than a month, then you would want to feed it once in a while to make sure it stays active. Feeding it once a month should be enough, and you would need to let it sit out to warm up a bit before feeding it because it will become very cold and stiff in the fridge.
3) Are you referring to a bread recipe in this question. If you are, then, yes, it would be fine to do half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour.
Best wishes for a successful starter and bread-making!
Hello and Thank you for a wonderful website! I am enjoying it.
I am going to try your bread recipe listed above. I have it together and awaiting the rise. I used a mix of unbleached bread flour, all purpose flour and whole wheat flour and my ready and active homemade sourdough starter. I did use about 2/3 cup of starter and about 2 tbsp brown sugar. so with all of those changes, will see how it turns out! This is such a simple recipe, it could be made on a regular basis even with a busy work and home life. I did spend most of yesterday off and on making a complicated sourdough which came out really good and with nice complex flavors but I can’t see doing that all the time. This one is so easy, I am excited about it!
I hope the bread turns out well for you! 🙂 The simplicity is the main reason why it’s my go-to recipe. I don’t have time for all of the more complicated recipes!
Thank you so much for this . recently i have discovered the form of cultures being used in fleischmann’s dry yeast are saccharomyces cervacia this is toxic fungal yeast that Sakrete very harmful by-products in the form of mycotoxins and that this is actually very harmful to our bodies .it causes a great amount of candida amongst other things .trying to go back natural the way it used to be done when bread was healthy, I found it a challenge to say the least. This is the first article that actually explains how to make your own starter not having to get it from somebody else . so thank you for that have you ever made cinnamon rolls using this method?
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I’m really glad the article was helpful 🙂 It’s interesting to learn about the different types of yeast and how yeast like the fleischmann’s yeast is different from a homemade starter. I haven’t ever tried making cinnamon rolls using homemade yeast, but I found this recipe that looks like it would be delicious and would work well with homemade yeast: http://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/sourdough-recipes/long-fermented-white-flour-sourdough-biscuit-cinnamon-rolls/
Thank you
Hello Thanks for sharing recipe it was really useful to make a yeas tat home as i live in warm weather i got 4 day result in 1st day yeast had bubbles and it was smelling like yeast at seems perfect then i tried making bread from it but even after 6 hours dough has not doubled please any solution for what to do now? and would it have to been better to keep feeding yeast even after it was ready at day 1 means i thought i would die if i keep it for 4 days. Thanks please tell as soon as you can i am keeping dough in warm place.
My bread dough usually takes quite a bit more than 6 hours to fully rise, so it’s not unusual that your dough hasn’t doubled in size after just 6 hours. In the summer time when the weather is warm, my dough usually rises in about 12 hours. In the winter, it’s closer to 18-20 hours. I would recommend keeping your dough in a warm place for a few more hours to see if it continues to rise. If after 18-20 hours your dough still hasn’t risen much at all, then it’s possible that your yeast wasn’t quite ready to bake with yet. If that’s the case, you can keep feeding the yeast for a few more days and then try again. A couple of other things that can affect the dough rising are having too much salt or sugar in your recipe, so you could try using a little less sugar and salt. You can also try using filtered water if your water has chlorine in it because that can sometimes kill off some of the yeast and keep the dough from rising.
hi
Please apologize if my question is dumb. The content which is stored in the bottle is sour dough (or) yeast right, out of which we need take out a 2 or 3 tablespoon and mix it in the wheat flour for making breads.
Thanks in advance..
That’s a good question, and there’s no such thing as a dumb question 🙂 Yes, the contents stored in the bottle is the homemade sourdough yeast, and if you’re making bread, you would mix that in with the rest of your flour (and any other ingredients in your recipe.) Depending on what recipe you’re using, though, you would probably need a little bit more than just 2-3 tablespoons. I usually use about a half a cup of the sourdough yeast when I make a loaf of bread.
Thank you very much lori for the reply, Let me try your easy-homemade-sourdough-bread-recipe-from-1869 and post you the outcome… 🙂
You’re very welcome! Hope it turns out well for you!
Can you spelt flour to make the homemade yeast?
I’ve never actually tried using spelt, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, especially since that was a common type of flour back before modern all-purpose flour existed, so I’m sure many of our ancestors used spelt for their sourdough yeast. One thing that I have heard, though, is that whole grain flour can sometimes cause an “off” flavor to develop in their starter, so it might be a good idea to sift out the biggest pieces of the bran if your spelt flour is whole grain.
in english imperial mesurements a gill , pronounced jill is n5 fluid ounzes
Interesting! Thanks for letting us know!
Thank you for this recipe. After following the instructions, I now have about 2 cups of starter. It smells good, not too strong but a little yeasty. The cat is very attracted to it for some reason – do cats like yeast? I don’t know.
My question is: Due to a surplus of bread, I won’t be baking for a while. Do I need to cover it while it sits in the refrigerator?
Yes, it’s usually best to lightly cover it while in the fridge, especially since the fridge is such a dry environment and the starter could start to dry out otherwise. You don’t need an airtight seal, but a lightly screwed-on lid is good. And as for cats liking yeast … good question! I have no idea why that might be, but my dog is pretty intrigued by mine too 🙂
nice
Hi Lori, I really love this recipe. I was wondering if it is possible to dry the yeast culture after it becomes active to keep from constantly feeding it and baking. I love to bake but HOLY COW!
Hi Cary, that’s a good question! I know I’ve seen recipes in some old cookbooks that refer to using a dried yeast cake, but I haven’t specifically seen a mention of drying sourdough yeast. I’ve never tried it, so I really wouldn’t be able to say whether or not it would work, but it would certainly be worth a try. (I would just recommend saving out a little bit of your yeast just so you have a back-up in case it doesn’t work.)
I’ve found that it really doesn’t end up being as much of a problem as it sounds like it might be to keep feeding it. I usually only feed mine three times a week now, and I usually only bake with it once or twice a week. It takes less than five minutes to do the feeding, and I only use about a half cup of flour at a time, so it really doesn’t end up being that much.
Can you start with a smaller amount, say a 1/4 cup. I don’t bake but once a week and do not want to have a large “supply” and have it go bad.
I think you probably could start smaller. I’ve never tried using just 1/4 cup, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. You wouldn’t have to worry about the yeast going bad, though. I’ve been using the same yeast for a few years now (and I usually only bake once or twice a week too) and I haven’t had any problems with my yeast going bad. The good bacteria in the homemade yeast protects it from developing any bad bacteria that would make it spoil.
Hi Lori I want to make buttermilk rusks for the kids and have been wondering if I can use this recipe as a base.
Hi Gerda,
It’s hard to say whether that would work as a base or not since I don’t know the exact recipe you’re planing on using. Does your buttermilk rusk recipe call for using yeast? If so, it might work, but you might have to do a bit of experimenting to find out the right amount of homemade yeast to use as a substitute for the yeast in the recipe.
I did it! Thanks to this cite. The loaves are awesome! I ‘exclaim’ because of this: I was extremely intimidated of results; 1. my ‘starter’ did not look as frothy as yours; 2. I’d used tap water & feared I’d killed something. I gave it extra time, & was on the 6th day of the starter. Our region is in the summer session, avg. 75degrees, & I’d raised the loaves outside. Again, fearful of failure, I opted for the maximum (in addition, they didn’t look impressionable at 12hrs) 18hr rise (12 hr 1st rise, punch re-shape, 6 hr 2nd rise). Seemed a majority of the rise occurred the last few hours. Thank you, again!
That’s great! I’m so glad it worked well for you! 🙂
Very much appreciated! Thank you! We’re constantly cutting back, financially, &I’ve discovered the savings of baking bread, from one sack to a million bread products we consume daily, to include gravy… waffles, etc. The last cost affect, was yeast, & amazingly, I’m excited to try this, and see where it goes!
Yes, it’s really nice to be able to save some money with making homemade bread and homemade yeast! Good luck with your yeast and bread baking. I hope it goes well!
Hi Lori! Thanks for sharing this! I’ve had a heck of a time finding fresh yeast. One question though… Do I ever put an actual lid on the jar, or do I just keep the cheese cloth on with a rubberband at the top, or just lay the cheese cloth on top but push it down to where it lays flat on the actual yeast surface and leave it openly like that? Thanks! ~Lori
Hi Lori 🙂 No, I’ve never put a lid on my jar because that would cut off the air supply to the yeast. It might survive for a little while with the lid on, but it would eventually die. What I usually do is to use just the band of the Mason jar lid without the round center insert. So I lay the cheesecloth across the top of the jar and then screw the metal band on to keep the cheesecloth in place. A rubber band would work just as well, too, though.
Hi. Thank you for this information. Do you have a tried and true recipe using honey rather than sugar?
Hi Sarah, I’ve actually never tried using honey before. I would think it would still probably work to substitute, though, but you might need to use slightly less water.
Hi!
How would the time between feedings change in a very hot place? I’m from Bombay, our spring is almost over with temps around 95 F. Summer will set in soon and temps will be 105-110 F on an average.
Are there any visual cues to look out for so that I can feed it according to them rather than based on the timings given?
I know it’s almost 3 years since this post but still hoping for a reply!
Nik
Hi Nik 🙂 Yes, you’ll probably end up needing to feed your starter more often, especially during the hottest times. In the summer where I live (with temperatures usually in the 80s and 90s) I feed mine 3-4 times a week. You might need to feed yours every other day, or maybe even every day if it’s really hot. I’ve noticed with mine that sometimes in the summer time it can look a bit more watery and a thinner consistency if I don’t feed it often enough. There have also been times when it’s really warm outside that my starter has been so active and risen so much that it started to overflow the jar. If you don’t use it more than once or twice a week for baking and you find that it starts to get close to overflowing, you might need to take a few spoonfuls of it out of the jar before feeding so it doesn’t overflow when it rises.
Thank you for sharing this good information. I live in Indonesia with nice and warm weathers and I have sone questions. Is it possible that I am fail to make this sourdough starter if I make with regular flour ? How do I know my starter grow by good bacteria ? How to avoid bad bacteria live in my starter? What is the sign if it fail? Is it possible to add herb such as gingger or garlic to avoid bad bacteria? Sorry I ask too many questions.
Hi Aji, those are very good questions! 🙂 Regular flour should be fine for your starter even with the warm weather you have. The way to tell if your starter has grown by the good bacteria is if you see bubbles in it (or if you try baking with it and are able to get dough to rise with it.) The chances of it developing any bad bacteria are very slim as long as you keep it in a clean jar and use clean water when feeding it. I’ve never heard of adding ginger or garlic as a way to avoid bad bacteria, and I’m not sure the starter would still work effectively if you added them. If your starter ever starts to smell really bad, then that would be a sign that some bad bacteria might have gotten in there, but that would be very rare since the good bacteria act as a protection against the bad bacteria. I’ve been using the same sourdough starter consistently now for over two years and have never had a problem with it, even during the hottest parts of the summer. I hope you’re able to be successful with your starter! 🙂
Thank you Lori for the answers. I have another question about the bread dough that stay overnight. Did you loose the air, cut it, put it in the pan, and grow it again before you bake it in the morning or you cut in & put it on the pan at the night ?
When I make bread, I usually follow a sourdough bread recipe, and I prepare the dough the night before. I usually use 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 Tbs sugar, 1/2 cup sourdough starter, 1 cup warm water. I mix those all together, knead the dough, and then let it rise overnight. The next morning, when it’s risen and ready to bake I put it in the oven for about 45 minutes. I start with yeast that is already active and bubbling and add it right into my dough when I’m mixing it up at night, and then the next morning all I do is put the pan in the oven. I hope that helps!
Also should I have left it for longer at the start and how do I tell when to start feeding?
I am on my third day feeding my starting, and I think it stinks. It doesn’t smell like yeast at all? Is this normal?
It does usually have a stronger smell, and it doesn’t smell like regular store bought yeast does. Homemade yeast actually varies in scent depending on where you live too, actually, since it’s created from the natural yeasts in the air. Mine has a kind of tangy sourish smell.
Hi, I love your web site gives simple instructions in comparison to complicated web sites. I to have a problem with my starter smelling funny. I live in Australia and it is very warm here at the moment. I’m at about day 4 and it smells not very good blind of sour kind of old socks!! It has some bubbles at the top I’m not sure if I maybe started feeding it to early but I was just wanting to know if their are any other signs that I have captured the wild yeast? And also if the smell is an indicator of that it my not be working or do I need to feed it more or less. I am feeding it once a day. Thanks
Hi Mia, It’s hard for me to tell without actually seeing or smelling your starter, but it sounds like there’s a good chance that you were able to capture the wild yeast. Bubbles are a good sign, and the starter does usually have a kind of funny smell. Mine has sort of a tangy smell – not an absollutely horrible smell, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a pleasant smell either. One of the best ways to tell if your starter captured the yeast successfully is to try baking with it to see if the dough will rise.
As far as feeding goes, once a day is probably good for a couple more days since you’re on day 4, but by the time you get to day 6 or so, the starter should be pretty well established and you can probably it back to once every other day or once every couple of days.